Word: judgment
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...brain. But childhood traumas have never fully explained the psychopath, says Dr. Solomon Snyder, director of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins Medical School. "It's not as though these people weren't disciplined by their parents or didn't go to church. They can think rationally, but the moral judgment is lacking. It's as if there's a hole in the moral part of their brain...
...hole. It is surely where they will look when studying the brain -- donated to science -- of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, executed last May in Illinois. Suppose a Gage-like defect is found? Will it seem fair to have executed the man if he was physically incapable of moral judgment? As science begins to unravel bits of personality, accountability unravels with it. The person becomes his parts -- some working, some defective through no fault of his own. Will it become incumbent upon society to submit all killers to a brain scan? Would that not be fairer than having psychiatrists battle...
...moral judgment can be broken, surely the next step is to fix it. "If the abnormality is in a discrete part of the brain that uses a specific neurotransmitter, we could develop a drug treatment," suggests Dr. Snyder. It might even be possible to devise exercises to fortify wayward judgment, just as a stroke patient can benefit from occupational therapy. Another possibility: a prenatal test -- abort the psychopath...
...time when Charles' judgment is being questioned, why announce a willingness to tinker with the constitution, the unwritten "document" that is the foundation of his country's culture? The official church is woven deeply into it, and his statement about changing the oath he will someday take caused immediate expressions of concern from several scholars. But the sharpest reaction came from acid-tongued leftist Tony Benn, who intoned, "If the Prince of Wales is moving one brick, you cannot be surprised if the building tumbles." Then he threw in a threat: if Charles persists in his course, Benn will...
...shot on the opening page of the story. But making that distinction clearer will not end the debate over the manipulation of photographs. Nor should it. No single set of rules will ever cover all possible cases. It will remain, as it has always been, a matter of subjective judgment...