Philosophy of Psychiatry

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

The philosophy of psychiatry is concerned with philosophical questions that arise around the branch of medicine that deals with the human mind. Some of its central questions include: What kinds of things are mental disorders? Is psychiatry importantly different from the rest of medicine, and if so how? In what sense are psychiatric diagnoses “real” entities? How should we taxonomize the domain of psychopathology? How do we know which psychiatric and psychotherapeutic interventions are effective, and what do we want from those interventions anyway? What does it mean to be mentally “healthy” in the first place? How can we distinguish what are merely differences in mental functioning from those that require psychiatric intervention? This course will explore these and other issues through engagement with the philosophical literature on psychiatry. There will be an emphasis on issues of contemporary importance, such as the relationship between psychiatry and social movements like the Neurodiversity movement, the debates around emerging interventions such as psychedelic therapies, and the ethics related to the use of artificial intelligence for psychiatric and psychotherapeutic purposes.