Högre seminariet i filosofi bjuder in till filosofi bjuder in till seminarium med James Turner. Seminariet ges på engelska och har den engelsk titeln "Low Mood, Proper Function, and Dysfunction: The Case Against Depression as a Natural Kind".
Abstract (på engelska):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.
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