Oxford University Press Headway: Fill & Download for Free

Gratitude and DuaFirst thing first. To answer your question:Yes! Several Arab and Persian poets of repute are recorded in authentic tradition to have tried to imitate Quran in prose or poetryThis a link to a detailed paper on history of these individualsI'jaz, Grammarians & JewsI will give you only two examples representing extreme ends of the spectrum of Quran ImitatorsTOMFOOLERY : One Arab poet shortly after Prophet conquered Makkah or after his passing claimed he had made ten verses like the holy Quran. Not only that, that he received divine revelations like the Quran. This is translation of only two of his verses. He tried to fulfill the linguistic bars and this is the meaning he got: 1- “O he frog! And O she frog! 2- Neither are you completely aquatic, nor dweller of land…!”HARDWORD : The latest attempt is in form of “Al Furqan” mentioned in answer before mine. Al Furqan is unable to meet even 10% of the criteria that Quran poses and is full of historic fallacies.Do read my full answer and then read the Quran and then Al Furqan. You will understandI will start with a list of linguistic criteria that any spoken or written word needs to meet, merely to come close to the Noble Quran:It must not be from the sixteen Al-Bihar (literally "Seas", so called because of the way the poem moves, according to its rhythmic patterns): At-Tawil, al-Bassit, al-Waafir, al-Kaamil, ar-Rajs, al-Khafeef, al-Hazaj, al-Muttakarib, al-Munsarih, al-Muktatab, al-Muktadarak, al-Madeed, al-Mujtath, al-Ramel, al-Khabab. So the challenge is to produce in Arabic, three lines, that do not fall into one of these sixteen Bihar, that is not rhyming prose, nor like the speech of soothsayers, and not normal speech, that it should contain at least a comprehensible meaning and rhetoric, i.e. not gobbledygookIt must not contain contradiction which is one of the criteria God has given us Himself: “Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than God, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.” (Quran 4:82)It must contain information about the future i.e. ProphesiesIt must contain scientific information which is unknown to us today and which will only be verified in the future sometimeIt must literary be perfectIt must be powerfull like the Quran. (i.e. The Quran was so powerful that even when the pagans use to hear it they would stop in their way to listen to it. I have shown you examples of that above here are a few more: “At one occasion the Prophet (pbuh) was reciting the Chapter An-Najm in the Holy Kaaba. While reciting he came to a verse and prostrated and with him prostrated all the muslims and even all the non-believers, who were hiding and listening to the recitation, could not stop themselves from prostrating.” It has to have the sort of effect on people like the Quran had and has and will have forever on people.)It must have the power to move people to tears on a regular basisIt must be such that people would never get bored of reading it even if they read it again and again. They must not get tired and fed up of it. (This is from my personal experience. This is the uniqueness of the Quran. I have heard of songs that really sound very sweet and beautifull. I use to hear them again and again on occasions and I remember coming to the point where I totally got disgusted with the song and bored of it. So much so that I would hate hearing it again. With the Quran it is not so at all. I have myself heard Surah Yasin recited by Qari Abdul Basit everyday, for months and not once have I got bored of it ever! Even now I feel like listening to it again and again. My thirst for it increases not decreases.)It has to have the Power of giving mental and spiritual peace to whoever reads or listens to itIt must have the power of not only awe striking the listner or reader but also must be able to bring a change within the people individually and socially, just like the Quran brought change and a revolutionThree furthur criteria’s have been stated in the following verses by God Almighty himself: “.We have already sent down to you verses making things clear, an illustration from (the story of) people who passed away before you, and an admonition for those who fear (God).” (Quran 24:34) i.e it must make things clear, must illustrate stories about the people passed away, and be an admonition for those who fear GodMust be historically accurateMust be accurate with scientifically proven factsAllah says also "….It is a Guide and a Healing to those who believe; and for those who believe not, there is a deafness in their ears, and it is blindness in their (eyes): They are (as it were) being called from a place far distant!" (Quran 41 44). So it must be a guide to those that believe“This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear God; 3. Who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them;” (Quran 2:2). It must guide those who fear God, believe in the unseen, are steadfast in prayer, spend out of what is provided for them. Anyone can guide the Fools!!!HISTORIAN’S TESTIMONIES TO IMPOSSIBILITY OF IMITATING QURAN"In making the present attempt to improve on the performance of my predecessors, and to produce something which might be accepted as echoing however faintly the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pains to study the intricate and richly varied rhythms which - apart from the message itself - constitute the Koran's undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary masterpieces of mankind... This very characteristic feature - 'that inimitable symphony,' as the believing Pickthall described his Holy Book, 'the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy' - has been almost totally ignored by previous translators; it is therefore not surprising that what they have wrought sounds dull and flat indeed in comparison with the splendidly decorated original."The Koran Interpreted, Arthur J. Arberry, Oxford University Press, 1964, p. x.On Ibn al-Mukaffa''s attempt to match the Qur'ân, we read: When Ibn al-Muqaffa' arrived at the passage Sura 11:42-46 he realized that it was impossible for any human being to equal the book. So, he desisted from his mu'arada and tore up what he had done. Gustave E Von Grunebaum, A Tenth-Century Document Of Arabic Literary Theory and Criticism, 1950, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p. xiv.The Qur'ân is not verse, but it is rhythmic. The rhythm of some verses resemble the regularity of sajc, and both are rhymed, while some verses have a similarity to Rajaz in its vigour and rapidity. But it was recognized by Quraysh critics to belong to neither one nor the other category. A F L Beeston, T M Johnstone, R B Serjeant and G R Smith (Editors), Arabic Literature To The End Of The Ummayad Period, 1983, Cambridge University Press, p. 34.I hope to have given you some headway in your searchPeace!

Apparently not. I finally bit the bullet and bought The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics (when its price dropped to $120!) and it’s citing a lot of work from this decade. In fact, only in this decade has the concept of grounding replaced the concept of supervenience in discussions of the relationship between the mental and the physical.Here’s a publisher’s blurb from a 2013 book from Oxford University Press, Mental Causation and Ontology, that makes it clear that people think exciting and valuable work is being done.“Mental causation has been a hotly disputed topic in recent years, with reductive and non-reductive physicalists vying with each other and with dualists over how to accommodate, or else to challenge, two widely accepted metaphysical principles--the principle of the causal closure of the physical domain and the principle of causal non-overdetermination--which together appear to support reductive physicalism, despite the latter's lack of intuitive appeal. Current debate about these matters appears to have reached something of an impasse, prompting the question of why this should be so. One possibility is that, while this debate makes extensive use of ontological vocabulary--by talking, for instance, of substances, events, states, properties, powers, and relations--relatively little attempt has been made within the debate itself to achieve either clarity or agreement about what, precisely, such terms should be taken to mean. The debate has become somewhat detached from broader developments in metaphysics and ontology, which have lately been proceeding apace, providing us with an increasingly rich and refined set of ontological categories upon which to draw, as well as a much deeper understanding of how they are related to one another. In this volume, leading metaphysicians and philosophers of mind reflect afresh upon the problem of mental causation in the light of some of these recent developments, with a view to making new headway with one of the most challenging and seemingly intractable issues in contemporary philosophy.”

Part 1 of 2: What is the latest research on brain structure, chemistry, physiology and genetics as well as emerging theories regarding psychopathy?This answer is a collaboration between Athena Walker and Dr. Natalie Engelbrecht, BA MSc ND RP. As such, it is divided between two posts. The first half is presented in Athena Walker’s post with a link to Natalie Engelbrecht’s, and the second half is presented in Natalie Engelbrecht’s post with a link to Athena Walker’s. Please start with Athena Walker’s post. Both posts were a collaboration, with neither being written solely by either individual.Care was taken to use the most up-to-date research (<5 years)—older if nothing recent was available (<15 years)—and in places with appropriate seminal work. It is important to recognize that in the DSM-V, psychopathy is referred to as antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). However, researchers such as Blair have indicated that the two are not synonymous. That said, all attempts have been made to utilize studies that are indicative of psychopathy, not ASPD or sociopathy; however, researchers still utilize a variety of terms when referring to psychopathy, making it challenging at times to identify the population they used in their study.Emerging Theories Regarding PsychopathyIntroductionAlthough the media continues to use exaggerated and unrealistic psychopathic characters, in reality, psychopathy exists on a spectrum, where each individual is like no other and rather exhibits a unique personality and individualized traits, signs, and symptoms in varying degrees.According to James Fallon, about 2% of men and about 1% of women are true psychopaths in most societies. Kevin Dutton asserts that the number is even smaller, ranging from .75%–1% of the general populace. When you include those on the border who do not quite get over the test scoring for a full-blown psychopath, then you start to get up to 5%, 10%, or 15% of the population who may be a near-psychopath or prosocial psychopath that can navigate their way very well through society without ever being identified by others, or even be aware themselves.Recognizing that psychopathy may be a significant portion of our population, it is important to consider the possibility of it being a variant of the neurotypical brain, rather than a disorder. With technology now allowing gene research and brain scans, we are starting to understand primary psychopathy in new ways. Kevin Dutton speaks about “the good psychopath,” who is able to “dial up or down qualities such as ruthlessness, fearlessness, decisiveness, conscience and empathy to get the very best out of himself . . . in a wide range of situations.” Further, Blair, who is responsible for one of the major theories regarding psychopathy, proposes that psychopathy is a cognitive and neural dysfunction with an increased risk for antisocial behavior. However, it is not equivalent to a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, which concentrates only on the increased risk for antisocial behavior and not a specific cause.As such, this post presents genetic research, brain structure of primary psychopathy, and emerging research suggesting that psychopathy is not in the DSM-V because it is not a mental illness, but a personality variant, although the antisocial aspects or other concomitants that may accompany it are.Psychopathy as a Neurobiological VariantPsychopathy is a born condition. It is marked by a unique formation of the brain that results in a different experience of emotions. Most emotions in a psychopath are very blunted, and some are missing entirely. Psychopathy is not predicated on abuse, neglect, or trauma, though these things can have an effect on the manifestation of traits within the person that has a psychopathic brain.Sociopathy is a condition that is likely genetically rooted. The person is born with a neurotypical brain formation that experiences severe abuse, neglect, and/or prolonged trauma prior to the age of six. This causes the brain to prune away certain neurons, causing the person to have a reduced emotional menu but a fully formed brain.ASPD is a personality disorder that is characterized by antisocial behaviors. This makes it a sweeping condition that is difficult to nail down as to causation and reasoning, short of saying that environment is involved, as well as factors such as abuse, and neglect.Psychopathy presents a unique problem with the different approaches to it in the scientific fields. Traditionally, psychopathy is thought of as a personality disorder, as the primary place to see the occurrence of the specific behaviors that are attributed to psychopathy has been in the halls of a prison or a mental institution. It is only recently that this belief is beginning to be called into question and a different manner of viewing the condition is emerging.As science either stalls in its progression—or attempts to make headway in challenging the static thoughts regarding psychopathy—it is stymied at every turn. However, another progression has begun to take a foothold, and people are beginning to take notice. It is forcing the consideration that perhaps the picture of psychopathy has been looked at upside-down all along, and now, there are those looking to set the picture straight. The place that this reexamination is taking place in is in the field of neuroscience, and the pictures that are emerging, while as colorful as any work of art may be, are coming from advanced scanners that are showing the hard science that will hopefully in the near future redefine what psychopathy is thought of in both terms and manifestation. Dragging old prejudices out from the dark hiding place under the carpet, dusting them off, and standing them against comparison to what is a more pragmatic and logical picture, psychopathy is due a rebranding and most definitely a new understanding. Let’s begin.Psychiatry (the study and treatment of mental illness, emotional disturbance, and abnormal behavior) and psychology (the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior) both focus on the human mind but on different aspects of the brain: the internal workings and the manifestation of the web of neurons firing represented in the perceptible reality in which we all dwell. This is where there should be incredible collaboration and cooperation, but for the moment, there are battle lines drawn—the old taking on the new. It’s an unnecessary war, but one that seems to be happening quietly, so a spotlight for the fighters has become a requirement. Neuroscientists (scientists such as neurochemists and experimental psychologists who deal with the structure or function of the nervous system and brain) have one view of the condition, while psychiatrists and psychologists hold a very different view. The opposing sides are at odds due to the original thoughts regarding psychopathy and the research that has gone into it as a personality disorder. This is understandable, as psychology/psychiatry has had decades of behavioral manifestations that have been determined to formulate a menu of antisocial traits that are then applied to the condition of psychopathy in a blanket method.However, in light of the emerging abilities to scan brains and see the neurological differences in the brain structure of psychopaths, it is now in need of being reexamined, not the least of reasons being that the vast majority—over 86% of psychopaths—are not serving time, nor have they any interest in doing so. This puts the screws on the very nature of antisocial behavior and its causes. Is psychopathy in any way the cause, or is it that some people—regardless of their brain formation—given the right circumstances, are prone to developing violent traits and that psychopaths are not immune from such a fate? Toxic environments may contribute to these abnormalities in brain function. For example, neuropsychological data on maltreated youngsters show hyperresponsivity to anger—an indirect index of amygdala hyperreactivity.What seems to be something that is agreed upon when it comes to the personality disorders—narcissism, sociopathy, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder—is that there is a negative history associated with their causation. This being the case, it could be seen that there is a genetic predisposition to these traits, but they are not activated unless the negative causative factor(s) is/are introduced, and in fact, perhaps those genetic factors could have positive results if their carriers are instead exposed to a positive environment instead of a negative one.Applying this same reasoning to psychopathy and the genetic map that appears to be associated with it, it is easy to see that while both schools of thought have something in the way of the truth, it is the burgeoning neuroscience that is showing that likely, a better understanding of psychopathy is it being a formation of the brain that is in no way on its own associated with pathology, such as antisocial behavior. A person with the formation of the psychopathic mind may struggle with impulse control, but this is remedied by influences that teach delay of gratification, impulse control, and stresses accountability of action. When these stopgaps are put into place, psychopathy goes from being something to hide away in the dark due to the social stigma to a significantly positive attribute that serves society in many positive ways.Someone that is not inhibited by fear would far more easily not collapse under the stress of facing fire on a daily basis. Fire in a building, fire coming from an AK-47—it matters not to the psychopathic mind. A job needs doing, and fear is nothing to be paid mind to. Finding a terrorist, finding a brain bleed—it’s all the same. It is something that must be done, and a psychopathic mind can focus on that task with the coldness and precision necessary to eliminate the problem. Regardless of the problem, unless absolutely insurmountable, a psychopath will not be stopped in their quest of completion. What is necessary will be done. It could nearly be a motto of the psychopathic mind.Now, the black deal of wedging separation between personality disorder and neurological formation proves to be difficult, as the static mindset tends to be of monstrous implications brought down by studies solely conducted on prisoner data sets, Hollywood using psychopathy as the villain of choice, and people’s own misunderstandings and demonization of the condition. The presentation of psychopathy in films tends to be one of a genius serial killer that coldly collects scalps for their collection. Even in the softest version, it is one steeped in the antisocial traits that are rarely attached to psychopathy.Psychiatry and psychology itself tends to lean hard on the stereotype of the psychopath seeking to do harm. This is due to their reading of the studies that show psychopaths to be the worst criminal cohort, along with patients who seek treatment who have been generally harmed by abusive people (although in the majority of cases, these are not psychopaths). This is perpetuated by the use of the PCL-R as the standard assessment tool of the field. It leans heavily on the antisocial traits and criminality. Robert Hare, the proprietor of the PCL-R, has rooted the identity of psychopathy in the antisocial traits of the criminal and defended that position against harsh criticism in recent years. Despite the position that many researchers are rebelling against, his defining terms of psychopathy being corner-stoned in the criminality and antisocial traits, he holds fast to his position. He not only continues to profit handsomely from the royalties of the PCL-R; he sues to keep its critics at bay.For a professional that is supposedly genuinely interested in helping people, it seems a heavy conflict of interest if you consider the following: Hare did not originate the list that makes up the PCL-R. This list of traits was mostly constructed back in the 1940s by psychologist Hervey Cleckley. It remains now nearly entirely intact—with very few alterations—in the form of the PCL-R. Those alterations are inclusive of more antisocial traits, as well as criminality. This was Robert Hare’s contribution to the list. His additions were based on his observations of incarcerated prisoners. This in and of itself is limiting. However, if this is extracted further, and the current neuroscience demonstrating that psychopathy is far more than a collection of antisocial traits, one can begin to see that it is more limiting as newer research emerges.The PCL-R might be an excellent diagnostic tool for antisocial traits, but it does not actually separate the various causes of those traits, which manifest in a variety of personality disorders. In no way are they exclusive to—or diagnostic of—psychopathy, and in no way are they a core aspect of psychopathy as a brain formation. If we separate psychopathy from the antisocial traits that are currently applied by the psychiatric/psychological side of things, it would negate the value of the PCL-R as a tool of assessing psychopathy completely.PCL-RPsychopathic Checklist RevisedRobert Hare has a copyright on the PCL-R. Not only that, it brings him over thirty thousand dollars in royalties annually. Being the proprietor of the PCL-R also gives Hare the distinguished position of being the recognized expert in psychopathy, and puts him in a unique position to be the gatekeeper of the perception of psychopathy. He capitalizes on this by conducting seminars, also called psychopath-spotting weekends. These not only generate a tremendous amount of income for him, but they also go against the ethics of assigning diagnoses by a layperson to people that they may meet. It flies in the face of professional ethics to be “instructing” people without training that they are in a position to be making these assessments.If the very idea of psychopathy and what it means undergoes an overhaul, Hare’s corner on the market dissolves, and he loses his income stream. Having a financial stake in the understanding of psychopathy is at the very least questionable, and it borders on unethical.In short, he has built his career on its back and makes his living from his identification of what psychopathy is. He is so known for it, there was a rumor that he would have his way having psychopathy reintroduced to the DSM as Hare’s Syndrome.This being the assumption the condition has left a very sour taste in most clinicians minds as they think of the psychopath as the manipulative client that shows no remorse and has no issue about lying to achieve the results desired. They often do not have a detailed education on personality disorders as a whole, and certainly most are not digging into the neuroscience of psychopathy.This also does not come close to cracking the shell of cognitive dissonance that seems to surround psychopathy as a psychological topic. There is this seeming need for many people in the profession to have psychopaths stay in one place—the negative column—no matter what evidence there may be to the contrary. What this does is it makes for a near impossible chasm to bridge. Learning is certainly something that is encouraged across careers, but there does tend to be a refusal to do so in the case of psychopathy. This is so much the case that when James Fallon—a well-known neuroscientist—discovered quite by accident that he had the brain patterns of a psychopathic mind; along with the genetics, he was met with outright accusations of being a fraud, as he did not have the criminality that often comes with it.Fallon does not fit the psychopathic mold that the psychiatric/psychological community holds aloft as sacrosanct. As such any information that has to do with pro-social psychopaths is immediately disregarded as crack science from the fringes of academia and as having no bearing on reality. These findings are denied, and the research dismissed. There is no willingness to budge on the topic. Even Kevin Dutton who dared to find positive aspects of psychopathy and lectures on it is called a maverick. He is a tenured psychology research professor at Oxford University, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Despite this he is not only ignored, but often attempts to dismiss his work over understanding is the norm.The method of diagnostics favored by Kevin Dutton is the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI-2). This is an inventory of over 150 questions that does not assume criminal or antisocial traits. In stark contrast to the headline-grabbing soundbites thrown out by the media and film industry, when psychologists like Dutton use the word ‘psychopath’, they are referring to a specific subgroup of individuals with a distinct subset of personality characteristics. These characteristics include: Ruthlessness, Fearlessness, Impulsivity, Self-confidence, Focus, Coolness under pressure, Mental toughness, Charm, Charisma, and a lack of Empathy and Conscience. This was standardized against a non-incarceration population and is far more valuable in assessing psychopathy in the general public.Personality characteristics have been demonstrated to be due to epigenetic influences on genes. As such, it is necessary to consider psychopathy as researchers such as Dutton (a research psychologist) and Fallon (a neuroscientist), and Blair (a researcher responsible for one of the two major theories on psychopathy) have done. This has been via separating it away from mental conditions to a variation in neurological formation. As such psychopathy is not in the DSM-V because it is not a mental illness, but that the antisocial aspects that may accompany it are.Imagining Genetics – fuses Genotype with PhenotypeYou need both the genes and changes in brain pattern to result in psychopathy. By themselves neither will result in psychopathy.PET scan: Measures the amount of sugar that is taken up. A PET gives the most amount of information, but is the most expensive to do—and is also no longer done, but was used in previous studies.fMRI: Measures the amount of blood flow in each area. An fMRI is moderately expensive and gives more information than a SPECT scan, but less than a PET scan.SPECT scan: measures blood flow in the brains and gives the least amount of information, but is the cheapest scan to do.Brain Structure (Phenotype)IntroductionThe use of brain scan technology to study mental health and disease began in the 1990s. Research has made correlations between areas of the brain and symptoms like increased anxiety or decreased empathy, and have begun to map out phenology of different personalities and disorders. The field of psychopathy has seen rapid growth in the use of neuroimaging to understand the condition. In some cases scientists are beginning to be able to predict pathology and personalities based on brain scans; however due to brain plasticity, controversy exists as to whether the personality alters the brain or the brain changes themselves create the personality.James Fallon, a leading neuroscientist at the forefront of psychopathy has been exploring the map of the psychopathic mind for the better part of two decades. Fallon describes a great loop that starts in the front of the brain including the parahippocampal gyrus and the amygdala and other regions tied to emotion and impulse control and empathy. Under certain circumstances these regions light up dramatically on a neurotypical person’s MRI scan, but are darker on a psychopath’s.Brain function structural models of psychopathyTwo researchers, Blair and Kiehl have proposed two distinctive but prominent models on the neurological origins of psychopathy. Both researchers suggest that there are changes in the function and structure in specific emotional processing areas of the brain. Both models suggest dysfunction of the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, however, Khiel’s model also includes additional paralympic region alterations, such as the anterior superior temporal gyrus and the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex.The key points of the Blair model are that the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex alterations are indicative of psychopathy. These brain regions allow for communication between the thinking and feeling centers of the brain. Blair further states that although psychopaths can sync normally, they do not integrate feelings appropriately. A metaphor to describe Blair’s model is that psychopaths know the words but not the music, and this is supported by behavioral and imaging data. Blair’s model indicates that while both psychopaths and neurotypicals recognize that running into a burning building is dangerous, only the neurotypical feels negative emotions associated with the act.Paralympic hypothesis of psychopathy: Kiehl ModelKiehl’s model of psychopathy developed via research of the behavior changes associated with acquired brain injuries that resulted in psychopathic behavior. This led the researchers to develop the term pseudopsychopathy and acquired sociopathic personality (or secondary psychopathy). His model states that it is a result of structural and functional abnormalities in the paralimbic structures of the brain, and that psychopathy has a developmental course. While this model is not related to primary psychopathy, it does however demonstrate the behavioral changes associated with alterations in brain structure, and function in the paralimbic structures.Changes in Brain Region Connectivity in PsychopathyIt is important to understand that research shows not only structural changes, but also diminished activity in areas of the brain, including diminished connectivity between areas of the brain. It is a combination of these factors that result in the personality that is unique to psychopaths. In 2011 Kiehl, Joseph Newman (a heavyweight in psychopathy) and colleagues demonstrated via imaging that psychopathy is associated with reduced structural integrity in the right uncinate fasciculus, the primary white matter connection between the vmPFC and anterior temporal lobe. The team further demonstrated that psychopathy is associated with reduced functional connectivity between the vmPFC and the amygdala as well as between the vmPFC and the medial parietal cortex. These findings indicate that diminished vmPFC connectivity is a characteristic neurobiological feature of psychopathy. The study’s most important finding centered on impairments in the link between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (a control node for regulating emotion, threats, decision-making and social behavior) and the amygdala—a locus of emotional processing.EditsQ & A from comments:Question 1. from: Martin Silvertant“This causes the brain to prune away certain neurons causing the person to have a reduced emotional menu, but a fully formed brain.”This is very interesting! In autism this pruning process happens to a considerably less degree. Hence we are associative, detail-oriented and often riddled with anxiety. I suspect then that a sociopath is at the other end of the spectrum with many of these features. Is this over pruning also present in psychopathy?Answer: Athena Walker & Natalie EngelbrechtResearch regarding synaptic pruning and psychopathy is uninvestigated as of yet. There do however exist theories with regard to a premature arrest in pruning or a lack of pruning. The theory suggests deficiency of growth, rather than over pruning. Perhaps this is why psychopaths pay attention to detail much like people with autism do.One possibility is that the dysfunction occurs at the cellular level, where a premature arrest in synaptic and neuronal pruning in some areas, coupled with deficient growth in others, results in ineffective and/or dysfunctional processing. Our data do not address this level of analysis directly, but they do suggest an interesting avenue to investigate.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3536442/It is important to be cautious in interpreting the findings of increased striatal volumes observed in the present study. First, although greater volume of a brain region is commonly interpreted as an indication of better functioning (11) and vice versa (23), increased volume may also reflect a lack of synaptic pruning during development, a process by which unnecessary connections are eliminated to increase the efficiency of other connections; thus, it is possible that increased volume could indicate poorer functioninghttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2794920/#R11Question 3. from: Martin Silvertant“Traditionally psychopathy is thought of as a personality disorder, as the primary place to see the occurrence of the specific behaviors that are attributed to psychopathy has been in the halls of a prison, or a mental institution.”I think a good portion of the issuesI don’t get it. Why would whether it’s considered to be a disorder rely on the extent of problems the person gets into? I actually think you may be conflating two distinct meanings of disorder. In one sense, a disorder seems to be defined by certain challenges. So in that regard I understand it’s more appropriate to think of psychopathy as a disorder only due to the disorder seen in low-functioning psychopaths’ lives. But in terms of neurology, a disorder is a disruption of the systematic functioning or neat arrangement thereof. “Disruption” in this sense I take to be a deviation from the normal (average) functioning of the human brain, rather than that it necessarily implies problems for the individual.In conclusion, I feel you are conflating disorder as used in psychology with disorder as used in neuroscience.Martin SilvertantAnswer: Athena Walker & Natalie EngelbrechtThe issue with conflation rests not here in the paper, but in the very dilemma that psychopathy faces currently as to what it is, and how it should be considered. So long as the argument can be made that the majority of the people with this variant should be defined by the minority that have antisocial traits as a core feature of their personality, the conflation cannot and will not disappear.The word at its root, psychopathy is not an informative word for the neurological condition, and yet it is the one that we are constrained by. The word originates from Greek psycho- , meaning and spirit, soul, mind; and -pathy again Greek, where it meant “suffering,” “feeling” ( antipathy; sympathy); in compound words of modern formation, often used with the meaning “morbid affection,” “disease”. So the very word means mind disease. The issue of course other than its very definition being related back to a disorder, it that there is no differentiation between those that are identified for their actions that are antisocial, and those that will never see the inside of a courtroom.What’s to be done about this? At the moment there is little that can be done without a consensus that the word is inadequate to describe something that is a neurological formation without the assumed standardized criminal features. I think it is appropriate that the word psychopathy stays along with the notion of the brain formation that includes the antisocial manifestations and another, more accurate term be found to address what is being called pro-social psychopathy presently. It cannot be ignored that the majority of the understanding directed at psychopathy is from the side that views it as a disorder, a malfunction, and something that at it’s core is a toxic entity. The newest voice is the smallest, and easily shouted down currently in terms of it being taken seriously. Anything other than disorder, disruption or variant, it’s a conflation, that at its inception is a beleaguered castle. New terminology stands against the ramparts of the old mentality, while the accepted understandings assault new information. Not for being wrong, but for the crime of disagreement. If we look throughout history, we see many people prosecuted for what the masses disagree with. For example Pope Paul V ordered Galileo, to abandon the opinion that heliocentrism (the planets revolve around the Sun) was physically true. Galileo was found “vehemently suspect of heresy”, namely of having held the opinions that the Sun lies motionless at the centre of the universe, that the Earth is not at its centre and moves, and sentenced to formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition. He remained under house arrest for the rest of his life.Question 5. from: Martin Silvertant“Recognizing that psychopathy may be a significant portion of our population, it is important to consider the possibility of it being a variant of the neurotypical brain, rather than a disorder.”Is there a difference? It seems to be a semantic difference only. Whether my autism is considered a disorder or a variant of the neurotypical brain, that shouldn’t matter. In fact, arguably all neurological conditions are variants of the neurotypical brain. But we call certain conditions disorders because they disrupt normal functioning. It seems you are attempting to redefine normalcy to include disorders, and I don’t see the point to it, except for normalizing your condition.Martin SilvertantAnswer: Athena Walker & Natalie EngelbrechtThe issue with conflation rests not here in the paper, but in the very dilemma that psychopathy faces currently as to what it is, and how it should be considered. So long as the argument can be made that the majority of the people with this variant should be defined by the minority that have antisocial traits as a core feature of their personality, the conflation cannot and will not disappear.The word at its root, psychopathy is not an informative word for the neurological condition, and yet it is the one that we are constrained by. The word originates from Greek psycho- , meaning and spirit, soul, mind; and -pathy again Greek, where it meant “suffering,” “feeling” ( antipathy; sympathy); in compound words of modern formation, often used with the meaning “morbid affection,” “disease”. So the very word means mind disease. The issue of course other than it’s very definition being related back to a disorder, it that there is no differentiation between those that are identified for their actions that are antisocial, and those that will never see the inside of a courtroom.What’s to be done about this? At the moment there is little that can be done without a consensus that the word is inadequate to describe something that is a neurological formation without the assumed standardized criminal features. I think it is appropriate that the word psychopathy stay along with the notion of the brain formation that includes the antisocial manifestations and another, more accurate term be found to address what is being called pro-social psychopathy presently. It cannot be ignored that the majority of the understanding directed at psychopathy is from the side that views it as a disorder, a malfunction, and something that at it’s core is a toxic entity. The newest voice is the smallest, and easily shouted down currently in terms of it being taken seriously. Anything other than disorder, disruption or variant, it’s a conflation, that at its inception is a beleaguered castle. New terminology stands against the ramparts of the old mentality, while the accepted understandings assault new information. Not for being wrong, but for the crime of disagreement.If we look throughout history, we see many people prosecuted for what the masses disagree with. For example Pope Paul V ordered Galileo,to abandon the opinion that heliocentrism (the planets revolve around the sun) was physically true. Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy", namely of having held the opinions that the Sun lies motionless at the centre of the universe, that the Earth is not at its centre and moves, and sentenced to formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition. He remained under house arrest for the rest of his life.Helicobacter pylori, or H. Pylori is the cause of ulcers. This is known medical science that seems to go without question. This was not always the case. Back in the late seventies when this was a thought in two doctors’ minds, and they pressed forward to have it be accepted into general medical understanding when they hit an absolute stone wall. Their theory called preposterous and the paper that they wrote with their findings was rejected. It took many years, and one of the two doctors to do the unthinkable, make himself the human guinea pig ingesting a drink infested with the bacteria, and having an ulcer as the result. In time with dogged determination their theory was proven to the rest of the world. In 2005 Barry Marshall and Robin Warren won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine delivering a permanent blow to the established assumptions regarding the human body.Operations without anesthetic:, Letter by an Dr. George Wilson , Edinburgh doctor in the 1850’s to the prominent advocate of anaesthesia, the famous obstetrician, Dr Simpson.Pain was not just an unavoidable side effect of surgery. Most surgeons operating in a pre-anaesthetic era believed it was a vital stimulant necessary for keeping the patient alive. This is why opiates and alcohol were used sparingly, and typically administered shortly before (not during) a procedure, as the loss of consciousness was considered to be extremely dangerous.George Wilson—a Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh University—underwent a foot amputation in 1842. He remembered ‘the fingering of the sawed bone; the sponge pressed on the flap; the tying of the blood-vessels; the stitching of the skin; and the bloody dismembered limb lying on the floor’.“I have recently read, with mingled sadness and surprise, the declarations of some surgeons that anesthetics are needless luxuries, and that unendurable agony is the best of tonics. Those surgeons I think can scarcely have been patients of Those surgeons, I think, can scarcely have been patients of their brother surgeons, and jest at scars only because they have never felt a wound; but if they remain enemies of anesthetics after what you have written, I despair of convincing them of their utility.” (p 210)“Of the agony it occasioned, I will say nothing. Suffering so great as I underwent cannot be expressed in words, and thus fortunately cannot be recalled. The particular pangs are now forgotten; but the black whirlwind of emotion the horror of the black whirlwind of emotion, the horror of great darkness, and the sense of desertion by God and man, bordering close upon despair, which swept through my mind and overwhelmed my heart, I can never forget, however gladly I would do so I would do so.” (p 211)“For a long time they haunted me, and even now For a long time they haunted me, and even now they are easily resuscitated they are easily resuscitated; and though they ; and though they cannot bring back the suffering attending the cannot bring back the suffering attending the events which gave them a place in my memory, they can occasion a suffering of their own, and be the cause of a disquiet which favours neither the cause of a disquiet which favours neither mental or bodily health mental or bodily health... (p 214) ... (p 214)The static mindset of many in the medical and psychological communities can be the largest barrier in the advancement of knowledge. How this status quo is allowed to go on is something difficult to grasp. Like a great Orobus consuming itself, it is a chain that needs breaking so new ground can be broken. For the moment however we have a stalemate that has been reached.Standing in their concrete shoes, many on the psychological side refuse to give an inch. Redefining, reeducating, and rebranding the brain formation as a variant, instead of either a disorder or a disruption would make a good deal of headway in the more moderate community that is unaware that there is even a war happening. Those that are steadfast and stubborn will be cleared away in time, and hopefully more level headed and logical replacements, with cross field interests take their place to provide a clearer ground for understanding. First however, the bloated corpse of ASPD needs to be cleared off the battlefield before a step towards a truce can be made.Question 7. from: Martin Silvertant“Genetic brain scans and brain chemistry are all lending to this turn in the tides form psychopathy as a mental illness to psychopathy as a unique personality.”Is it considered to be a mental illness right now? What is that based on? It doesn’t make sense to me at all to call it a mental illness. By the same reasoning I should be considered mentally ill as well.Martin SilvertantAnswer: Athena Walker & Natalie EngelbrechtThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the handbook used by healthcare professionals in the United States and much of the world as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders. That means that both autism and psychopathy (which is under the heading ASPD) are considered mental illnesses.However, It should be understood that about 68% of DSM-V task-force members, which represents a relative increase of 20% over the proportion of DSM-IV task-force members with such ties, and 56% of panel members reported having ties to the pharmaceutical industry, such as holding stock in pharmaceutical companies, serving as consultants to industry, or serving on company boards. As such it has been suggested that today, the field of psychiatry is perceived to have suffered a unique “crisis of credibility” with respect to the growing influence of pharmaceutical companies on organized psychiatry. As such the DSM-V can be considered an insurance repayment manual, not the bible of mental health.Cosgrove, L., Bursztajn, H. J., & Krimsky, S. (2009). Developing unbiased diagnostic and treatment guidelines in psychiatry. New England Journal of Medicine, 360(19), 2035-2036.http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....References:Buades-Rotger, M., & Gallardo-Pujol, D. (2014). The role of the monoamine oxidase A gene in moderating the response to adversity and associated antisocial behavior: a review. Psychology research and behavior management, 7, 185.Caspi, A., McClay, J., Moffitt, T. E., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I. W., ... & Poulton, R. (2002). Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science, 297(5582), 851–854Dutton, K., & McNab, A. (2014). The Good Psychopath's Guide to Success. Random House.Viding, E., Hanscombe, K. B., Curtis, C. J., Davis, O. S., Meaburn, E. L., & Plomin, R. (2010). In search of genes associated with risk for psychopathic tendencies in children: a two‐stage genome‐wide association study of pooled DNA. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 51(7), 780–788.Sources:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/...https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc...http://www.sciencedirect.com/sci...https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc...https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub...https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub...https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub...https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub...http://journals.plos.org/plosone...http://www.independent.co.uk/new...http://www.bremertonschools.org/...http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/osjcl/A...http://www.businessinsider.com/w...http://www.sciencedirect.com/sci...http://www.sciencedirect.com/sci...http://psychnews.psychiatryonlin...https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc...http://www.jneurosci.org/content...http://www.psychologicalscience....https://www.researchgate.net/pub...https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc...For more information go herePsychopathy information