Univie Summer School 2019: Philosophy and Psychiatry
| 16. November 2018
The topic of the two-week course taking place at the Campus of the University of Vienna is "Philosophy and Psychiatry". The main lecturers are Rachel Cooper, Dominic Murphy and Tim Thornton. (© University of Vienna)
The Univie Summer School – Scientific World Conceptions (USS-SWC) – will be held from July 1 to 12, 2019 at the Campus of the University of Vienna. The topic of the two-week course is "Philosophy and Psychiatry". The deadline for application is February 15, 2019.
As an international interdisciplinary program, USS-SWC brings graduate students in close contact with world-renowned scholars. The program is directed primarily to graduate students and junior researchers in fields related to the annual topic, but the organizers also encourage applications from gifted undergraduates and from people in all stages of their career who wish to broaden their horizon through crossdisciplinary studies of methodological and foundational issues in science.
"Philosophy and Psychiatry" as topic
The topic of the two-week course is "Philosophy and Psychiatry". By its very nature, psychiatry – the medical specialism devoted to mental healthcare – raises as many conceptual as empirical questions. The philosophy of psychiatry is a rapidly emerging field which draws broadly on philosophical traditions – centrally analytic philosophy and phenomenology – to address a range of questions as broad as the demands made on psychiatry to address problems of human suffering, distress and disorder.
It is also an area where philosophical methods, accounts and theories can be applied to and thus tested against psychiatric and psychopathological phenomena. But at its heart lies the question of whether, since psychiatry sees itself as part of medicine, the medical conceptualisation of illness and disease can be articulated in such a way that it properly applies to the distinct ‘problems of living’ that psychiatry addresses in response to the crisis of legitimacy often raised. This summer school will address a number of key questions which impact on mental health care.
USS-SWC operates under the academic supervision of an International Program Committee of distinguished philosophers, historians, and scientists. Its members represent the scientific fields in the scope of USS-SWC, make contact to their home universities and will also support acknowledgement of courses taken by the students. USS-SWC is organised every year by the Institute Vienna Circle of the University of Vienna. From 2010 to 2018 USS-SWC was a part of the curriculum of the doctoral programme "The Sciences in Historical, Philosophical and Cultural Contexts". Application deadline: February 15, 2019. (© University of Vienna)
Topics and lecturers
Topics will include the concept of mental disorder, psychiatric classification, the role of values in psychiatry, the roles of explanation and understanding, including idiographic and narrative understanding in psychiatry, delusions, culture bound syndromes, social epistemology and recovery.
The main lecturers are Rachel Cooper (Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, Lancaster University, UK), Dominic Murphy (Associate Professor, University of Sydney, Head of the History and Philosophy of Science Department) and Tim Thornton (Professor of Philosophy and Mental Health, University of Central Lancashire).
Guest lecturer is Raffaella Campaner (Professoressa associata, Dipartimento di Filosofia e Comunicazione, Università di Bologna)
Cost of the Program: Euro 880.00. Lodging in students dormitories available at Euro 465.00 for the whole duration of the course. The administration of USS-SWC at the University of Vienna can assist the candidates admitted in applying for funds and in the accreditation of the course. The deadline for application is February 15, 2019.
Opening Venue: Kapelle, Institut für Ethik und Recht in der Medizin, Campus der Universität Wien, Entrance 2.8 Time: Monday, July 1, 2019, 9 a.m.
