The Research Seminar Series in Philosophy invites you to a seminar with James Turner, "Low Mood, Proper Function, and Dysfunction: The Case Against Depression as a Natural Kind".
Abstract: The nature of depression is the subject of a very heated debate in the medical, life, and psychological sciences. According to most psychiatrists, depression is a (low) mood dysfunction. In contrast, several evolutionary theorists have argued that this category actually lumps together two phenomena: functional but severe low mood, and dysfunctional low mood. The overall aim of this presentation is to help settle this debate. To reach this aim, I do three things. Firstly, I propose a novel way to adjudicate the debate: by drawing upon recent philosophical work on dysfunction, I put forward an epistemic framework by which to diagnose whether depression (or any psychological condition) is (dys)functional. Secondly, on the basis of this framework I show that evolutionary theorists are right, and psychiatrists are wrong: depression is not a natural kind, but rather lumps together both functional, as well as dysfunctional, instances of low mood. Finally, I consider whether this should affect how we classify and diagnose depression, and what this means for treatment of both functional and dysfunctional low mood.
All interested are welcome to this meeting.
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