Boundaries between Badness and Madness: A Philosophical Perspective

Dr Edward Harcourt (Oxford University)

On Wednesday, 19 March, Dr. Edward Harcourt will be giving a talk entitled "Boundaries between Badness and Madness: A Philosophical Perspective" to the Maudsley Philosophy Group.

The talk will take place in Seminar Room 1, Institute of Psychiatry Main Building, 16 De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF

The talk begins at 6 pm. All are welcome. 
 
Edward Harcourt is a Fellow and Tutor in philosophy at Keble College, Oxford. The Maudsley Philosophy Group is a research group based at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, devoted to furthering links between philosophy and psychiatry

  Abstract:
  The boundaries between vice and mental illness have been discussed since Plato and Aristotle first identified vice with mental illness (and virtue with mental health) 2500 years ago. There seems little doubt that psychoanalysis continues the long tradition of thought launched by Plato and Aristotle concerned with the relation between human nature and 'the good life', and making these continuities visible helps to rescue the ethical dimension of psychoanalysis from the scientific self-images which were more dominant in its early days. Nonetheless, there are many aspects of the equation of vice and mental illness that need to be questioned. Even Plato and Aristotle described cases of 'madness' which don't fit their own "vice = illness" theory. Conversely, aren't they too optimistic in thinking that all cases of badness are cases of mental illness of some kind? This talk will explore the boundary between vice and mental illness in the light both of philosophy and of psychodynamic theory.

Edward Skidelsky [email protected]