HFIK00004U FILO Anvendt filosofi

MA course, Applied Philosophy, fall 2024

Phenomenology

The focus of the first part of the course will be on philosophical psychopathology and on how ideas from phenomenology can productively be used to better understand various psychiatric disorders. After a general presentation of the field of philosophical psychopathology (as an instance of applied philosophy of mind) and an initial discussion of what applied phenomenology might amount to, we will discuss some classical texts by Karl Jaspers, and then read more recent texts that examine how phenomenological philosophy can be used to better understand disorders of selfhood, embodiment and intersubjectivity.

History of Philosophy.The very idea of mental illness: philosophical roots and antecedents

Thoughts and behavior that are commonly identified today as symptoms of mental illness were also of interest to philosophers in former times. In this module, we will examine analytic and etiological approaches to such phenomena employed by selected thinkers in classical Greece and Rome, India, and China, as well as in the Western tradition of modern philosophy from Descartes to Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. We will trace a gradual shift from supernatural accounts to approaches that look within the body and/or the mind for explanations of insanity, or to eclectic etiologies such as those favored in in China and India, where emphasis was placed on balance and imbalance of emotional dispositions, physical organ systems, and environmental conditions. Returning to the West, we will consider how the spread of asylums and hospitals from the mid-16th century on coincided with the Enlightenment emphasis on reason, education, and moral discipline. Throughout the module, we will explore what light these historical approaches shed on the emergence of modern psychiatry, on evidential and methodological strengths and weaknesses of the DSM and its core biopsychosocial model, and on the persistent appeal of alternative approaches.

Practical Philosophy.The very idea of mental illness: the ethical implications of clinical discourse

In this module, we will delve into ethical controversies that have emerged in mainstream clinical psychology and psychiatry in the decades since the psychopharmacological and psychiatric-nosological turn of the late 20th century. We will consider the social consequences of the changing clinical categories used in successive editions of the DSM, the ethical implications of changes in clinical practice, and the prospects enjoyed by alternative etiologies of abnormal behavior, including non-medical approaches and the systems approach that has recently been gaining ground. In the course of our investigation of this landscape of approaches, we will give special consideration to recent work by philosophers of psychiatry, including Jeffrey Poland, Nancy Nyquist Potter, George Graham, and Peter Zachar, as well as philosophical aspects of the critical work of Jerome Wakefield.

Exams. In the 2022 Philosophy Curriculum, the second term involves portfolio exams. Below are explained the two ways in which such a portfolio exam can be passed: either as ordinary participation (A) or as a participation with a teaching or presentation assignment (B).

A. Ordinary course participation Part 1: Questions are asked in all three parts of the course, with the student answering questions in two different parts. The student submits two assignments of 2-4 standard pages answering questions asked in two of the three parts of the course. The course responsible sets three deadlines for submission (the last one must be at least 14 days before the last class). If a student meets these deadlines, he or she will receive written feedback on his or her assignments. Both assignments are part of the final product, which is evaluated as a whole.

Part 2: No later than 14 days before the last class, the student must submit a syllabus for the final examination paper to the examiner. This must be approved by the examiner for the student to pass the exam. Part 3: The student may submit a preliminary version of the final written exam paper of maximum 8 standard pages for written or oral feedback from the examiner, according to agreement between the student and the examiner. This must be done at least 14 days before the deadline for the final submission. The student loses the right to feedback if the deadline is not met, but it is not compulsory to hand in the provisional version. Part 4: Final exam: The student submits the final written exam paper (freely chosen topic within the theme of the course), as well as the final versions of the assignments. The total products must be 16-20 standard pages (including the two first assignments, but excluding bibliography).

B. Course participation with teaching or dissemination assignment Part 1: A teaching assignment consists of 2-6 hours of teaching with an external partner; a dissemination assignment consists of 5-15 hours of work with an external partner. An external partner is, for example, a secondary school, a college, an NGO, a public or private company or organisation. If a teaching or dissemination assignment is carried out, a form must be used indicating the external partner and providing evidence that the assignment took place between 1 February and 20 May. The agreement with an external partner must be sent to the course responsible by 15 April (please use the form). Part 2: The student sends a debriefing to the course responsible at the latest in the last week of the course. In the case of a teaching assignment, a debrief consists of 1/2-1 page description of the teaching assignment, the literature or theory reviewed, and brief pedagogical reflection. In the case of a dissemination assignment, a debriefing consists of 1/2-1 page description of the dissemination task, as well as a short reflection on the competences used. Part 3: The student may submit a preliminary version of the final written exam paper of maximum 8 standard pages for written or oral feedback from the examiner, according to agreement between the student and the examiner. This must be done at least 14 days before the deadline for the final submission. The student loses the right to feedback if the deadline is not met, but it is not compulsory to hand in the provisional version. Part 4: The student submits a written exam paper of 11-15 standard pages (excluding bibliography)