Uniting Two Perspectives on Mental Illness: Philosophy and Linguistics

Uniting Two Perspectives on Mental Illness: Philosophy and Linguistics

The online registration for Uniting Two Perspectives on Mental Illness is now available at https://www.chase.ac.uk/uniting-two-perspectives . Registration deadline: 20th August. Although there is no registration fee, all attendees should complete the register.

Registration includes: access to the conference events and catering. Please note that the conference dinner is not covered.

A programme will be made available asap. On the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact the organisers should you have any registration-related questions.

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Mental illness has long been of interest to researchers in the humanities, including philosophy, linguistics, sociology, history and politics. In a domain where psychologists and psychiatrists have focused on identifying interventions and developing explanatory models, scholars in the humanities have preferred to explore broad conceptual and cultural questions.

For instance:

-          Where do notions like “mental health” and “mental illness” come from? What can we learn from their history?

-          How do specific diagnostic categories emerge?

-          How does psychiatric language shape the way we think about ourselves and each other?

-          How should we understand the relationship between mental illness and personal responsibility?

-          How does stigma about mental illness function?

-          How can we distinguish illness and disorder from other kinds of difference?

-          To what extent can psychiatry be considered a science?

The aim of this conference is to demonstrate that a dialogue between two of these disciplines – philosophy and linguistics – can help shed light on these important issues.