In [F.-V. Kuhlmann, S. Kuhlmann, S. Shelah, Exponentiation in power series fields, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 125 3177–3183] it was shown that fields of generalized power series cannot admit an exponential function. In this paper, we construct fields of generalized power series with bounded support which admit an exponential. We give a natural definition of an exponential, which makes these fields into models of real exponentiation. The method allows (...) us to construct for every κ regular uncountable cardinal, 2κ pairwise non-isomorphic models of real exponentiation , but all isomorphic as ordered fields. Indeed, the 2κ exponentials constructed have pairwise distinct growth rates. This method relies on constructing lexicographic chains with many automorphisms. (shrink)

The field K((G)) of generalized power series with coefficients in the field K of characteristic 0 and exponents in the ordered additive abelian group G plays an important role in the study of real closed fields. Conway and Gonshor (see [2, 4]) considered the problem of existence of non-standard irreducible (respectively prime) elements in the huge "ring" of omnific integers, which is indeed equivalent to the existence of irreducible (respectively prime) elements in the ring K((G ≤ (...) 0 )) of series with non-positive exponents. Berarducci (see [1]) proved that K((G ≤ 0 )) does have irreducible elements, but it remained open whether the irreducibles are prime i.e.; generate a prime ideal. In this paper we prove that K((G ≤ 0 )) does have prime elements if G = (R, +) is the additive group of the reals, or more generally if G contains a maximal proper convex subgroup. (shrink)

The fields K) of generalized power series with coefficients in a field K and exponents in an additive abelian ordered group G play an important role in the study of real closed fields. The subrings K) consisting of series with non-positive exponents find applications in the study of models of weak axioms for arithmetic. Berarducci showed that the ideal JK) generated by the monomials with negative exponents is prime when is the additive group of (...) the reals, and asked whether the same holds for any G. We prove that this is the case and that in the quotient ring K)/J, each element admits at least one factorization into irreducibles. (shrink)

Political protesters often don’t play by the rules. Think of the Occupy Movement, which brought lower Manhattan to a standstill in 2011 under the slogan, “We are the 99%”. Closer to home, think of the refugee activists who assisted a breakout from South Australia’s Woomera detention centre in 2002. Both are examples of contentious politics, or forms of political engagement outside the institutional channels of political decision-making. The democratic credentials of contentious politics are highly ambivalent. On the one hand, contentious (...) politics appears to have insufficient respect for democratic decision. Protesters are often forceful, uncivil and rowdy, aiming to disproportionately influence policy. But shouldn’t proposals be put forward with civility through the proper channels? And shouldn’t their proponents accept with good grace if they are democratically rebuffed? A closer look at the history of political thought can provide us with the framework to assess the case for and against the democratic reasonableness of contentious politics. (shrink)

In this chapter, the author articulates two Hobbesian models of interpersonal power relations that can be used to understand gender relations: what he will call the dominion model and the deference model. Hobbes himself analyses the relation between men and women through the dominion model. The author lays out Hobbes's model of interpersonal power relations as dominion, including his application of the model to the case of gender relations. The centerpiece of Hobbes's method is his “state of nature” (...) thought experiment. Hobbes's analysis is radical insofar as he understands familial relations according to the general model of interpersonal relations just outlined, without any reference to sui generis principles. The author indicates some shortcomings of the dominion model for grasping contemporary social life. The much‐celebrated social contract between equal male citizens is quietly underpinned by the sexual contract, a contract of domination between men and women. (shrink)

When is an ideal of a ring radical or prime? By examining its generators, one may in many cases definably and uniformly test the ideal’s properties. We seek to establish such definable formulas in rings of p-adic power series, such as $\mathbb Q_{p}\langle X\rangle $, $\mathbb Z_{p}\langle X\rangle $, and related rings of power series over more general valuation rings and their fraction fields. We obtain a definable, uniform test for radicality, and, in the one-dimensional (...) case, for primality. This builds upon the techniques stemming from the proof of the quantifier elimination results for the analytic theory of the p-adic integers by Denef and van den Dries, and the linear algebra methods of Hermann and Seidenberg.prepared by Madeline G. Barnicle.E-mail: [email protected]: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6t02q9s4. (shrink)

Within the field of education management studies, recent reforms promoting devolution and choice are often seen to provide exciting new opportunities. It is claimed that the 'new' education management, with its emphasis on site-based decision-making and consumer accountability, will enable headteachers and principals to 'take control' of their schools and make them more productive environments in which to work and study. However, our review of research findings from five different countries that are putting in place devolution and choice policies suggests (...) that these new opportunities are more illusory than real. Positioned between the competing demands of the state and the market, school managers are becoming increasingly isolated from colleagues and classrooms - leading to a growing divergence between the managers and the managed. The paper considers the implication of recent developments for managers in general and for women managers in particular and concludes by discussing the relationship between the personalisation of responsibility and the legitimation of crises within the state and public education. (shrink)

In his sociological works Pareto developed a theory of cyclical social change within the general equilibrium framework. Building on an earlier propositional formalization, we translate Pareto's theory into a series of simultaneous equations and simulate the equation system. The dynamic behavior of the simulation is consistent with Pareto's predictions and demonstrates the internal logic of the theory.

Most of these eight essays on contemporary figures were given as lectures or speeches between 1990 and 1996. A piece on Ernst Cassirer’s humanistic legacy gives the collection its title, but the other subjects treated are far-ranging: Karl Jaspers on the clash of religious cultures, Georg Henrik von Wright’s noncognitive ethics, Gershom Scholem’s magisterial biography of the kabbalist Sabbatai Sevi, Karl-Otto Apel’s hermeneutics, Johann Baptist Metz on the Jewish element in Christianity, Michael Theunissen on the relation of negative theology to (...) social theory, and a review of the work of script writer and film director Alexander Kluge. Habermas unifies this panoply by his fascination with the transformation of the modern West’s key symbols through their confrontation with other cultures. Prime among these symbols are language and religious doctrines, especially Christian and Jewish. When he examines this general theme in particular cases, Habermas first presents an exposé of a thinker, then raises critical questions, and finally points out insights of enduring significance. One decided advantage of his method is its attention to clarity and organization. Probably because these essays were originally delivered orally, they never leave the reader in doubt as to what topics they will handle and when each is being taken up. (shrink)

Tim Maudlin’s Truth and Paradox is terrific. In some sense its solution to the paradoxes is familiar—the book advocates an extension of what’s called the Kripke-Feferman theory. Nonetheless, the perspective it casts on that solution is completely novel, and Maudlin uses this perspective to try to make the prima facie unattractive features of this solution seem palatable, indeed inescapable. Moreover, the book deals with many important issues that most writers on the paradoxes never deal with, including issues about the application (...) of the Gödel theorems to powerful theories that include our theory of truth. The book includes intriguing excursions into general metaphysics, e.g. on the nature of logic, facts, vagueness, and much more; and it’s lucid and lively, a pleasure to read. It will interest a wide range of philosophers. (shrink)

As the Nietzsche industry continues to thrive, offering Zarathustra zealots everything from coffee table photography books to quasi-fictional accounts of Nietzsche’s mad dance into insanity and posterity, Daniel Conway offers a sober account of Nietzsche’s late writings, choosing to address quite seriously the shrill excesses that mark Nietzsche’s work from 1885–8. Conway undertakes to present Nietzsche’s own decadence and inheriting readership as evidence of the failure of his later project. Nietzsche embarks on voyages toward terrible seas, seeking to unsterilize wisdom (...) and set his revaluation of values in motion by announcing his presence as “dynamite”; Conway exposes Nietzsche’s later works as just that, a tremendous power with erratic and often misguided aim. Whereas Kaufmann, Schacht, and others defend Nietzsche’s thought as apolitical, and gloss over or ignore altogether the vitriol and self-aggrandizement of Nietzsche’s last five works, Conway treats Nietzsche’s critique of modernity in light of Nietzsche’s self-referential motif. Unfortunately, Nietzsche crumbles under the burden of such scrutiny, as he emerges as the decaying embodiment of those upon whom he sets. Conway portrays Nietzsche as a cunning strategist who employs various techniques to obfuscate his own enervation. Nietzsche here is cast as the self-avowed decadent whose descent is marked by his solicitation of discipleship, and who knows full well that those worthy heirs will turn on him in an act of perfidy. The shameless shepherding of flatterers, reprobates, and misfits signals his decadence; Nietzsche recruits scions from the fringes of society instead of fostering his militia from within the latently noble ranks. Resuscitating the modern community is rejected as a futile project for Nietzsche; he casts himself as the neo-Christ figure whose immediate audience, owing to their own decadence, has a flash point too high for Nietzsche to ignite. The modern pilot light has been snuffed out, Nietzsche concedes, and a new one must be lit. (shrink)

Objectivity plays a central role in Western news media, being considered the cornerstone of professionalism and quality. However, as traditionally and passively practiced, critiques of objectivity include journalists overlooking inherent subjectivities in newsgathering, the impacts of journalists’ ideology on news representation, replication of existing power structures, and portrayals of false balance. These critiques have led to increasing scholarly and professional interest in alternative forms of journalism, including constructive journalism – an approach intended to improve the quality and usefulness of (...) news content. We position constructive journalism as a series of techniques: solutions, future orientation, inclusiveness and diversity, empowerment, context, and co-creation, and consider the relationship of each to an active form of objectivity, clarifying the contested relation of constructive journalism to objective reporting. Further, we describe how constructive techniques help journalists ethically and transparently navigate subjectivity in news reporting, with an aim toward improving the accuracy and quality of news. (shrink)

Tim Maudlin’s Truth and Paradox is terrific. In some sense its solution to the paradoxes is familiar—the book advocates an extension of what’s called the Kripke-Feferman theory (although the definition of validity it employs disguises this fact). Nonetheless, the perspective it casts on that solution is completely novel, and Maudlin uses this perspective to try to make the prima facie unattractive features of this solution seem palatable, indeed inescapable. Moreover, the book deals with many important issues that most writers on (...) the paradoxes never deal with, including issues about the application of the Gödel theorems to powerful theories that include our theory of truth. The book includes intriguing excursions into general metaphysics, e.g. on the nature of logic, facts, vagueness, and much more; and it’s lucid and lively, a pleasure to read. It will interest a wide range of philosophers. (shrink)

In recent years an uneasy peace has descended in U.S. academe between those who feel research universities have done too little to advance the representation of minority groups and women and those who feel that the administrative policies developed to improve representation can and sometimes do come into conflict with core intellectual commitments of universities. Using quantitative and qualitative evidence from interviews with 47 natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics faculty members at a U.S. research university, the paper examines the background (...) characteristics of three sets of protagonists - academic progressives, academic traditionalists, and those whose views bridge the divide - and the way respondents discussed and justified their viewpoints. The paper draws on the theory of strategic action fields to illuminate the structure and dynamics of the conflict and suggests modifications to the theory that would improve its explanatory power for this case. (shrink)

In spite of the analogies between Q p and F p ((t)) which became evident through the work of Ax and Kochen, an adaptation of the complete recursive axiom system given by them for Q p to the case of F p ((t)) does not render a complete axiom system. We show the independence of elementary properties which express the action of additive polynomials as maps on F p ((t)). We formulate an elementary property expressing this action and show that (...) it holds for all maximal valued fields. We also derive an example of a rather simple immediate valued function field over a henselian defectless ground field which is not a henselian rational function field. This example is of special interest in connection with the open problem of local uniformization in positive characteristic. (shrink)

The past decade has been marked by a series of global crises, presenting an opportunity to reevaluate the relationship between science and politics. The biological sciences are instrumental in understanding natural phenomena and informing policy decisions. However, scholars argue that current scientific expertise often fails to account for entire populations and long-term impacts, hindering efforts to address issues such as biodiversity loss, global warming, and pandemics. This article explores the structural challenges of integrating an evolutionary perspective, historically opposed to (...) functional determinants of health and disease, into current biological science practices. Using data on Swiss biology professors from 1957, 1980, and 2000, we examine the structural power dynamics that have led to the division between these competing epistemologies, and how this division has influenced resource allocation and career trajectories. Our analysis suggests that this cleavage presents a significant obstacle to achieving fruitful reconciliations, and that increased academicization and internationalization may benefit functional biologists at the expense of evolutionary biologists. While evolutionary biologists have gained symbolic recognition in recent years, this has not translated into valuable expertise in the political domain. (shrink)

C. U. Jensen suggested the following construction, starting from a field $K: K_0 = K, K_{\alpha + 1} = K_\alpha ((X_\alpha)), K_\alpha = \bigcup K_\beta$ if $\alpha$ is limit and asked when two fields $k_\alpha$ and $K_\beta$ are equivalent. We give a complete answer in the case of a field $K$ of characteristic 0.

We explain how the field of logarithmic-exponential series constructed in 20 and 21 embeds as an exponential field in any field of exponential-logarithmic series constructed in 9, 6, and 13. On the other hand, we explain why no field of exponential-logarithmic series embeds in the field of logarithmic-exponential series. This clarifies why the two constructions are intrinsically different, in the sense that they produce non-isomorphic models of Thequation image; the elementary theory of the ordered field of (...) real numbers, with the exponential function and restricted analytic functions. (shrink)

We extend the notion of absolute convergence for real series in several variables to a notion of convergence for series in a power series field ℝ((t Γ)) with coefficients in ℝ. Subsequently, we define a natural notion of analytic function at a point of ℝ((t Γ))m. Then, given a real function f analytic on a open box I of ℝ m , we extend f to a function f ★ which is analytic on a subset of (...) ℝ((t Γ)) m containing I. We prove that the functions f ★ share with real analytic functions certain basic properties: they are , they have usual Taylor development, they satisfy the inverse function theorem and the implicit function theorem. (shrink)

Given an ordered fieldK, we compute the natural valuation and skeleton of the ordered multiplicative group (K >0, ·, 1, <) in terms of those of the ordered additive group (K,+,0,<). We use this computation to provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the value groupv(K) and residue field $\bar K$ , for theL ∞ε-equivalence of the above mentioned groups. We then apply the results to exponential fields, and describev(K) in that case. Finally, ifK is countable or a power (...) series field, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions onv(K) and $\bar K$ forK to be exponential. In the countable case, we get a structure theorem forv(K). (shrink)

Real Language Series General Editors:Jennifer Coates, Jenny Cheshire, Euan Reid This is a sociolinguistics series about the relationships between language, society and social change. Books in the series draw on natural language data from a wide range of social contexts. The series takes a critical approach to the subject, challenging current orthodoxies, and dealing with familiar topics in new ways. Gender and Discourse offers a critical new approach to the study of language and gender studies. Women (...) moving into the public domains of power traditionally monopolised by men are creating new identities for themselves, and the language that is used by them and about them offers an insight into gender roles. Clare Walsh reviews the current dominance/difference debates, and proposes a new analytical framework which combines the insights of critical discourse and feminist perspectives on discourse to provide a new perspective on the role of women in public life. A superbly accessible book designed for students and researchers in the field, the book features: - topical case studies from the arenas of politics, religion and activism- a new analytical framework, also summarised in chart form so the reader can apply their own critical analyses of texts. - written and visual text types for the reader's own linguistic and semiotic analysis. 'This important book takes up a neglected question in the study of language and gender - what difference women make to the discourse of historically male-dominated institutions - and brings to bear on it both the insights of feminist scholarship and evidence from women's own testimony. Clare Walsh's analysis of the dilemmas women face is both subtle and incisive, taking us beyond popular 'Mars and Venus' stereotypes and posing some hard questions for fashionable theories of language, identity and performance. (shrink)

Sandra Field, Jeffrey Flynn, Stephen Macedo, Longxi Zhang, and Martin Powers discussed Powers’ book China and England: The Preindustrial Struggle for Social Justice in Word and Image at the American Philosophical Association’s 2020 Eastern Division meeting in Philadelphia. The panel was sponsored by the APA’s “Committee on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies” and organized by Brian Bruya.

In this paper is examined the acceleration of convergence of alternative and non-alternative numerical and power series by means of an Euler-Abel type operator, that is defined earlier by G.A.Sorokin and I.Z.Milovanovic. Through this type of linear operator of generalized difference of sequence is achieved that alternative and non-alternative numerical and power series to be transformed into series with higher speed of convergence than the initial series. At the end of this paper is (...) given the implementation of this method through a numeric example. (shrink)

This chapter considers the ways in which whiteness as a skin color and ideology becomes a dominant level that sets the background against which all things, people and relations appear. Drawing on Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology, it takes up a series of films by Bruce Nauman and Marlon Riggs to consider ways in which this level is phenomenally challenged providing insights into the embodiment of racialization.

This book offers a detailed study of the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and Benedict de Spinoza, focussing on their concept of power as potentia, concrete power, rather than power as potestas, authorised power. The focus on power as potentia generates a new conception of popular power. Radical democrats–whether drawing on Hobbes's 'sleeping sovereign' or on Spinoza's 'multitude'–understand popular power as something that transcends ordinary institutional politics, as for instance popular plebsites or mass (...) movements. However, the book argues that these understandings reflect a residual scholasticism which Hobbes and Spinoza ultimately repudiate. Instead, on the book's revisionist conception, a political phenomenon should be said to express popular power when it is both popular (it eliminates oligarchy and encompasses the whole polity), and also powerful (it robustly determines political and social outcomes). Two possible institutional forms that this popular power might take are distinguished: Hobbesian repressive egalitarianism, or Spinozist civic strengthening. But despite divergent institutional proposals, the book argues that both Hobbes and Spinoza share the conviction that there is nothing spontaneously egalitarian or good about human collective existence. From this point of view, the book accuses radical democrats of pernicious romanticism; the slow, meticulous work of organizational design and maintenance is the true centre of popular power. Three minute video summary available via HPBin3. Extended discussion on The Political Theory Review podcast. First chapter open access available via Oxford Scholarship Online. Videos of book talks at National University of Singapore (Centre for Legal Theory) and Universidad de Buenos Aires (Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani) available via YouTube. (See links below.). (shrink)

While non-classical theories of truth that take truth to be transparent have some obvious advantages over any classical theory that evidently must take it as non-transparent, several authors have recently argued that there's also a big disadvantage of non-classical theories as compared to their “external” classical counterparts: proof-theoretic strength. While conceding the relevance of this, the paper argues that there is a natural way to beef up extant internal theories so as to remove their proof-theoretic disadvantage. It is suggested that (...) the resulting internal theories should seem preferable to their external counterparts. (shrink)

We classify the measures on the lattice ℒ of all closed subspaces of infinite-dimensional orthomodular spaces (E, Ψ) over fields of generalized power series with coefficients in ℝ. We prove that every σ-additive measure on ℒ can be obtained by lifting measures from the residual spaces of (E, Ψ). The measures being lifted are known, for the residual spaces are Euclidean. From the classification we deduce, among other things, that the set of all measures on ℒ (...) is not separating. (shrink)

In this paper we prove that the field of Logarithmic-Exponential power series endowed with the exponential function and a class of analytic functions containing both the overconvergent functions in the t -adic norm and the usual strictly convergent power series is o-minimal.

Nonclassical theories of truth that take truth to be transparent have some obvious advantages over any classical theory of truth. But several authors have recently argued that there’s also a big disadvantage of nonclassical theories as compared to their “external” classical counterparts: proof-theoretic strength. While conceding the relevance of this, the paper argues that there is a natural way to beef up extant internal theories so as to remove their proof-theoretic disadvantage. It is suggested that the resulting internal theories are (...) preferable to their external counterparts. (shrink)

The paper presents a kind of normative anti-realist view of epistemology, in the same ballpark as recent versions of expressivism. But the primary focus of the paper is less on this meta-epistemological view itself than on how it should affect ground-level issues in epistemology: for instance, how it should deal with certain forms of skepticism, and how it allows for fundamental revision in epistemic practices. It is hoped that these methodological consequences will seem attractive independent of the normative anti-realism. Indeed, (...) some normative realists seem to embrace the view on skepticism, but it is argued that their position is unstable: the realism undermines the methodology. The general theme of the paper is that the issue of normative realism is deeply entwined with issues of methodology, in strong contrast to the common claim that meta-epistemological views in the tradition of expressivism have no first order impact. (shrink)

Thomas Hobbes has been hailed as the philosopher of power par excellence; however, I demonstrate that Hobbes’s conceptualization of political power is not stable across his texts. Once the distinction is made between the authorized and the effective power of the sovereign, it is no longer sufficient simply to defend a doctrine of the authorized power of the sovereign; such a doctrine must be robustly complemented by an account of how the effective power commensurate to (...) this authority might be achieved. Nor is this straightforward: for effective political power can fluctuate, sometimes severely. In this light, the prevalent juridical reading of Hobbes’s political philosophy is inadequate. (shrink)

According to a recent interpretive orthodoxy, Spinoza is a profoundly democratic theorist of state authority. I reject this orthodoxy. To be sure, for Spinoza, a political order succeeds in proportion as it harnesses the power of the people within it. However, Spinoza shows that political inclusion is only one possible strategy to this end; equally if not more useful is political exclusion, so long as it maintains what I call the depoliticised acquiescence of those excluded.

Spanish translation of Field, S. L. (2014). 'Hobbes and the question of power'. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 52(1), 61-86. Thomas Hobbes has been hailed as the philosopher of power par excellence; however, I demonstrate that Hobbes’s conceptualization of political power is not stable across his texts. Once the distinction is made between the authorized and the effective power of the sovereign, it is no longer sufficient simply to defend a doctrine of the authorized (...) class='Hi'>power of the sovereign; such a doctrine must be robustly complemented by an account of how the effective power commensurate to this authority might be achieved. Nor is this straightforward: for effective political power can fluctuate, sometimes severely. In this light, the prevalent juridical reading of Hobbes’s political philosophy is inadequate. (shrink)

Given a theory T of a polynomially bounded o-minimal expansion R of $${\bar{\mathbb{R}} = \langle\mathbb{R}, +,., 0, 1, < \rangle}$$ with field of exponents $${\mathbb{Q}}$$, we introduce a theory $${\mathbb{T}}$$ whose models are expansions of dense pairs of models of T by a discrete multiplicative group. We prove that $${\mathbb{T}}$$ is complete and admits quantifier elimination when predicates are added for certain existential formulas. In particular, if T = RCF then $${\mathbb{T}}$$ axiomatises $${\langle\bar{\mathbb{R}}, \mathbb{R}_{alg}, 2^{\mathbb{Z}}\rangle}$$, where $${\mathbb{R}_{alg}}$$ denotes the real (...) algebraic numbers. We describe types and definable sets in our models and prove that $${\mathbb{T}}$$ is dependent. (shrink)

In May 2021, Alan Bechaz, Racher Du, Will Cailes and Thomas Spiteri interviewed Sandra Leonie Field for UPJA’s Conversations from the Region. A series of discussions that invites philosophers from or based in Australasia to share their student and academic experiences. The segment looks into what inspires people to study philosophy, how they pursue their philosophical interests, and gives our audiences a better idea of philosophy as an undergraduate.

The European Hobbes Society Online Colloquium featured my book, Potentia: Hobbes and Spinoza on Power and Popular Politics. This is a précis of the book.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Psychopathy, Other-Regarding Moral Beliefs, and ResponsibilityLloyd Fields (bio)AbstractIn this paper I seek to show that at least one kind of psychopath is incapable of forming other-regarding moral beliefs; hence that they cannot act for other-regarding moral reasons; and hence that they are not appropriate subjects for the assessment of either moral or legal responsibility. Various attempts to characterize psychopaths are considered and rejected, in particular the widely held (...) view that psychopaths are, in general, incapable of understanding moral concepts. The particular disability proposed here, the incapacity to form other-regarding moral beliefs, is then derived from an analysis of what is required for someone to be a responsible agent. This is illustrated with a detailed case history. A defect of this kind is shown to vitiate moral responsibility, because it renders the psychopath irresponsive to the social pressures which normally ensure respect for moral norms. It is also shown that the psychopath is not a suitable subject for the assessment of legal responsibility, because he lacks the capacity to act from common prudence to avoid sanctions. I conclude that the attempt to characterize particular defects from among the heterogeneity of psychopathic subjects, could lead to better targeted, and hence to more effective, management of particular cases.KeywordsCriminality, mental illness, personality disorder, blame, liability, moral beliefs, guilt, social moralityIntroductionThe term “psychopath” has been used with a wide variety of different meanings and, no doubt, covers a heterogeneous group of subjects (Criminal behaviour and mental health 1992). My aim in this paper is to argue that at least a subgroup of those subjects are characterized by an inability to form other-regarding moral beliefs—and hence, for this particular reason, are not morally responsible agents—and that they also lack the capacity for prudence, and hence are not legally responsible agents.I begin by distinguishing the particular sense in which I will be using the term “psychopathy.” I then consider some suggestions in the literature regarding the defect by which psychopaths might be characterized—that they are mentally ill, or incapable of understanding moral concepts. In rejecting these, I come to the suggestion that the relevant defect is an inability to form other-regarding moral beliefs, a defect which is graphically illustrated by a case report from the literature. I explore the implication of this kind of defect for [End Page 261] moral responsibility as a socially-embedded notion, and the implication of the psychopath’s inability to exercise prudence in relation to legal liability.Nothing in this paper should be taken to suggest that psychopaths are irredeemable. On the contrary, as I argue in an endnote, correctly characterizing the defect from which they suffer leads directly to forms of treatment whose effectiveness has acquired a measure of empirical support.The Nature of PsychopathyPsychopathy is not a homogeneous concept; there are different types of psychopaths. For example, Henderson identified a type of psychopath who he classified as “Predominantly Creative,” exemplified by such figures as T. E. Lawrence and Joan of Arc. In people of this type genius is associated with heightened sensitivity, psychosexual immaturity and emotional instability (Henderson 1939, 108–20; Henderson and Gillespie 1969, 317). Predominantly creative psychopaths do not come within my purview.By “psychopathy” I shall mean the specific form of personality disorder described by Cleckley in his book, The Mask of Sanity (Cleckley 1964). Cleckley’s description forms the basis of Hare’s Revised (20-item) Psychopathy Checklist. The Checklist includes the following personality traits and deviant behaviors:1. Glibness/superficial charm.2. Grandiose sense of self-worth.3. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom.4. Pathological lying.5. Conning/manipulative.6. Lack of remorse or guilt.7. Shallow affect.8. Callous/lack of empathy.9. Parasitic lifestyle.10. Poor behavioral controls.11. Promiscuous sexual behavior.12. Early behavior problems.13. Lack of realistic, long-term plans.14. Impulsivity.15. Irresponsibility.16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions.17. Many short-term marital relationships.18. Juvenile delinquency.19. Revocation of conditional release.20. Criminal versatility (Hare 1986, 18). 1This conceptualization resembles in many respects the category of Antisocial Personality Disorder as described in the American Psychiatric... (shrink)