Seminar on Philosophy & Psychopathology
Louis Sass & Stephen Stich
I. Officially it is two seminars
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GSAPP: Advanced Studies in Clinical Psychology: Philosophy and Psychopathology.
(18:821:611:01)
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Philosophy: Advanced Topics in Philosophy of Psychology: Philosophical
Issues in Psychotherapy & Psychopathology. (16-730-676-01)
II. Requirements: Paper (& possible presentation) on topic(s) to be
determined after consultation. Everyone taking the course for credit
should discuss possible paper topics with the relevant instructor no later
than February 16.
III. Meeting Times, Guests, etc.
A. Normal meeting time: Tuesday 2:30 (3:10?) - 5:00 (5:30?) [to be
decided at the first meeting of the seminar]
B. Special additional sessions (both formal and informal) will be planned
when our out of town guests are on campus. (Please try to keep Tuesday
evenings open during those weeks.)
C. Guests:
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Jerome Wakefield (Rutgers): February 16
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Josef Parnas (University of Copenhagen): Week of April 12 (or perhaps April
5)
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Uta & Chris Frith: (University College, London): Week of April 20
Additional guests may be arranged
IV. The Goal of the Seminar
The seminar is an experiment in learning to communicate about
an important and enormously interesting set of issues which Sass and Stich
approach from radically different intellectual traditions with different
vocabularies, assumptions, models of what counts as important work ( ...
and heaven only knows what else). The seminar will be successful to the
extent that students and faculty from GSAPP, from Philosophy and from RuCCS
begin to understand the strengths (and shortcomings) of each other’s approaches.
It will be a spectacular success if we can actually find ways to use each
other’s ideas and to work collaboratively.
V. The Organizational Plan
A. Four Approaches to Psychopathology
1. Cognitive Science (Stich)
2. Evolutionary Psychology (Stich with lots of help from Murphy)
3. The Social Construction Approach (Sass & Mallon)
4. The Phenomenological Approach (Sass)
B. A Brief Look at the Concept of Mental Disorder (Stich, Murphy, Woolfolk,
& Wakefield -- to be done between 2 & 3)
C. How Useful Are the Four Approaches in Understanding Particular Disorders?
1. Autism
2. Schizophrenia
3. Depression
4. Multiple Personality Disorder (a.k.a. Dissociative Identity Disorder)
An important caveat: The seminar really is an experiment, and thus it's
impossible to predict what problems or new ideas will arise as we proceed.
So everything on the schedule is open to revision.
VI. Readings
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The following books have been ordered at the University bookstore
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Michel Foucault, Mental Illness and Psychology
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Simon Baron-Cohen, Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and the Theory
of Mind
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Louis Sass, The paradoxes of Delusion: Wittgenstein, Schreber and the
Schizophrenic Mind
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Michael McGuire and Alfonso Troisi, Darwinian Psychiatry
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Ian Hacking, Rewriting the Soul (recommended)
B. Master copies of readings to be xeroxed will be available in
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Carol Esso’s office at RuCCS
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Ginny Mayer's office in the Philosophy Dept.
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Readings for the first "unit" (Cognitive Science Approaches)
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Tim Shallice, From Neuropsychology to Mental Structure, Chs. 1 &
2 (Ch. 3 optional)
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Tony Stone & Andrew Young, "Delusions & Brain Injury: The Philosophy
& Psychology of Belief," Mind & Language, 12, 3/4, 1997.
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Readings for the second "unit" (Evolutionary Psychology Approaches)
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Michael McGuire & Alfonso Troisi, Darwinian Psychiatry, Chs.
1-6
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Murphy & S. Stich, "Darwin in the Madhouse" MS available on the Evolution
& Higher Cognition Web Site:
http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/ArchiveFolder/Research%20Group/research.html