CFP: Psychopathology and Phenomenology: Perspectives – San Raffaele Spring School of Philosophy 2019

San Raffaele University and its Research Centres, alongside with the Ph.D. program in Philosophy, organize the International Conference and Spring School:  

Psychopathology and Phenomenology: Perspectives

San Raffaele Spring School of Philosophy 2019 (SRSSP 2019)

Milan, June 4-6, 2019 

As a method for thinking how things are present to us, independently of their reality, phenomenology has always been an ally to psychiatry, as a framework for understanding or defining abnormal mental experiences and pathologies. In the past, the work of authors such as Karl Jaspers, Eugène Minkowski and Ludwig Binswanger provided the very foundations of the discipline in Europe. In recent years, the phenomenological approach to psychopathology has regained centre stage in philosophy and in scientific psychiatric research both in Europe and the Anglo-American community, for it provides an alternative to, or a complement for, physicalist and third-person perspective accounts of mental disorders. Contemporary research topics in phenomenological psychiatry include accounts of specific conditions, such as schizophrenia, or depression, alongside with framework issues such as the role of the embodied dimensions of experience, the relation between first-person perspectives and neuroscientific evidence, and the adequacy of current nosologies.

On the occasion of the appearance of the Oxford Handbook of Phenomenological Psychopathology(upcoming June 2019), the school will open with a special section,

“The State of the Art: Philosophy and Psychiatry. The Oxford Handbooks”

that will feature, as invited speakers, K.W.M. Fulford (University of Oxford, Founder Editor of the book series International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry) and G. Stanghellini (G. D’Annunzio University of Chieti, Chief Editor of the Oxford Handbook of Phenomenological Psychopathology).

The School will also feature three further sections, covering three broad research areas connected with the main theme. For each of them, a leading philosopher of psychiatry will introduce the discussion with a keynote lecture, and we invite submission of contributed papers. The sections are the following:

1)   Philosophical frameworks for psychopathology

Philosophy may provide general conceptual frameworks for the understanding and explanation of psychopathology, such as Embodiment and Enactivism. On the specific level, it can develop original accounts of disorders, such as schizophrenia and depression, and symptoms, such as delusions, by reflecting on the nature of the self, language, and consciousness.

2)   Science in Progress. New Conceptual Frames for Empirical Psychopathology and for Psychiatry

There is currently a lively debate on status of psychiatry as a science, with a focus on the adequacy of current nosologies, such as DSM-5, and the proposals for new ones, such as Research Domains Criteria (RDoC), and holistic approaches.

3)   Society, Politics and the Bodies of Mental Disease

One of the recent trends in the study of psychopatology is the attention to the social, historical and political determinants of diseases. In the Italian and Continental tradition, this is a fruitful legacy of the critical-psychiatry movement. Moreover, mental diseases are now also increasingly considered in their bodily dimension, and connected with concepts such as gender, or ethnicity.

Invited Speakers:

K.W.M. Fulford, University of Oxford

“The State of the Art: Philosophy and Psychiatry. The Oxford Handbooks” (Special section)

T. Fuchs, Heidelberg University

“Delusion, Reality and Intersubjectivity. An Enactive Account of Delusions” (Section 1)

M. Ratcliffe, University of York

“Phenomenology, Psychopathology, and Language” (Section 1)

F. Benedetti, San Raffaele University

“Systems for Social Processes: Understanding Others” (Section 2)

G. Stanghellini, University of Chieti

“The State of the Art: Philosophy and Psychiatry. The Oxford Handbooks” (Special section)

“Pheno-phenotypes. For a Phenomenological Nosology” (Section 2)

C. Colombo, San Raffaele University

“Depression, Biology and Gender” (Section 3)

L. J. Kirmayer, McGill University, Montreal

“Cultural phenomenology and psychopathology: Implications for Psychiatric Theory, Research and Practice” (Section 3)

Submissions must be prepared for double blind review. Manuscripts – in .doc format – should not contain any identifying information and they cannot exceed 4000 words (references included). Moreover, they must contain:

– An abstract of no more than 150 words,

– The section to which the author(s) wants to contribute to;

– 4/5 keywords.

For stylistic details, click here;

Submissions should be sent via the Phenomenology and Mindwebsite (http://www.fupress.net/index.php/pam) by the 13th of January, 2019.

The author should register here and then log in to submit her paper. Please, be sure to register as author in order to submit your paper (flag the option “Author” in your Profile), and to indicate your current affiliation (if applicable).

For information, please contact: phenomenologyandmind@unisr.it

Important dates:

Deadline for submissions: January 13th, 2019

Notification of acceptance: March 24th, 2019

Spring School: June 4th-6th, 2019

Publication of the issue: July, 2020

Scientific Direction:

Marta Boniardi (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University), Roberta De Monticelli (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University), Francesca De Vecchi (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University), Francesca Forlè (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University), Elisabetta Lalumera (University of Milano-Bicocca), Ernestina Politi (San Raffaele Hospital, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University), Massimo Reichlin (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University), Elisabetta Sacchi (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University), Roberta Sala (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University), Sarah Songhorian (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University).

For more information, click here 

Tags: Bill Fulford, Cristina Colombo, Francesco Benedetti, Giovanni Stanghellini, Laurence Kirmayer, Matthew Ratcliffe, Thomas Fuchs