• kemsat@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    8 months ago

    I wouldn’t say they are part of the social contract in the first place. I don’t think they are like a regular person who gets naughty feelings when they do something bad, like running a red light at a dead intersection at 3:00 am. They just don’t think like regular people at all, so to place the same motives onto them as normal people is kind of missing the point. They don’t even see the social contract, and don’t have awareness that they are violating it.

      • kemsat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        8 months ago

        Right, to them there is no social contract. They recognize us normal people have & adhere to a social contract, but for them the social contract is like God to an atheist. Nonexistent, fabricated, an illusion, a delusion, etc.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        8 months ago

        I was friends with a psychopath for a long time (ended the friendship when I finally admitted to myself what he was).

        This definitely matches how he saw himself. Big time self identity as having transcended the social contract. But also, not in any way ignorant of the social contract. Understands it better than most people actually, made a serious study of history, philosophy, and sociology when he was still struggling with his own psychopathy.

        He tried really hard to find a reason to be good.

        A friend of his died in suspicious circumstances, and it matched an “idle thought”/what-if scenario he used to talk to me about. I suspect he killed that guy, and my gut tells me he hasn’t stopped.