Analytic approaches to the anthropology of the good : moral incoherence and mental health in the wake of COVID-19

Abstract

Building on the anthropology of the good, this article seeks to apply a taxonomical approach inspired by analytical philosophy to the study of moral incoherence. The topic of moral incoherence is a growing concern in clinical contexts. Drawing on fieldwork and clinical data during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malta, this article brings together approaches from anthropology, psychiatry and psychology to look at the way in which such ‘moral breakdown’ has been studied in relation to mental health and existing diagnostic structures. Moral incoherence, it is proposed, can be conceived of as a problem in terms of rationality, which has implications for the imaginary coherence of the subject. This article, therefore, makes two primary contributions. It develops an approach to the anthropology of the good by means of an analytical reduction in terms of a series of ought statements. Secondly, it applies the approach to the problem of moral incoherence by engaging with various disciplinary perspectives, particularly those in psychiatry, psychology, and, to a lesser extent, philosophy. The implication of moral problems to mental health cannot be merely dismissed as the pathologisation of everyday life. Such problems are exacerbated in times of crisis, where the possibilities for coherence become increasingly challenged.