Dr. Peggy DesAutels at Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology

Dr. Peggy DesAutels presented a paper entitled, “Testosterone, Power, and Abuse” at the annual meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology (SSPP) in New Orleans,

Is having the tendency to be domestically abusive a character trait and thus an Aristotelian vice?  Why are most violent domestic abusers male?  To answer these questions, I start with Aristotle’s discussions of virtues and vices.  I next examine the latest research on the psychologies of male abusers and on brain-based causes of violent and aggressive behaviors.  I conclude that in most cases, those who are domestically abusive do have trait-like tendencies to be abusive and thus that they have vicious characters in an Aristotelian sense.  However, these abusive character traits are not tied primarily to male androgens.  Rather, they are formed within patriarchal social structures and maintained in individual males primarily by habituation.