•  13
    Religious delusion or religious belief?
    Philosophical Psychology. forthcoming.
    How shall we distinguish religious delusion from sane religious belief? Making this determination is not usually found to be difficult in clinical practice – but what shall be our theoretical rationale? Attempts to answer this question often try to provide differentiating principles by which the religious “sheep” may be separated from the delusional “goats.” As we shall see, none of these attempts work. We may, however, ask whether the assumption underlying the search for a differentiating princ…Read more
  •  1
    Madness, Reason, and Pride
    Philosophy Psychiatry and Psychology 30 (4): 307-311. 2023.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Madness, Reason, and PrideRichard G.T. Gipps, PhD (bio)MadnessQuestions such as “what’s madness?” or “what’s reason?” carry no singular sense about with them wherever they go—which isn’t to say that, asked out of a particular interest in a particular context, they can’t be perfectly intelligible. Garson (2023) is wise to this when he follows “what is madness?” with “as opposed to what?”, even if this latter question itself hardly enj…Read more
  •  10
    Psychotherapy as Ethics
    Philosophies 8 (2): 42. 2023.
    Talk of matters ethical is, in the psychotherapeutic context, typically relegated to therapy’s preconditions and setting, i.e., to its ‘frame’. What goes on within that frame, i.e., therapeutic action itself, gets theorised in psychological rather than ethical terms. An explanation for this is the frequent therapeutic imperative to extirpate self-directed moralising. Moralising, however, constitutes but a phoney pretender to the ethical life. A true ethical sensibility instead shows itself in su…Read more
  •  10
    I've got anxiety
    Journal of Philosophy of Education 56 (1): 124-128. 2022.
    Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 56, Issue 1, Page 124-128, February 2022.
  •  117
    Philosophy has much to offer psychiatry, not least regarding ethical issues, but also issues regarding the mind, identity, values, and volition. This has become only more important as we have witnessed the growth and power of the pharmaceutical industry, accompanied by developments in the neurosciences. However, too few practising psychiatrists are familiar with the literature in this area. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry offers the most comprehensive reference resource for thi…Read more
  •  4
    The Narcissism of the Private Linguist
    In Maria Balaska (ed.), Cora Diamond on Ethics, Springer Verlag. pp. 223-245. 2021.
    Sections 243–315 of the Philosophical Investigations contain Wittgenstein’s arguments with that voice of temptation we’ve come to know as the ‘private linguist’. This chapter uses key ideas from Cora Diamond’s philosophy to offer a reading of these ‘private language’ arguments. These ideas include the difficulty of reality, our temptation to deflect from that difficulty’s recognition through evasive and illusory forms of imagination, and the value of a philosophical vision which tracks the ethic…Read more
  •  19
    The Order of Disorder
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 28 (3): 187-190. 2021.
    When assessing a new philosophical theory of psychopathology, a first question might be: is it descriptive or revisionary in intent? Does it aim to provide reflective understanding of what is already meant by correct uses of ‘mental disorder’? Or instead to redeploy that familiar term in articulating a new concept meeting particular desiderata? Nielsen offers us an ‘enactive conceptualization’ of mental disorder, and conceptualizations are typically understood as inventive rather than descriptiv…Read more
  •  21
    When Ego-Boundaries Break
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 27 (1): 111-113. 2020.
    In her commentary, Dibitonto helpfully compares my understanding of schizophrenic ego disturbance with that of Blankenburg. His patient Anne described her true schizophrenic difficulty as obtaining in some sense 'before' those experiential disturbances she can articulate. Ordinary conversational modes misleadingly invite her and us to attempt describing her difficulties in terms which presuppose the intactness of, rather than capture the underlying disturbance to, her self-hood. They fail to loc…Read more
  •  43
    Disturbance of Ego-Boundary Enaction in Schizophrenia
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 27 (1): 91-106. 2020.
    Today the concept of 'schizophrenia' is often presented in psychiatric texts as a construct, a construct bringing together a diverse and, allegedly, independently assailable range of signs and symptoms. According to such a diagnostic scheme two patients may both be allowed to count as suffering from schizophrenia despite sharing hardly a single symptom. The validity of the concept has accordingly been contested by psychologists for its apparent lack of unity. In the absence of clear independent …Read more
  •  570
    Introduction: Know thyself
    with Michael Lacewing
    In Richard Gipps & Michael Lacewing (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, Oxford University Press. pp. 1-22. 2019.
    In this introduction to the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, we provide an overview of the promise and problems of connecting philosophy and psychoanalysis through a focus on the age-old theme central to both disciplines, 'know thyself'.
  •  42
    Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis (edited book)
    Oxford University Press. 2019.
    Psychoanalysis is often equated with Sigmund Freud, but this comparison ignores the wide range of clinical practices, observational methods, general theories, and cross-pollinations with other disciplines that characterise contemporary psychoanalytic work. Central psychoanalytic concepts to do with unconscious motivation, primitive forms of thought, defence mechanisms, and transference form a mainstay of today's richly textured contemporary clinical psychological practice. In this landmark colle…Read more
  •  42
    Psychoanalysis: Science of the Mind?
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 25 (2): 113-118. 2018.
    In his paper on 'The Science of Psychoanalysis,' Lacewing helpfully distinguishes a central psychodynamic model of the mind, elaborated in the clinical theory of psychoanalysis, from certain of its metapsychological and etiological theories. Critics who view psychoanalysis as unscientific have tended to focus on the lack of evidential support for certain of its developmental claims or the lack of reliability and validity in its theoretical posits. Lacewing claims, however, that the model contain…Read more
  •  37
    Dialectical Virtue and the Philosophy of Psychoanalysis
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 25 (2): 61-63. 2018.
    Philosophical engagements with psychoanalysis have taken several forms. Some have offered a philosophical re-vision of psychoanalytical understandings of human nature. Thus, we have Boss, Binswanger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty offering us existential-phenomenological; Ricoeur hermeneutic; Lacan structuralist; and Heaton, Elder, and Fingarette Wittgensteinian, readings of unconscious life and of therapeutic action. Such philosophical elaborations of the most apt reflective and the most fruitful re…Read more
  •  35
    The Indefinability and Unintelligibility of Delusion
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 19 (2): 91-95. 2012.
  •  53
    Depression, Sadness and Authenticity
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 22 (4): 307-308. 2015.
    Hauptman’s paper tells of a Mr. A, who refused exogenous treatment for the depression he felt consequent on the end of a romantic relationship, because such treatment seems to be inauthentic and despicable. It seemed this way because the depression felt like an apt response to the loss of the beloved.Like Hauptman, I have some sympathy with Mr. A’s position. To medicate away authentic emotional reactions to the trials of living is, it seems to me, to promote a form of self-alienation and radical…Read more
  •  218
    Illnesses and Likenesses
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 10 (3): 255-259. 2003.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 10.3 (2003) 255-259 [Access article in PDF] Illnesses and Likenesses Richard G. T. Gipps IN THIS RESPONSE to Neil Pickering's paper I shall focus only on what he describes as the "strong objection" to the typical use of the likeness argument. The likeness argument, to recap, has it that we can decide whether conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, or alcoholism do or do not deserve the desig…Read more
  •  29
    Pathology of the Mind: Disorder Versus Disability
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 15 (4): 341-344. 2008.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Pathology of the Mind: Disorder Versus DisabilityRichard G. T. Gipps (bio)Keywordsorder, disorder, ability, disability, mental illnessAlfredo Gaete (2008) describes mental disorders as impairments in intentionality, phenomenal consciousness, and intelligence that cause harm to the affected person. I found persuasive Gaete’s claim that the concept of ‘mental disorder’ is best understood as nontheoretical and nontechnical. I also find …Read more
  •  58
    Delusions, Certainty, and the Background
    with John Rhodes
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 15 (4): 295-310. 2008.
    Cognitive psychologists have recently identified alterations in perception and reasoning that contribute to the formation and maintenance of beliefs that happen to be delusional. Clinically significant delusions, however, are often deeply unusual. An account of their formation and maintenance must explain not merely how someone can come to hold false or uncommon beliefs, but also how someone can arrive at beliefs that seem profoundly improbable and even bizarre. This paper uses the philosophical…Read more
  •  28
    The Background Theory of Delusion and Existential Phenomenology
    with John Rhodes
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 15 (4): 321-326. 2008.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Background Theory of Delusion and Existential PhenomenologyRichard G. T. Gipps (bio) and John Rhodes (bio)KeywordsPhenomenology, psychological explanation, epistemology, schizophreniaSituating and Clarifying the PaperThe commentaries of Nassir Ghaemi and Giovanni Stanghellini help to sketch out the intellectual landscape of philosophical perspectives in psychiatry, and situate our paper within it. A happy convergence between the …Read more
  •  309
    Autism and Intersubjectivity: Beyond Cognitivism and the Theory of Mind
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 11 (3): 195-198. 2004.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Autism and Intersubjectivity:Beyond Cognitivism and the Theory of MindRichard Gipps (bio)The papers that make up this special issue of Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology are obviously united by both topic and approach. They all look at autism through a philosophical lens—both at infantile autism (Gallagher 2004a, 2004b; McGeer 2004; Shanker 2004) and at schizophrenic autism (Stanghellini and Ballerini 2004). Moreover, they are all …Read more
  •  75
    Mental disorder and intentional order
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 13 (2): 117-121. 2006.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Mental Disorder and Intentional OrderRichard Gipps (bio)Bengt Brülde and Filip Radovic inform the reader that they will assume "there is such a thing as a general category of disorder, of which mental and somatic disorders can be regarded as subcategories" (2006, 100). With this assumption in place, they take up a fascinating discussion of what warrants our categorizations of certain disorders as mental as opposed to physical. The an…Read more