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I don't know much about psychopathy, but is it generally accurate to say that psychopaths don't "understand" the ethical rules of society or the motivation for

I don't know much about psychopathy, but is it generally accurate to say that psychopaths don't "understand" the ethical rules of society or the motivation for having said rules? I thought it was more that they didn't feel any sense of personal moral obligation to follow these rules or any sense of guilt when they don't follow them (while they still might completely understand the rules and their philosophical justifications, and may even be completely in favor of these rules existing and everyone else following them). (Like I said though, I know very little about the disorder and am mostly conjecturing based on superficial familiarity)

VMG 14y ago
There is an extremely interesting podcast episode about that topic. I recommend it to everybody who is interested in a scientific discussion of this topic: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/the-moral-judgment-of-psychopaths/2926530 http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszon... From the transcript: So we all start by mimicking but by the time we are adults we can tell why rape is wrong. Rape is wrong because of the horrible suffering that it inflicts on the victim. And psychopaths, even when they're adults, will say 'of course rape is wrong', they don't really understand that it's wrong or why it's wrong. They are just saying that because other people have told them that and it helps them get along in society to mimic.