Q&A: Why Is a Wicked Person Considered Wicked?
Why Is a Wicked Person Considered Wicked?
Question
Hello,
I studied psychology about psychopaths, sociopaths, and the like. I’ve also been hurt (badly) by people like that in life, and I understand these “worlds” pretty well.
Anyone who studies these people even a little will see that they don’t really choose this; they have things in their personality that push them toward it. And even someone who supposedly “chooses it with clear awareness, etc.” — that’s simply a case of “true psychopaths” who aren’t connected to emotions at all, etc. In other words, a person who is emotionally mature and connected to himself has no chance of suddenly murdering his wife, for example, or suddenly stealing and so on, unless some very, very, very extreme situation happens — for example, if he feels very threatened for a valid reason, and so on.
So why are they considered “wicked” in a negative sense?
For example, if there were a robot programmed to break things and kill, nobody would call it wicked… that’s just how it was programmed.
So too with the various psychopaths. They’re simply programmed that way.
Answer
Someone who has no control over his actions is not wicked. At most, one must protect oneself from him. The issue of psychopaths is fascinating, since they are defined as people who understand very well what is good and what is bad, and nevertheless do what is bad. It seems to me that the accepted assumption is that they are responsible for their actions. That is under a libertarian assumption. If you are a determinist, then no person should be judged for his actions.