Lisa Bortolotti
I am a philosopher of the cognitive sciences interested in irrational beliefs. I am the editor of Philosophical Psychology (Taylor and Francis).
Supervisors: Martin Davies
Address: Philosophy Department
School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston B15 2TT
UK
Supervisors: Martin Davies
Address: Philosophy Department
School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston B15 2TT
UK
less
InterestsView All (35)
Uploads
Why do people adopt delusional beliefs and why are they so reluctant to part with them? In Why Delusions Matter, Lisa Bortolotti explains what delusions really are and argues that, despite their negative reputation, they can also play a positive role in people's lives, imposing some meaning on adverse experiences and strengthening personal or social identities. In a clear and accessible style, Bortolotti contributes to the growing research on the philosophy of the cognitive sciences, offering a novel and nuanced view of delusions.
In this book, Lisa Bortolotti argues that some irrational beliefs qualify as epistemically innocent, where, in some contexts, the adoption, maintenance, or reporting of the beliefs delivers significant epistemic benefits that could not be easily attained otherwise. Epistemic innocence does not imply that the epistemic benefits of the irrational belief outweigh its epistemic costs, yet it clarifies the relationship between the epistemic and psychological effects of irrational beliefs on agency. It is misleading to assume that epistemic rationality and psychological adaptiveness always go hand-in-hand, but also that there is a straight-forward trade-off between them. Rather, epistemic irrationality can lead to psychological adaptiveness, which in turn can support the attainment of epistemic goals. Recognising the circumstances in which irrational beliefs enhance or restore epistemic performance informs our mutual interactions and enables us to take measures to reduce their irrationality without undermining the conditions for epistemic success.
In this clear and engaging introduction to current debates on irrationality, Lisa Bortolotti presents the many facets of the concept and offers an original account of the importance of judgements of irrationality as value judgements. The book examines the standards against which we measure human behaviour, and reviews the often serious implications of judgements of irrationality for ethics and policy. Bortolotti argues that we should adopt a more critical stance towards accepted standards of rationality in the light of the often surprising outcomes of philosophical inquiry and cognitive science research into decision making.
Irrationality is an accessible guide to the concept and will be essential reading for students and scholars interested in the limitations of human cognition and human agency.
CONTENTS
Synopsis
1: The Background
2: Procedural Rationality and Belief Ascription
3: Epistemic Rationality and Belief Ascription
4: Agential Rationality and Belief Ascription
5: Beliefs and Self Knowledge
6: Conclusions
Bibliography and Reference List
For reviews and other information about the book, go to: http://sites.google.com/site/lisabortolottiphilosophy/books/delusions
CONTENTS
Preface – Lisa Bortolotti
Part one: Happiness and the Meaningful Life
1. Happiness and Meaningfulness: Some Key Differences (T. Metz)
2. Happiness, Temporality, Meaning (J. Cottingham)
3. Tragic Joyfulness (P. Tabensky)
4. Shape and the Meaningfulness of Life (L. James)
5. Immortal Happiness (M. Quigley and J. Harris)
6. “I am well, apart from the fact that I have cancer”: Explaining Well-being within Illness (H. Carel)
7. Suffering in Happy Lives (M.W. Martin)
Part two: Happiness and the Mind.
8. Reflections on Positive Psychology (E. Duncan, I. Grazzani-Gavazzi and U. Kiran Subba)
9. Face Value. Perception and Knowledge of Others’ Happiness (E. Zamuner)
10. The Politics of Happiness: Subjective vs. Economic Measures as Measures of Social Well-being (E. Angner)
11. Happiness and Preference-Satisfaction (I. Law)
12. The Politics of the Self: Stability, Normativity and the Lives we can Live with Living (J. Lenman)
13. Happiness and Life Choices: Sartre on Desire, Deliberation and Action (J. Fernández)
14. The Reflective Life and Happiness (V. Tiberius)
References and Bibliography
Index
For reviews and other information about the book, go to: http://sites.google.com/site/lisabortolottiphilosophy/books/happiness
CONTENTS
Introduction - Psychiatry as Cognitive Neuroscience: An Overview (M.R. Broome and L. Bortolotti)
Psychiatry as Science
Chapter 1. Is Psychiatric Research Scientific? (R. Cooper)
Chapter 2. A Secret History of ICD and the Hidden Future of DSM. (K.W.M. Fulford and N. Sartorius)
Chapter 3. Delusion as a Natural Kind. (R. Samuels)
The Nature of Mental Illness
Chapter 4. Mental Illness is Indeed a Myth. (H. Pickard)
Chapter 5. Psychiatry and the Concept of Disease as Pathology. (D. Murphy)
Reconciling Paradigms
Chapter 6. On the Interface Problem in Philosophy and Psychiatry. (T. Thornton)
Chapter 7. What does Rationality Have to Do with Psychological Causation? Propositional attitudes as Mechanisms and as Control Variables. (J. Campbell)
Chapter 8. Mad Scientists or Unreliable Autobiographers? Dopamine Dysregulation and Delusion. (P. Gerrans)
Psychiatry and the Neurosciences
Chapter 9. When Time is Out of Joint: Schizophrenia and Functional Neuroimaging. (D. Lloyd)
Chapter 10. Philosophy and Cognitive-Affective Neurogenetics. (D. Stein)
Chapter 11. An Addictive Lesson: A Case Study in Psychiatry as Cognitive Neuroscience. (L. Stephens and G. Graham)
Phenomenology and Scientific Explanation
Chapter 12. Understanding Existential Changes in Psychiatric Illness: The Indispensability of Phenomenology. (M. Ratcliffe)
Chapter 13. Delusional realities. (S. Gallagher)
Delusions and Cognition
Chapter 14. Delusions: a Two-Level Framework. (K. Frankish)
Chapter 15. Explaining Pathologies of Belief. (A.M. Aimola Davies and M. Davies)
Moral Psychology and Psychopathology
Chapter 16. Mental Time Travel, Agency and Responsibility. (J. Kennett and S. Matthews)
Chapter 17. Motivation, Depression and Character. (I. Law)
Conclusion: The Future of Scientific Psychiatry. (L. Bortolotti and M.R. Broome)
One of the best books of 2009 for the Guardian, according to Mary Warnock:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/22/books-of-the-year-2009.
For reviews and other information about the book, go to: http://sites.google.com/site/lisabortolottiphilosophy/books/psychiatry
Introduction: What is Science?
Chapter 1: Demarcation
Chapter 2: Reasoning
Chapter 3: Knowledge
Chapter 4: Language and Reality
Chapter 5: Rationality
Chapter 6: Ethics
Conclusion: Science as an Activity
Glossary
Thematic Bibliography
Index
For reviews and other information about the book, go to: http://sites.google.com/site/lisabortolottiphilosophy/books/Introduction
Why do people adopt delusional beliefs and why are they so reluctant to part with them? In Why Delusions Matter, Lisa Bortolotti explains what delusions really are and argues that, despite their negative reputation, they can also play a positive role in people's lives, imposing some meaning on adverse experiences and strengthening personal or social identities. In a clear and accessible style, Bortolotti contributes to the growing research on the philosophy of the cognitive sciences, offering a novel and nuanced view of delusions.
In this book, Lisa Bortolotti argues that some irrational beliefs qualify as epistemically innocent, where, in some contexts, the adoption, maintenance, or reporting of the beliefs delivers significant epistemic benefits that could not be easily attained otherwise. Epistemic innocence does not imply that the epistemic benefits of the irrational belief outweigh its epistemic costs, yet it clarifies the relationship between the epistemic and psychological effects of irrational beliefs on agency. It is misleading to assume that epistemic rationality and psychological adaptiveness always go hand-in-hand, but also that there is a straight-forward trade-off between them. Rather, epistemic irrationality can lead to psychological adaptiveness, which in turn can support the attainment of epistemic goals. Recognising the circumstances in which irrational beliefs enhance or restore epistemic performance informs our mutual interactions and enables us to take measures to reduce their irrationality without undermining the conditions for epistemic success.
In this clear and engaging introduction to current debates on irrationality, Lisa Bortolotti presents the many facets of the concept and offers an original account of the importance of judgements of irrationality as value judgements. The book examines the standards against which we measure human behaviour, and reviews the often serious implications of judgements of irrationality for ethics and policy. Bortolotti argues that we should adopt a more critical stance towards accepted standards of rationality in the light of the often surprising outcomes of philosophical inquiry and cognitive science research into decision making.
Irrationality is an accessible guide to the concept and will be essential reading for students and scholars interested in the limitations of human cognition and human agency.
CONTENTS
Synopsis
1: The Background
2: Procedural Rationality and Belief Ascription
3: Epistemic Rationality and Belief Ascription
4: Agential Rationality and Belief Ascription
5: Beliefs and Self Knowledge
6: Conclusions
Bibliography and Reference List
For reviews and other information about the book, go to: http://sites.google.com/site/lisabortolottiphilosophy/books/delusions
CONTENTS
Preface – Lisa Bortolotti
Part one: Happiness and the Meaningful Life
1. Happiness and Meaningfulness: Some Key Differences (T. Metz)
2. Happiness, Temporality, Meaning (J. Cottingham)
3. Tragic Joyfulness (P. Tabensky)
4. Shape and the Meaningfulness of Life (L. James)
5. Immortal Happiness (M. Quigley and J. Harris)
6. “I am well, apart from the fact that I have cancer”: Explaining Well-being within Illness (H. Carel)
7. Suffering in Happy Lives (M.W. Martin)
Part two: Happiness and the Mind.
8. Reflections on Positive Psychology (E. Duncan, I. Grazzani-Gavazzi and U. Kiran Subba)
9. Face Value. Perception and Knowledge of Others’ Happiness (E. Zamuner)
10. The Politics of Happiness: Subjective vs. Economic Measures as Measures of Social Well-being (E. Angner)
11. Happiness and Preference-Satisfaction (I. Law)
12. The Politics of the Self: Stability, Normativity and the Lives we can Live with Living (J. Lenman)
13. Happiness and Life Choices: Sartre on Desire, Deliberation and Action (J. Fernández)
14. The Reflective Life and Happiness (V. Tiberius)
References and Bibliography
Index
For reviews and other information about the book, go to: http://sites.google.com/site/lisabortolottiphilosophy/books/happiness
CONTENTS
Introduction - Psychiatry as Cognitive Neuroscience: An Overview (M.R. Broome and L. Bortolotti)
Psychiatry as Science
Chapter 1. Is Psychiatric Research Scientific? (R. Cooper)
Chapter 2. A Secret History of ICD and the Hidden Future of DSM. (K.W.M. Fulford and N. Sartorius)
Chapter 3. Delusion as a Natural Kind. (R. Samuels)
The Nature of Mental Illness
Chapter 4. Mental Illness is Indeed a Myth. (H. Pickard)
Chapter 5. Psychiatry and the Concept of Disease as Pathology. (D. Murphy)
Reconciling Paradigms
Chapter 6. On the Interface Problem in Philosophy and Psychiatry. (T. Thornton)
Chapter 7. What does Rationality Have to Do with Psychological Causation? Propositional attitudes as Mechanisms and as Control Variables. (J. Campbell)
Chapter 8. Mad Scientists or Unreliable Autobiographers? Dopamine Dysregulation and Delusion. (P. Gerrans)
Psychiatry and the Neurosciences
Chapter 9. When Time is Out of Joint: Schizophrenia and Functional Neuroimaging. (D. Lloyd)
Chapter 10. Philosophy and Cognitive-Affective Neurogenetics. (D. Stein)
Chapter 11. An Addictive Lesson: A Case Study in Psychiatry as Cognitive Neuroscience. (L. Stephens and G. Graham)
Phenomenology and Scientific Explanation
Chapter 12. Understanding Existential Changes in Psychiatric Illness: The Indispensability of Phenomenology. (M. Ratcliffe)
Chapter 13. Delusional realities. (S. Gallagher)
Delusions and Cognition
Chapter 14. Delusions: a Two-Level Framework. (K. Frankish)
Chapter 15. Explaining Pathologies of Belief. (A.M. Aimola Davies and M. Davies)
Moral Psychology and Psychopathology
Chapter 16. Mental Time Travel, Agency and Responsibility. (J. Kennett and S. Matthews)
Chapter 17. Motivation, Depression and Character. (I. Law)
Conclusion: The Future of Scientific Psychiatry. (L. Bortolotti and M.R. Broome)
One of the best books of 2009 for the Guardian, according to Mary Warnock:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/22/books-of-the-year-2009.
For reviews and other information about the book, go to: http://sites.google.com/site/lisabortolottiphilosophy/books/psychiatry
Introduction: What is Science?
Chapter 1: Demarcation
Chapter 2: Reasoning
Chapter 3: Knowledge
Chapter 4: Language and Reality
Chapter 5: Rationality
Chapter 6: Ethics
Conclusion: Science as an Activity
Glossary
Thematic Bibliography
Index
For reviews and other information about the book, go to: http://sites.google.com/site/lisabortolottiphilosophy/books/Introduction