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Mental disorder, free will, and personal autonomyIn Şerife Tekin & Robyn Bluhm (eds.), The Bloomsbury Companion to Philosophy of Psychiatry, Bloomsbury. 2019.
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The Limits of IrrationalityDissertation, Princeton University. 1996.This dissertation is a philosophical investigation of irrationality. The aim is to provide a conceptual basis for understanding various forms of irrationality, such as psychosis, neurosis, self-deception, repression, and weak-willed behavior. There are six main chapters, focusing on different phenomena, and touching on several fields of inquiry, including moral psychology, value theory, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of science and psychoanalytic theory. The first two cha…Read more
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74Degrees of PersonhoodJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 22 (2): 173-197. 1997.In this paper I argue that a Naturalist conception of personhood, such as the one defended by Derek Parfit, implies that there are degrees of personhood, i.e., that it makes sense to say one individual has a greater degree of personhood than another. I describe both criteria of general personhood, which distinguish between persons and non-persons, and criteria of particular personhood, which distinguish between one person and another. I examine some of the consequences for ethics, including the …Read more
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Development: Disorders of Childhood and YouthIn Jennifer Radden (ed.), The Philosophy of Psychiatry: A Companion, Oxford University Press. 2007.
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43Bridging the gap between philosophers of mind and brain researchers: The example of addictionMens Sana Monographs 9 (1): 193. 2011.Philosophers and psychologists have long tried to understand people's irrational behaviour through concepts such as weakness of will, compulsion and addiction. The scientific basis of the project has been greatly enhanced by advances in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. However, some philosophers have also been critical of the more general conclusions drawn by the scientists. This is especially true when scientific researchers start making claims that go to philosophical issues, such as fre…Read more
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73Medicating Children: The Case of RitalinBioethics 11 (3-4): 228-240. 1997.In response to recent concerns about the overmedication of children, this paper considers ethical and conceptual issues that arise in the issue of when children who are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder should be given stimulants such as the psychotropic drug Ritalin as part of their treatment. There is considerable resistance and worry about the possibility of overmedication. This is linked to the worry that the diagnosis of ADHD is overused, and the paper considers some r…Read more
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38When self-consciousness breaks: Alien voices and inserted thoughtsPhilosophical Review 110 (4): 623-626. 2001.Stephens and Grahamset themselves an apparently modest task, to understand why people who experience alien voices and inserted thoughts do not believe that they themselves are the source of these experiences. However, it soon becomes clear that there are many connected issues here. In eight short chapters, they address the phenomenology and ontology of consciousness, the phenomenology of alien voices, inserted thoughts, obsessive-compulsive thoughts and feelings, and other cases of unusual exper…Read more
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Daniel M. Wegner, The Illusion of Conscious Will Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 23 (4): 299-301. 2003.
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14Christine M. Korsgaard, The Constitution of Agency: Essays on Practical Reason and Moral Psychology Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 30 (2): 109-110. 2010.
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1TM Scanlon, Moral Dimensions: Permissibility, Meaning, BlamePhilosophy in Review 29 (4): 281. 2009.
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36Direct, fully intentional self-deception is also realBehavioral and Brain Sciences 20 (1): 123-124. 1997.An important way to become self-deceived, omitted by Mele, is by intentionally ignoring and avoiding the contemplation of evidence one has for an upsetting conclusion, knowing full well that one is giving priority to one's present peace of mind over the search for truth. Such intentional self-deception may be especially hard to observe scientifically.
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20Rae Langton , Sexual Solipsism: Philosophical Essays on Pornography and Objectification (review)Philosophy in Review 31 (4): 287-289. 2011.
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16Claudia Card , Confronting Evils: Terrorism, Torture, Genocide . Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 32 (4): 247-248. 2012.
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