ABSTRACT

Is psychopathy born or made? Contemporary psychopathy research shows that there is much wrong with this question. It is increasingly accepted that the development of psychopathy is dependent on multiple causal factors interacting with one another. However, there remains the major theoretical challenge of understanding the relations between these multiple causal factors in the developmental process. In this paper, I argue that the conventional picture of gene-environment interactionism does not offer an adequate account of psychopathy development. Instead, I propose that a theoretical framework from the philosophy of biology, namely developmental systems theory, can facilitate a better understanding of psychopathy development that captures the contingent and dynamic relations between multiple causal factors. Some practical implications of a developmental systems theory approach to psychopathy are also explored.

摘要

心理疾病是天生的还是天生的？当代精神病研究表明，这个问题有很多错误。人们越来越认识到，精神病的发展取决于相互影响的多种因果因素。然而，在发展过程中理解这些多种因果因素之间的关系仍然存在着重大的理论挑战。在本文中，我认为基因与环境相互作用的传统图景并未充分说明心理疾病的发展。取而代之的是，我提出生物学哲学的理论框架，即发展系统理论，可以促进对精神病发展的更好理解，该精神病发展反映了多种因果因素之间的偶然和动态关系。