Recent advances in brain imaging methods as well as increased sophistication in neuroscientific modeling of the brain’s reward systems have facilitated the study of neural mechanisms associated with addiction such as processes associated with motivation, decision-making, pleasure seeking, and inhibitory control. These scientific activities have increased optimism that the neurological underpinnings of addiction will be delineated, and that pharmaceuticals that target and change these mechanisms will by themselves facilitate early intervention and even full recovery. In this paper, we argue that (...) it is misguided to construe addiction as just or primarily a brain chemistry problem, which can be adequately treated by pharmaceutical interventions alone. (shrink)

This book explores the central questions and themes lying at the heart of a vibrant area of philosophical inquiry. Aligning core issues in psychiatry with traditional philosophical areas, it presents a focused overview of the historical and contemporary problems dominating the philosophy of psychiatry. -/- Beginning with an introduction to research issues, it addresses what psychiatry is and distinguishes it from other areas of medical practice, other health care professions and psychology. With each section of the companion corresponding to a (...) philosophical subject, contributors systematically relate themes in philosophy of psychiatry to topics in philosophy of mind, phenomenology, philosophy of science, ethics, social and political philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of medicine. Looking ahead to new research directions, chapters address recent issues including the metaphysics of mental disorders, gender and race in psychiatry and psychiatric ethics. -/- Featuring discussion questions, suggestions for further reading and an annotated bibliography, The Bloomsbury Companion to Philosophy of Psychiatry is an accessible survey of the debates and developments in the field suitable for undergraduates in philosophy and professional philosophers new to philosophy of psychiatry. (shrink)

Following the formation of disciplines/sciences in different fields of Islamic thought, the specific concepts and terminologies of these disciplines/sciences began to emerge. Then the special meaning and the area of utilization for every concept in each discipline/science were further clarified by compiling specific epistles of definition (ḥudūd), which would contribute to this process of conceptualization. For the terminological meaning of the used concept to be determined primarily and thus for the followed theological/sectarian affiliation to be supported, works belonging to this (...) genre have been written specifically for the field of theology. Especially, the Muʿtazilī theologians undoubtedly made the greatest contribution. Thusly, specific treatises containing theological concepts were compiled by names such as al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār (d. 415/1025), and his students Abū Rashīd al-Nīsābūrī (d. after 420/1029) and Ibn Sharwīn (fl. first half of the Vth/XIth century). Zaydī theologian and jurist Abū’l-Qāsim al-Bustī’s (d. 420/1029) Tahdhīb al-ḥudūd, which has no available copy, is also contemporary to the mentioned works. This tradition found its reflection in the Imāmī-Muʿtazilī line in Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭūsī’s (d. 460/1067) al-Muqaddimah fī l-madkhal ilá ṣināʿat ʿilm al-kalām, which could be seen as a concise theological work in terms of its construct and the explanations which it comprises, and in the work called al-Ḥudūd wa-l-ḥaqāʾiq, which is attributed to al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍá (d. 436/1044). Abū Jaʿfar al-Muqrī al-Nīsābūrī’s (d. mid-VIth/XIIth century [?]) al-Ḥudūd stands out as the most voluminous example in this tradition. The most important work belonging to this genre in the Muʿtazilī tradition, as it is the first among the available works, is the Ḥudūd al-alfāẓ of al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār, which is found together with some other important Zaydī-Muʿtazilī works in a compilation discovered by us and thought to be lost until recently. In this treatise, which generally includes theological concepts and partially includes the concepts of Islamic law and the history of sects, al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār has put forward a language-based definition theory. His approach here is in line with the views he put forward on definition in his al-Mughnī. Accordingly, instead of definition (ḥadd) and description (rasm) carried out over five universals in classical logic, he adopted a method of lexical definition based on wording that agrees with the meaning of the concept in question and is clearer than it, and consequently gave a brief definition and explanation of the concept he deals with. This clearly shows that the previous Muʿtazilī theologians’ approach of language-based definition, which was used as an alternative to the conception of Aristotelian definition due to their distanced stance to philosophy was also inherited by al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār. The approach seen in some sources in the period following al-Qāḍī, such as Abū Rashīd al-Nīsābūrī’s al-Ḥudūd, also indicates his influence. (shrink)

Bu makale, kelâm söyleminde modern argümantasyon teorilerinin kullanılması gerektiğini savun- maktadır. İslam geleneği kendi istidlâl teorilerine sahip olsa da modern terminoloji ve teoriler, yorumlayıcı anlayış ve eleştirel analize yardımcı olabilir. Bu makale, Kâdî Abdülcebbâr’ın (ö. 415/1025) Hıristiyanlığa karşı kelâm ve reddiye geleneklerindeki aklî yöntemleri kullandığı Tesbît’ine odaklanmaktadır. Yine, Kâdî Abdülcebbâr’ın Hıristiyanlıktaki “İsa’nın ilahî doğası” iddiasına karşı delillerini örneklerle tahlil etmekte- dir. Makale, tarihî kelâm metinlerinin istidlâlî açıdan incelenmesi gerektiğini; ayrıca delile dayalı kelâmın tarihini ve gelişimini anlamada hem analitik teorilerin hem (...) de argümantasyon teorilerinin ne kadar önemli olduğunu tartışmaktadır. (shrink)

In this paper, the scientific realism/anti-realism debate, which is one of the most popular topics in the metaphysics of science, will be examined in supporting the realistic wing. In this respect, the discussion will be conducted by keeping the subjects of ‘existence of an external mind-independent world’ and ‘unobservable entities’ at the center of this paper. In the context of understanding the world, ‘Science’ activity is not the sum of the research carried out only by considering empirical data; on the (...) contrary, it will be claimed that it is an endeavor that pursues unknown but interesting things (such as protons, photons, or viruses) and tries to give meaning to the world. Thus, against the empirical rigid attitude of anti-realism –bearing in mind the views of logical positivists; it will be illustrated that scientific realism is an understanding based on metaphysics and has a philosophical basis. (shrink)

In this paper, I aim to explore Lewis’s best system analysis and how it can accommodate laws with exceptions. The Best System Account has been introduced to provide an alternative view for both minimalist and counterfactual theories of regularities. Simple regularity theory faces problems in which there is some generalization that seems to be a law or some regularities that are established accidentally. It tries to exclude the accidental generalization from the account. However, the best system analysis can solve the (...) problem of how to distinguish between laws and accidents. (shrink)

Bu çalışma, 2015 yılında Birleşmiş Milletler tarafından kabul edilen Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Hedefleri (SKH) ile neoliberal politikalar arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemektedir. Odak noktası, "tam ve üretken istihdam ile insan onuruna uygun işlerin sağlanması" hedefidir. Araştırma, serbest piyasa güçlerinin ekonomik ve sosyal sorunları çözmedeki etkinliği inancının, bu hedefle olan uyumunu tartışmaya açmaktadır. İstihdamın iş güvencesi, sözleşmeler, ücretler, çalışma saatleri ve sendikal yapılarına dair makroekonomik analizler, neoliberal politikaların SKH'lerle çeliştiğini göstermektedir. Bu eksende, SKH'lerin mevcut politik yapıyla uyumlu olup olmadığı ve neoliberal politikaların sürdürülebilir kalkınma (...) hedeflerine ulaşma üzerindeki etkisini tartışmaktadır. Veriler Dünya Bankası, ILO ve OECD'den alınmış, veri madenciliği yöntemleri kullanılarak Türkiye, OECD ülkeleri ve Dünya düzeyinde karşılaştırmalı analizler yapılmıştır. Bu bağlamda, çalışma sürdürülebilir kalkınma hedeflerine, özellikle iş yaşamına ilişkin boyutlarında, neoliberal politikaların etkilerini değerlendirerek özdüşünümselliğimizi geliştirmeye katkıda bulunmaktadır. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article discusses the Celtic myths, figures, and central themes of Tomm Moore’s animated movie Song of the Sea, from a transmodern feminist perspective. While the movie offers a vivid portrayal of the dichotomy between the tranquil Irish countryside and the turbulent city of Dublin, its main theme revolves around a rural family’s lament for the loss of the mother who is a modern-day personification of the Celtic selkie. This curious female figure embodies contradictory characteristics: she is semi-human and (...) at the same time a mother and a wife who, in struggling with her in-between state, leaves her family and returns to her mythical roots. By focusing on several of the Celtic mythical figures and central themes of maternal loss, motherhood, gender relations, and family reconciliation, I attempt to show that the movie’s transmodern echoes and concerns suggest that alternative family formations and changed gender roles are possible in Irish society and in the world more generally. (shrink)

Türkiye, 2011'den itibaren geniş çapta Suriyeli mültecilere ev sahipliği yapmakta olup, 2016'dan beri de Suriyelilerin Türk öğrencilerle birlikte genel eğitim sistemine entegre olmalarına olanak sağlamaktadır. Bu durum, Türkiye'nin Suriyeli mültecilerin eğitimi konusunda özgün bir deneyime sahip olduğunu göstermektedir. Bununla birlikte, Suriyeli kız çocukları, geleneksel rolleri nedeniyle eğitim açısından dezavantajlı konumda olabilmektedirler. Buradan yola çıkarak bu çalışma Covid-19 pandemisi döneminde Suriyeli kız çocuklarının eğitim süreçlerinin öğretmenlerin, velilerin ve Suriyeli kız çocuklarının bakış açıları çerçevesinde incelemeyi problem edinmiştir. Dolayısıyla bu araştırma, Türkiye'deki Suriyeli (...) kız çocuklarının pandemi sürecindeki eğitim deneyimlerini ve ailelerinin bu süreçteki etkilerini belirleyerek, din kültürü ve ahlak bilgisi öğretmenlerinin onların sağlıklı bir eğitim alabilme sürecine katkısını değerlendirmeyi hedeflemektedir. Nitel bir desenle kurgulanan bu araştırmanın katılımcıları, 10 öğrenci, 5 veli ve 5 din kültürü ve ahlak bilgisi öğretmeninden oluşmaktadır ve çalışma grubu kartopu örnekleme yöntemi ile belirlenmiştir. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre, Suriyeli kız öğrencilerinin uzaktan eğitime erişimde ve nitelikli bir şekilde devam ettirmede bazı zorluklarla karşılaştıkları belirlenmiştir. Çalışmada elde edilen verilerin analizinde, sığınmacı kız çocuklarının karantina dönemlerindeki uzaktan eğitim süreçlerinde yaşadıkları eğitimsel zorluklar öğrenci, veli ve öğretmen perspektifinden ele alınarak, psikolojik, sosyal ve kültürel bağlamlar çerçevesinde tartışılmıştır. Bu zorluklar arasında düşük ekonomik şartlar, teknik yetersizlikler, fiziksel ortam eksiklikleri ve sosyal adaptasyon sorunları ön plana çıkmaktadır. Suriyeli mülteci kız çocukların söz konusu dönemde eğitim açısından düşük ekonomik şartlar; tablet, bilgisayar vb. teknolojik cihazların bulunmaması, internet erişiminin olmaması gibi teknik yetersizlikler; çevrimiçi eğitimin sağlıklı yürütülmesini engelleyen çalışma veya ders odası olmaması veya ev ortamının eğitime uygun hale getirilememesi gibi fiziksel ortam yetersizlikleri; yalnızlaşma, arkadaşlara özlem ve dışarıda oyun oynayamama gibi psikolojik ve aile içi rollerin değişimi, dış dünyada ile fiziki yönden etkileşimsizlik gibi sosyal sorunlarla karşı karşıya kaldıkları tespit edilmiştir. Diğer taraftan Suriyeli kız öğrenciler ve onların velileri bu tür sorunların çözümünde genellikle din kültürü ve ahlak bilgisi dersi öğretmenleriyle iletişime geçtikleri görülmüştür. Çalışmayı benzer çalışmalardan farklılaştıran önemli bir bulgu ise, Suriyeli mülteci kız öğrenciler katıldıkları uzaktan ve yüzyüze eğitim sürelerinin sonucu olarak Türkiye’deki kültüre ve yaşam biçimine uyum sağlamaya başladıkları hususudur. Öğrenci ve öğretmenlerin görüşlerine göre Suriyeli mülteci kız ve erkek öğrenciler ebeynlerinden farklı olarak sosyal yapı ile daha uyumlu yaşayabilir hale gelmişlerdir. Sonuç olarak din eğitimi ve din kültürü ve ahlak bilgisi dersi öğretmeninin, Suriyeli mülteci kız öğrencilerin eğitimlerini destekleyici yeni roller üstlendiği söylenebilir. (shrink)

Dünya genelinde yaşanan çatışmalarda dinî inanç ve değerlerin araçsal kullanımı, din ve şiddet konularının merkeze alındığı birçok tartışmaya kaynaklık etmektedir. Yapılan tartışmalar dinî inanç ve değerlerin şiddet içeren davranışlara neden olduğu varsayımı etrafında şekillense de din ve şiddet arasında var olan ilişki oldukça karmaşık bir yapıya sahiptir. Zira, dinsel geleneklerin merkezinde yer alan kutsal metinler, savaş ve şiddet içeren örnek ve sembollerin yanı sıra barış ve uzlaşı içeren taleplere de sahiptir. Başka bir ifade ile dinî gelenekler, tarihî süreç içerisinde hem (...) temel ahlaki değerlerin hayata geçirilmesi hem de barışçıl tutumların benimsenmesinde ilham verici bir kaynak olarak hizmet etmişlerdir. Diğer taraftan insanlık tarihinin en kötü örnekleri de dinî inanç ve değerler ile bağlantılıdır. Tarihî kayıtlar, din adına yapılan savaşlarda binlerce insanın hayatını kaybettiğine ve bir o kadarının da doğrudan ya da dolaylı şiddete maruz kaldığına işaret etmektedir. Öyleyse kutsal metinlerde yer alan herhangi bir pasajdan ya da geçmişte yaşanmış olumlu ya da olumsuz herhangi bir örnekten hareketle dinî inanç ve değerlerin bütünüyle savaşa veya barışa hizmet ettiğini söylemek gerçekçi bir tutum olmayacaktır. Bununla beraber Amerika’da gerçekleşen 11 Eylül saldırıları dinsel şiddet konusunda farklı görüşlerin öne sürülmesine neden olmuştur. İronik bir şekilde 2001’de dinî terörizm ile mücadele kararı alan Amerika’nın dinî inanç ve değerleri şiddetin meşrulaştırılmasında bir araç olarak kullanması, 11 Eylül’ün benzer saldırılar için bir arketip olarak kullanılmasına zemin oluşturmuştur. Zira Müslüman olduğu iddia edilen on dokuz kişinin kaçırdığı dört uçağın Dünya Ticaret Merkezi’ne yapılan saldırı için kullanılması sadece dinsel şiddet tartışmalarının İslâm ve Müslümanlar üzerinden yapılmasına neden olmamış aynı zamanda İslâm coğrafyasının yeniden şekillenmesine neden olacak askeri ve siyasi kararların alınmasına da zemin oluşturmuştur. Bu saldırı neticesinde dinsel terör örgütlerine karşı harekete geçtiğini iddia eden George W. Bush, verilen mücadeleyi şeytani güçlere karşı Haçlı Seferi olarak yorumlayarak Afganistan ve Irak’ta on binlerce insanın ölmesi ile sonuçlanan askerî operasyonları başlatmıştır. Benzer şekilde 7 Ekim 2023 tarihinde gerçekleşen saldırıları Yeşaya kehaneti üzerinden temellendiren Binyamin Netanyahu, 7 Ekim olaylarını İsrail’in 11 Eylül’ü olarak niteleyerek kadın-erkek, genç-yaşlı ayrımı yapılmaksızın binlerce sivilin ölmesine neden olmuştur. Yaşanan çatışmalar her ne kadar teopolitik, ekonomik ya da kültürel nedenlere dayansa da şiddetin meşrulaştırılmasında din dilinin kullanılması kanaatimizce din ve şiddet konusu ile ilgili tartışmaların araştırılmasını gerektirmektedir. Bu nedenle dinsel şiddet tartışmaları bağlamında ele alınan bu çalışmada genel bir değerlendirme yapılması amaçlanmıştır. Konu incelenirken önce 11 Eylül saldırılarından günümüze dinsel şiddet tartışmaları ile ilgili farklı bakış açıları üzerinde durulmuş daha sonra monoteist geleneğe ait kutsal metinlerde yer alan şiddet ifadelerinin tarihî süreç içerisinde farklı şekillerde yorumlandığına dikkat çekilerek dinsel olarak nitelenen şiddet eylemlerinin çok sayıda ve karmaşık nedenlere dayandığı gösterilmeye çalışılmıştır. Konu Yahudi, Hıristiyan ve İslâm gelenekleri üzerinden ele alınmış ve monoteist geleneğe ait dinî inanç ve değerlerin şiddete referans olarak gösterildiği örnekler ile sınırlandırılmıştır. Fenomenolojik bakış açısı ile ele alınan araştırmada dinsel olarak ifade edilen şiddet eylemlerinin belli amaçlar doğrultusunda kutsal metinlerin yeniden yorumlanması ve yeni yorumun idealleştirilmesi ile ilişkili olduğu görülmüştür. (shrink)

There are roughly two main understanding in philosophy of science: Epistemology of Science and Metaphysics of Science. It is examined that some concept such as Laws of Nature, Causation, Time and Space into the metaphysics of Science. In this paper, it has been studied laws of nature which is one the most important subjects in metaphysics of science. Let’s think outside the box, there are three significant views about laws of nature; Regularity Theory, Necessitation Theory and Dispositional Essential views. It (...) has been worked the views of David Lewis in regularity theory. In the section of nomic necessitation we have been scrutinised the arguments put forward by David Armstrong and finally the last section; it has been discussed Alexander Bird’s views of dispositional essentialism comparing with the other two aspects. (shrink)

This paper focuses specifically on how religions shape attitudes towards ethics of tax evasion. Firstly, the paper begins with an overview of the four views on the ethics of tax evasion that have emerged over the centuries, then goes on to review some of the theoretical and empirical literature on the subject. The empirical part of the study examines attitudes toward tax evasion in 57 countries from the perspectives of six religions using the data from Wave 6 of the World (...) Values Survey. The sample population is more than 52,000. More than a dozen demographic variables were examined. The results study found that attitude toward cheating on taxes does differ by religion. (shrink)

In ancient philosophy, Logic was seen as the instrument and method of philosophy. However, sometimes detailed and profound discussions have been made about the demonstrativeness of philosophical sciences. Most philosophers have accepted that the mathematical sciences were especially demonstrative and likewise, most of the natural sciences are demonstrative for them. But can metaphysics be demonstrative or not? This is one of the fundamental issues around which the great debates were made in Islamic philosophy. While these issues are known to specialists (...) in this field, we can hardly find studies and research that deal with this issue to a sufficient degree and precise discussions in our day, I mean the issue of demonstrativeness of art of demonstration, art of dialectic, art of sophistry, art of rhetoric and art of poetry. It is clear that the peripatetic philosophers did not write a separate book or treatise on the issue of the demonstrativeness of the logical arts, but we can claim that they believed that all these arts were demonstrative and that they were extracted/abstracted using the art of demonstration. We can come across important phrases and statements that prove this claim between the lines of the books that these philosophers wrote in the science of logic. And while Aristotle is the founder of the science of logic, then how is it to be understood that there are practical particular examples and some easy rules of these arts? According to their texts, we can say that they believed that the actual performance of these arts by their actors in materials by particular and practical actions differs from extracting their universal rules by abstracting them from their materials through theoretical and analytical research. For example, the poems of the great poets; Homer and al-Mutanabbi, are particular works in the matter of the art of poetry performed by poets. The books written by Aristotle and Ibn Rushd in the art of poetry contain universal rules extracted abstractly from the materials of their particular poems. As for understanding the demonstrativeness of the remaining four arts, it is easier, but how should we understand the demonstrativeness of the art of demonstration itself? It seems that the peripatetic logicians also distinguished between applying demonstrative inferences to significant materials and extracting the universal rules of the art of demonstration from these materials. These five logical arts are not particular and practical things, but they are philosophical, demonstrative, and analytical studies for the peripatetic logicians in Islam. In this paper, we will try to draw attention to the issue of the demonstrativeness of the five arts and to open a new discussion about it based on some important sentences and phrases expressed by al-Fārābī, Ibn Zur‘a, Ibn Sīnā, Ibn Bājja and Ibn Rushd between the lines in their books, which they wrote in the field of logic and within different and multiple contexts. (shrink)

Words we use to characterize mental states matter; they affect, for better or worse, the individual whose mental states are in question. For example, referring to a child whose behavior seems a bit...

Robots that can communicate with people are one of the goals reached by the technology developed for automation in work life. Experts aim to improve the communication skills of these robots further in the near future. Besides, various studies emphasize that people may interact with robots in a similar way as they interact with other people. In line of this idea, this study examines the possible causal chain in which the social anxiety affects the robot anxiety which in turn affects (...) the attitude toward interacting with robots. Data obtained from university students were analyzed in a simple and parallel mediation model. The results showed that robot anxiety and in particular two of its sub-dimensions mediate the relationship between social anxiety and negative attitudes toward interaction with robots. Researchers should carry out new studies about the common structural characteristics of the anxiety felt by people due to interacting with humans and robots. (shrink)

In “Mad Narratives: Self-Constitutions Through the Diagnostic Looking Glass,” by using narrative approaches to the self, I explore how the diagnosis of mental disorder shapes personal identities and influences flourishing. My particular focus is the diagnosis grounded on the criteria provided by the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). I develop two connected accounts pertaining to the self and mental disorder. I use the memoirs and personal stories written by the subjects with a DSM diagnosis as illustrations to bolster (...) my claims. First, expanding on the narrative approaches to the self, I explain how narratives about a subject shape her self-constitution. I elucidate how this process is generated by drawing on research in developmental psychology, cognitive science, and social psychology. Next, using this account as a springboard, I argue that the DSM diagnosis of mental disorder serves as a source of narrative, entering into the patients’ autobiographical and social narratives. This plays an important role in the diagnosed subjects’ self-understanding, self-constitution and flourishing. In this vein, how mental disorders are classified is not only a theoretical question about accurately taxonomizing the various experiences related to mental distress but also an ethical question about which ways of talking about mental disorders will allow subjects to respond effectively to their psychological distress, to flourish and to live autonomous and fulfilling lives. Finally, I suggest that the DSM-based narratives wield a double-edged sword when it comes to the subject’s flourishing: On the one hand, there are problems with some DSM-based narratives that stem from the DSM diagnostic schema and the culture of DSM diagnoses. These problems render these DSM-based narratives unbeneficial for flourishing as they constrain the range of adoptive social, cognitive and emotional responses the subjects can give to their mental disorders. On the other hand, there are grounds to believe that some DSM-based narratives help subjects to flourish. For instance, they provide certainty to subjects' otherwise puzzling symptoms and help them reach out to others with similar experiences. Understanding how the DSM-based narratives can both benefit and harm will help us address problems with psychiatric diagnoses and the dissemination of knowledge about mental disorders in popular culture. The project aims to convince both philosophers and psychiatrists that no plausible theory of the self can be developed without attending to the topic of mental disorder and that no theory of mental disorder can be complete without devising the tools provided by the philosophical approaches to the self as well as developmental and social psychology. It also calls for methodological alterations in mental health ethics research, arguing that a careful scrutiny of mental disorder memoirs can advance the ethical underpinnings to the practice of psychiatry. (shrink)

In the history of Islam, many scholars who have contributed to Islamic sciences both with their works and their thoughts have been attributed to teşeyyuʻ (being inclined to Shi'ism). Dārakutnī (d. 385/995) is one of the scholars who were subjected to this accusation. Dārakutnī, who was considered one of the leading ḥadīth reciters of his period with his strong memory and deep understanding, wrote many works showing his competence in the science of ḥadīth He was also given the title of (...) “Amīr al-mu’minīn fi’l-hadīs”, a title bestowed upon very few people. The background behind Dārakutnī’s accusation of teşeyyuʻ is that he memorized the poems of Sayyid al-Himyerî (d. 173/789), a Shiite poet. In this article, the allegation of teşeyyu' attributed to Dārakutnī has been examined and the information that constitutes the source of the said accusation against him has been examined and whether this accusation has been handled on a solid basis has been examined. As a result of the research conducted on both Dārakutnī’s own words and works and the Ahl al-Sunnah and Shia rijāl literature, it was concluded that the accusation of teşeyyu' directed against Dārakutnī was merely an allegation and was not based on a scientific basis. In the research, the information in the relevant sources was examined and an attempt was made to present the information obtained in an objective manner. (shrink)

Educators who start a philosophy of medicine or medical ethics class with a philosophical discussion on the definition of basic concepts in medicine, such as health and disease, might relate to this anecdotal account. Students initially find the topic engaging because of the ubiquity of the concept of disease regulating not only their direct encounter with health-related contexts, for example, when veterans returning to school receive accommodations after being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but also their social world, say, (...) when they get in an argument with their classmates about whether vaccines cause or prevent diseases, or when they join the campus gym to improve their health. Yet their enthusiasm wanes when they read the seminal naturalist and normative accounts of disease. This happens not because such conceptual work does not have any philosophical sophistication and value but because the discussion seldom makes direct contact with the common uses of the disease concept in the medical, social, moral and institutional contexts in which the students are heavily embedded. As the authors of ‘Rethinking ‘Disease’: A Fresh Diagnosis and a New Philosophical Treatment’ argue, the notion of disease central to the naturalist and normativist positions is conceptually insulated from its applications in various institutional settings in healthcare and also from its personal, social and economic contexts. This insularity largely stems from the fact that traditional conceptual analysis in philosophy assumes a lot more than it can show, including the assumption that concepts, such as disease, have necessary and sufficient conditions that exist independently of the world as we encounter it and are accessed through our intuitions. This is a problem, because the concept of disease plays a crucial role in medical epistemology, scientific research, and ethical and policy-related issues; a philosophical account of disease that does not directly engage …. (shrink)

In their article, “Patients’ beliefs about deep brain stimulation (DBS) for treatment resistant depression,” Lawrence, Kaufmann, DeSilva, and Appelbaum analyze the responses of 24 psychiatric inpat...

The special issue, “Psychiatry and Its Philosophy,” focuses on addressing the mindbrain dualism and connected problems in the clinical and scientific contexts of psychiatry. Authors in this special issue address the theoretical disagreements that are manifest in the clinical and scientific goals of psychiatry and explore the possibility of reconciling the claim that research on psychopathology needs to be scientific with the claim that it needs to address the needs of patients in the clinic. Our approach is forward looking and (...) concerned with drawing on ideas and methods from the philosophy of science and philosophy of mind to promote pluralism in psychiatry. (shrink)

This paper challenges the exclusion of patients from epistemic practices in psychiatry by examining the creation and revision processes of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a document produced by the American Psychiatric Association that identifies the properties of mental disorders and thereby guides research, diagnosis, treatment, and various administrative tasks. It argues there are epistemic—rather than exclusively social/political—reasons for including patients in the DSM revision process. Individuals with mental disorders are indispensable resources to enhance psychiatric epistemology, (...) especially in the context of the crisis, controversy, and uncertainty surrounding mental health research and treatment. (shrink)

Advances in applications of artificial intelligence and the use of data analytics technology in biomedicine are creating optimism, as many believe these technologies will fill the need-availability gap by increasing resources for mental health care. One resource considered especially promising is smartphone psychotherapy chatbots, i.e., artificially intelligent bots that offer cognitive behavior therapy to their users with the aim of helping them improve their mental health. While a number of studies have highlighted the positive outcomes of using smartphone psychotherapy chatbots (...) to handle various anxiety related problems no conclusive data illustrate their effectiveness or warrant their use in mental illness diagnosis and treatment settings. Yet smartphone psychotherapy is highly endorsed by experts in the field of mental health research. In this paper, I focus on the specific features of smartphone psychotherapy chatbots intended for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and criticize three popular promises; i.e., they enable early diagnosis and intervention through digital phenotyping; they defy the stigma of mental illness diagnosis and treatment; they offer increased access to mental health treatment globally. Going against the popular enthusiasm, I argue smartphone psychotherapy chatbots have epistemic and ethical limitations in the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. In light of these, I encourage researchers, clinicians, policy makers, patients, and caregivers to pause before jumping on the artificial intelligence bandwagon to seek solutions for mental illness on the grounds of these three promises. (shrink)

Summary Leading scholars offer perspectives from the philosophy of science on the crisis in psychiatric research that exploded after the publication of DSM-5. -/- Psychiatry and mental health research is in crisis, with tensions between psychiatry's clinical and research aims and controversies over diagnosis, treatment, and scientific constructs for studying mental disorders. At the center of these controversies is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which—especially after the publication of DSM-5—many have found seriously flawed as a guide (...) for research. This book addresses the crisis and the associated “extraordinary science” (Thomas Kuhn's term for scientific research during a state of crisis) from the perspective of philosophy of science. The goal is to help reconcile the competing claims of science and phenomenology within psychiatry and to offer new insights for the philosophy of science. -/- The contributors discuss the epistemological origins of the current crisis, the nature of evidence in psychiatric research, and the National Institute for Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria project. They consider particular research practices in psychiatry—computational, personalized, mechanistic, and user-led—and the specific categories of schizophrenia, depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder. Finally, they examine the DSM's dubious practice of pathologizing normality. (shrink)

Philosophers and psychologists have advanced a plethora of explanations of the self in relation to narratives, positing varying degrees of connection between them. For some, narratives created by a subject about herself shape her self-constitution (Flanagan 1991; Fivush 1994). For others, they help the subject to participate in social cognition (Hutto 2008). Some represent narratives as merely one basis of personal identity and consider them cognitive tools used by the subject to construct self-concepts (Neisser 1997; Tekin 2011); others render narratives (...) the basis for self-constitution (Dennett 1992; MacIntyre 1981; Schechtman 1996). Some require that the subject create her ‘whole life narrative’ unifying her .. (shrink)

Mental disorder is an urgent and growing public health problem.1 Scientific investigation of this problem has the pragmatic goals of identifying the causes of mental disorders and developing strategies to effectively treat them. Philosophers of psychiatry have participated in the inquiry into the empirical examination of mental disorders, predominantly by debating whether psychopathology is a legitimate target of scientific inquiry and, if so, how mental disorders should be explained, predicted, and intervened on. However, as I show in this paper, these (...) philosophical discussions have mostly neglected the actual state of inquiry in psychiatry and relevant disciplines, as well as the first-person experiences... (shrink)

1. Imagine the following hypothetical scenario: Sarah is often called an expert on depression: after all, she graduated from medical school and has a PhD in neuroscience. She knows all theories of...

The Ottoman physician-poet Nidai of Ankara studied medicine in Crimea and served as a court physician in Istanbul during the reign of Sultan Selim II. Nidai marked the classical period of Ottoman medicine particularly with his acclaimed works and translations in Turkish, among which Manafi al-Nas became widely known. The final chapter of Manafi al-Nas also is known independently under the name Vasiyyetname, which is a remarkable guide on medical ethics. This didactic, sixty-eight-line poem includes Nidai’s moral advice to physicians (...) that they should be well mannered, trustworthy, and competent in their arts and should treat their patients with modesty, honesty, and compassion. Even after 450 years of existence, Vasiyyetname retains its ethical and artistic relevance and still serves as a vehicle for the transmission of humanistic ideals far beyond the time and place it was written. (shrink)

The purpose of this chapter is to describe what we see as several important new directions for philosophy of medicine. This recent work (i) takes existing discussions in important and promising new directions, (ii) identifies areas that have not received sufficient and deserved attention to date, and/or (iii) brings together philosophy of medicine with other areas of philosophy (including bioethics, philosophy of psychiatry, and social epistemology). To this end, the next part focuses on what we call the “epistemological turn” in (...) recent work in the philosophy of medicine; the third part addresses new developments in medical research that raise interesting questions for philosophy of medicine; the fourth part is a discussion of philosophical issues within the practice of diagnosis; the fifth part focuses on the recent developments in psychiatric classification and scientific and ethical issues therein, and the final part focuses on the objectivity of medical research. (shrink)

Various traditions in mental health care, such as phenomenological, and existential and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, implicitly or explicitly acknowledge that a disruption of the self, or the person, or the agent is among the common denominators of different mental disorders. They often emphasize the importance of understanding patients as reasonsresponsive, in their full mental health relevant complexity, if their mental disorder is to be treated successfully. The centrality of the concept of the self is not mirrored in the mainstream scientific approaches (...) in psychiatry however; the self has rarely been considered as the object of scientific research, the empirical investigation of which might yield successful explanations of and interventions in mental disorders. Thus, even though self-related phenomena are clinically relevant in so far as they give important information about a mental disorder to the clinician and help the development of effective interventions, they are not considered among the scientifically relevant properties of mental disorders. Leaving the self-related phenomena out of the scientific research on mental disorders can be attributed to the presupposition that the self is not empirically tractable and its use will hinder psychiatry’s goal to be scientific. In this paper, taking issue with this, I argue the self is empirically tractable, and its use as a target of research will not hinder psychiatry’s scientific commitments. (shrink)