WIPS - Simon Keller: Can I Be Mentally Healthy and Evil?

In the literature on evil, it is often taken as a conceptual truth that a genuinely evil person must be in full mental health; true evil cannot be explained as a disease or health deficit. Yet, starting from the literature on mental health, any evil person will almost certainly show symptoms of mental disorder or fail meet criteria for positive mental health. Prof. Simon Keller will work (quickly) through the debate about evil and the debate about mental health and try to find a combination of claims that yields a plausible story about the relationship between mental health and evil. Keller suggests that mental health is deeply different from physical health, that "mental health" is ultimately an evaluative concept, and that moral judgments are relevant to assessments of mental health; and distinguishes between paradigms of “utter evil” and paradigms of “human evil.” He suggests that there is a conceptual connection between being mentally healthy and (not) being evil, but it is a complicated connection. The upshot is that you can be evil, in one way, while also being mentally healthy, but it is difficult (and not recommended).

Prof. Simon Keller works on topics in ethics and political philosophy, and the philosophy of mental health and mental disorder. He has published extensively on issues concerning special relationships, including friendship, family relationships, love, and patriotism. He began work at Victoria University of Wellington in 2009, after previously teaching at Boston University and the University of Melbourne. He has also held visiting positions at Harvard University, Rice University, and Ludwig Maximillian University Munich. His book The Limits of Loyalty won the American Philosophical Association Book Prize in 2009; and his article "Fiduciary Duties and Moral Blackmail" won the Journal of Applied Philosophy Essay Prize in 2019.