ESPF colloquium: Responsibility theory and mental health stigma

Responsibility theory and mental health stigma: A critique of Strawson’s account of exemptions in “Freedom and Resentment"

In his seminal essay “Freedom and Resentment,” Peter Strawson argues that people with psychotic disorders are exempt from moral responsibility. Drawing on ordinary language philosophy, he appeals to various “commonplaces” to justify adopting the “objective attitude” toward individuals with psychotic disorders, regarding them not as members of the moral community but as subjects “to be managed or handled or cured or trained.” In the first part of the talk, I argue that Strawson’s account of exemptions reflects and reinforces persistent forms of mental health stigma and should therefore be rejected. I support my claims with empirical evidence on the structure of mental health stigma. In the second part, I propose an alternative, more inclusive account of exemptions that recognizes people with psychotic disorders as full members of the moral community, and I show that this account can still explain why actions motivated by delusional beliefs sometimes warrant exculpation from moral blame.

Author: Matthé Scholten, Institute for Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, Ruhr University Bochum

For more information, contact Charlotte Knowles c.e.knowles rug.nl