PNP Seminar

What is mental health? What is mental illness? What are the aims and methods of psychiatric classification? Should we expect an explanation of mental health and illness that "reduces" it to biological difference? What should a science that studies mental illness look like? How do we know what therapies work, and what does it mean to "work"? What does 'effectiveness' mean in this context, and how should we measure it? What role do placebo effects play in mental health care? Who are the experts in explaining, and describing, mental disorder, and how did they become the experts? Should those diagnosed with mental disorders have a voice in characterizing and explaining mental illness, or in prioritizing different kinds of scientific research?
This course introduces students to philosophical debates on such questions, and sets the debates about these questions in historical context. We start with a history of the making of the DSM, homosexuality's declassification in the 1970s, and the "biological revolution" of the 80s. Then we turn to current debates about the effectiveness of various modes of intervention. Via critical engagement with debates over the history and current practice of classifying, explaining, and treating mental disorders, students will gain a sense of how conceptual and methodological concerns arise and are resolved in psychology and medicine.

Prerequisite: PNP major in second semester Junior or Senior standing with a 300-level course in philosophy or PNP, graduate standing or the permission of the instructor.

Course Attributes: EN S; AS SSC; FA SSC; AR SSC

PNP Seminar

PHILOSOPHY-NEUROSCIENCE-PSYCHOLOGY 495

Section 01