From Morality to Mental Health Virtue and Vice in a Therapeutic Culture

Morality and mental health are now inseparably linked in our view ofcharacter. Alcoholics are sick, yet they are punished for drunk driving. Drugaddicts are criminals, but their punishment can be court ordered therapy. Theline between character flaws and personality disorders has become fuzzy, witheven the seven deadly sins seen as mental disorders. In addition topathologizing wrong-doing, we also psychologize virtue; self-respect becomesself-esteem, integrity becomes psychological integration, and responsibilitybecomes maturity. Moral advice is now sought primarily from psychologists andtherapists rather than philosophers or theologians.In this wide-ranging, accessible book, Mike W. Martin asks: are we replacingmorality with therapy, in potentially confused and dangerous ways, or are wecreatively integrating morality and mental health? According to him, it's alittle bit of both. He surveys the ways in which morality and mental health arerelated, touching on practical concerns like love and work, self-respect andself-fulfillment, guilt and depression, crime and violence, and addictions.Terming this integrative development "the therapeutic trend in ethics," Martinuses examples from popular culture, various moral controversies, and draws on aline of thought that includes Plato, the Stoics, Freud, Nietzsche, andcontemporary psychotherapeutic theories. Martin develops some interestingconclusions, among them that sound morality is indeed healthy, and that moralvalues are inevitably embedded in our conceptions of mental health. In the end,he shows how both morality and mental health are inextricably intertwined in ourpursuit of a meaningful life. This book will be of interest to philosophers,psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists, as well as the generalreader.

Mike W. Martin is Professor of Philosophy at Chapman University and author of Meaningful Work (OUP 2000).