Charland has stated in a philosophical analysis that B-cluster personality disorders are moral not medical categories. The status of borderline personality disorder has been challenged also using other grounds.

The aim of this paper is to discuss whether borderline personality is a moral or medical/psychological condition or just “bad behavior”, a moral category.

Char land's statement relies on a consideration that an act that can be characterized by using moral terms could not be characterized in another manner more efficiently and that this act is a failure of following a moral principle of ethical behavior. Using Jonathan Danthy's argumentation, it is stated that ethical behavior does not necessitate any principles. There may be several reasons for certain behaviors, and reasons may vary from one situation to another. Several results of modern cellular biology indicate that contrasting bad behavior and illness may be outdated and overstatements, as structure and functions are interrelated in biology. I present the case for considering all types of illnesses as some form of bad behavior or vice versa. Additionally, research gives reasonable basis for arguing that sense of agency is severely impaired in borderline personality disorder, and that this is associated with disturbed connectivity between amygdale, hippocampus and the orbitofrontal cortex impairing the regulation and integration of emotion and cognition.

Borderline personality can be considered an illness impairing abilities for judgment and agency.