Bielefeld Colloquium in Philosophy of Psychiatry

Bielefeld Workshop on Philosophy of Psychiatry 2024

Date: May 28 - 29, 2024
Location: Bielefeld University, Germany (Main Building V2-105/115) and online via Zoom

The Bielefeld Workshop on Philosophy of Psychiatry 2024 aims to delve into the philosophical underpinnings of psychiatric theory and (research) practice, exploring a plurality of perspectives and debates within the field.

This workshop offers a platform for philosophers of all backgrounds and career stages to come together, exchange ideas, and foster discussions. It is an opportunity to connect and bring together the growing community of philosophers of psychiatry, including master students.
To register, please send an email to fhundertmark@uni-bielefeld.de by the 24th of May.

Speakers:

• Florence Adams (Cambridge)
• Sanja Dembić (Berlin)
• Cornelia Elke (Bielefeld)
• Sascha Fink (Erlangen)
• Anna Hagemann (Bielefeld)
• Jonas Hartmann (Bielefeld)
• Fabian Hundertmark (Bielefeld)
• David Lambert (Bielefeld)
• Roberta Locatelli (Tübingen)
• Lara Keuck (Bielefeld)
• Vladimir Markovic (Hanover)
• Daniel Montero (Hanover)
• Caroline Stankozi (Bochum)
• James Turner (Sheffield)

Commentaries:

• Jonas Dauster (Bielefeld)
• Dennis Dübeler (Bielefeld)
• Lena Schubert (Bielefeld)

This event is funded by the DFG Research Training Group 2073, the German Society for Analytic Philosophy (GAP), and the German Society for Philosophy of Science (GWP).

The preliminary program can be found here and a poster here.

Winter term 2023/2024

Summer term 2023

The first four sessions of the summer term were used to prepare the workshop Mental Disorders and Modal Properties, which took take place on the 12th and 13th of June at the HU Berlin. This preparation took place with members and fellows of the Human Abilities Research Center as well as participants of the workshop.

Abstract of the workshop: There is an emerging trend to think about mental disorders in terms of modal properties, such as dispositions, capacities, abilities, or skills. Sanja Dembić (2021) and John T. Maier (2021), for example, understand "addictive disorder" as a specific kind of disability or inability. Dembić (2023; ms), Tad Zawidzki and Garson Leder (2023) argue that mental health and disorder, more generally, should be understood in terms of skills or abilities. Johnathan Fuller (ms, chapter 3) argues that mental disorders generally are dispositions. While all of these approaches have some crucial commonalities, a unified picture of specific mental disorders and mental disorders, in general, remains to be found. The goal of this workshop is to bring together scholars working within these approaches to share ideas, find common ground, and discuss remaining controversies.

After the workshop, we discussed published papers, but also the work-in-progress of guests and members of the colloquium:

Winter term 2022/2023

In the winter term of 2022/2023, we read Justin Garson's new book, Madness: A Philosophical Exploration (Oxford, 2022). In a careful examination of texts ranging from antiquity to Darwinian medicine, the author contrasts two paradigms. According to the paradigm of madness-as-dysfunction, madness is viewed as disease, dysfunction, and defect. Madness, like all other diseases, occurs when something in the mind or brain is not functioning as it should. Garson contrasts this prevailing view with a paradigm he calls “madness-as-strategy." According to this paradigm, madness is neither a disease nor a defect, but a designed trait. At the end of the semester, we had Justin as a guest.

Furthermore, we invited Hariett Fagerberg to talk with us about disorders as domino dysfunctions.

Summer term 2022

End of summer term 2022, we read Anneli Jefferson's new book, "Are mental disorders brain disorders?" (2022). She addresses whether mental disorders are brain disorders and what the consequences would be. In the last session, we had Anneli as a guest.

At the beginning of the summer term, we read "A metaphysics of psychopathology" by Peter Zachar (2015). In this book, Zachar addresses the question of what it means when mental disorders are called "real", "true", or "objective".

Winter term 2021/2022

In the winter term 2021/2022, we discussed the book "Philosophy of Psychiatry" by Jonathan Tsou. Tsou addresses basic questions of the philosophy of psychiatry, such as whether there are mental illnesses (yes), what mental illnesses are (biological kinds with harmful effects), whether there are natural kinds in psychiatry (yes), whether the DSM allows valid psychiatric classification (no).

Afterward, we discussed the work of Dr. Sanja Dembić (HU Berlin), who argues that individuals have a mental disorder when they are incapable of responding to reasons in their actions, beliefs, and emotions and when this inability is harmful. In the last session, we had Dr. Sanja Dembić as a guest and discussed an unpublished paper with her.

Summer term 2021

In the summer term of 2021, we explored and discussed many different topics in the philosophy of psychiatry. For example, we dealt with definitions of "mental disorder", the biopsychosocial model, psychodelics, personality disorders, consciousness, autonomy and psychoanalysis.

At the end of the semester, we invited JProf. Lena Kästner (Univerisität des Saarlandes) to discuss her paper "Identifying Causes in Psychiatry".