[SydPhil] HPS Research Seminar-ALEXANDER PERIERA-Psychiatry, Natural Kinds, and Pathological Fear

[Debbie Castle]

[https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/HSyVCmO5glujZ8PZMfGBF6P?domain=gallery.mailchimp.com]

SCHOOL OF HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

RESEARCH SEMINAR
SEMESTER TWO 2021

Zoom URL:
https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/88205073216
MONDAY 30TH AUGUST FROM 5PM

[https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/VDkjCnx1jni7zg3zWUJOOEW?domain=mcusercontent.com]
ALEXANDER PERIERA
School of History and Philosophy of Science

Psychiatry, Natural Kinds, and Pathological Fear
Abstract:
Philosophers and clinicians often ask whether mental disorders are, or can be, natural kinds. I want to focus on a different question: which kinds of mental disorder (if any) are natural? This “which” question is important partly because it is concerned with solving practical problems: asking which mental disorders are natural kinds helps clarify which of our current diagnoses are trustworthy, and which might need radical revision. It also switches focus from abstract theorising about a philosophical term-of-art to some interesting questions at the intersect of philosophy and psychiatry. For example, how can stable kinds of mental disorder crystallise out of complex interactions between biology, psychology, and society? and, what would a natural kind of mental disorder actually look like?
In this talk I argue that specific phobia is psychiatry’s best bet at a natural kind of mental disorder. I claim that specific phobia springs from a broad type of fear dysregulation and I put forward a general account of phobia that employs a mixture of biological, psychological, and social causal factors. If phobia is a natural kind, it is one pitched at a higher explanatory level than genes and brain circuits. By sketching specific phobia as a natural kind I aim to address the questions above, and to demonstrate how natural kind concepts can help us make sense of mental illness. Finally, I think specific phobia shows how a scientific program of psychiatry – an attempt to understand, investigate, and treat mental distress using the techniques of science and medicine – can go right. Whether it will go right in general is unclear. Perhaps specific phobia is a special case.




WHEN:  MONDAY 30TH AUGUST 2021
START:   5.00PM
Meeting URL:
https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/88205073216

All Welcome | No Booking Required | Free
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