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Anger, Provocation and Loss of Self-Control: What Does ‘Losing It’ Really Mean?

Anger, Provocation and Loss of Self-Control: What Does ‘Losing It’ Really Mean? Drawing on recent research in the philosophy of the emotions and empirical evidence from social psychology, this paper argues that the concept of loss of self-control at common law mischaracterises the relationship between the emotions and their effects on action. Emotions do not undermine reason in the ways offenders describe (and courts sometimes accept); nor do they compel people to act in ways they cannot control. As such, the idea of ‘loss of self-control’ is an inaccurate and misleading description of the psychological mechanisms at play in cases of emotionally motivated killing, where there may not be any ‘loss of self-control’ as such. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Criminal Law and Philosophy Springer Journals

Anger, Provocation and Loss of Self-Control: What Does ‘Losing It’ Really Mean?

Sorial, Sarah
Criminal Law and Philosophy , Volume 13 (2) – May 30, 2018
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23 pages

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Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature
Subject
Law; Theories of Law, Philosophy of Law, Legal History; Philosophy of Law; Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law; Ethics
ISSN
1871-9791
eISSN
1871-9805
DOI
10.1007/s11572-018-9467-8
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Drawing on recent research in the philosophy of the emotions and empirical evidence from social psychology, this paper argues that the concept of loss of self-control at common law mischaracterises the relationship between the emotions and their effects on action. Emotions do not undermine reason in the ways offenders describe (and courts sometimes accept); nor do they compel people to act in ways they cannot control. As such, the idea of ‘loss of self-control’ is an inaccurate and misleading description of the psychological mechanisms at play in cases of emotionally motivated killing, where there may not be any ‘loss of self-control’ as such.

Journal

Criminal Law and Philosophy – Springer Journals

Published: May 30, 2018

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