Kate Finley - Mechanisms & Machine Metaphors in Psychiatry

Kate Finley

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:  Kate Finley

Tuesday, November 18 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST

Title: Mechanisms & Machine Metaphors in Psychiatry

Abstract:

The concept of ‘mechanism’ is ubiquitous in psychiatric research and practice – yet its intended meaning is often underspecified. While more minimal New Mechanist accounts avoid the conceptual baggage of machine metaphors and analogies, I argue that the ambiguous usage of mechanism concepts in psychiatry creates a conceptual void which prompts defaulting to intuitive machine metaphors and associated interpretive tendencies. Specifically, we see an uninterrogated drift from appeals to mechanistic structures and processes to models and explanatory frameworks implicitly structured by this thicker, metaphorically-laden understanding of mechanism. I will then trace the implications of this for psychiatric research methodology, clinical assessment, and patient self-conception – illustrating how the deterministic and reductionistic tendencies often associated with biogenetic accounts of mental disorder emerge not from the accounts themselves, but rather from the machine-metaphor framework through which they are interpreted. I will conclude by proposing an alternative framework to counteract some of the problematic associations of this dominant metaphor.

This talk will be available online:

Zoom:  https://pitt.zoom.us/j/93343893801

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