Paper delivered at the Moral Evil in Practical Ethics Conference, Oxford 2012. Secure psychiatric services offer treatments to men and women who are frequently characterised as 'evil'. In my paper, I will explore how the discourse of illness and the discourse of evil are similar and different: specifically in relation to concepts such as insult, injury and damage, and whether it makes sense to think of human value systems as being damaged or impaired. I will use case examples from my clinical practice in a high secure setting to illustrate.

Moral Enhancement and the Duty to Eliminate Evildoing

This series includes conferences and workshops organised by the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics on a range of topics from conscientious objection in healthcare, science and religious conflict, cyberselves, digital ethics and many others. The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics was established in 2002 with the support of the Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education of Japan. It is an integral part of the philosophy faculty of Oxford University, one of the great centres of academic excellence in philosophical ethics.