Serife Tekin - Reconfiguring Stability in Psychiatry: Spraying the Self

Şerife Tekin (State University of New York (SUNY))

The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh invites you to join us for our Lunch Time Talk. Attend in person at 1117 Cathedral of Learning or visit our live stream on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.

LTT:  Serife Tekin – Associate Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics

Friday, October 3rd  @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST

Title: Reconfiguring Stability in Psychiatry:  Spraying the Self

Abstract: 

Psychiatry is often portrayed as a fragmented science, encompassing diverse explanatory frameworks from psychodynamic theories to biological psychiatry and patient-centered models. Debates over its scientific legitimacy frequently hinge on whether mental disorders are natural kinds—categories that enable stable explanation, prediction, and intervention. Ian Hacking’s notion of looping effects has been central to this discussion, suggesting that human kinds such as schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder change under classification, thereby undermining their stability. This has fueled the view that psychiatry cannot claim the epistemic status of sciences grounded in stable natural kinds. I argue that this conclusion rests on an unduly narrow conception of stability, one tied to essentialist or homeostatic property cluster accounts. Drawing on Hacking’s earlier work in Representing and Intervening, I propose an alternative reading in which stability is not an intrinsic property of kinds but a product of successful intervention. Reconceptualizing psychiatric practice—particularly therapeutic engagement with the self—as an interventionist enterprise reveals a form of localized, practice-dependent stability that supports psychiatry’s scientific legitimacy without requiring reductionist unity. This reframing not only reconciles two strands of Hacking’s thought but also foregrounds the epistemic role of the self in psychiatric science.

This talk will be available online:

Zoom:TBA
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg