Oxford Forum online: Dan Zahavi on Psychiatry and Philosophy (30 November 2020)

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Organised by the Oxford Forum in association with the Stanford University Centre in Oxford, Professor Dan Zahavi live on Zoom.

Oxford Forum Webinar
Professor Dan Zahavi
Psychiatry and Philosophy
Monday, 30 November |5:00-6:30 pm

This webinar is free to attend and open to all.
Register to receive the Zoom link.

Speaker: Professor Dan Zahavi (Professor of Philosophy, University of Copenhagen and University of Oxford; Director of Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen)

Chair: Dr Roxana Baiasu, Tutorial Fellow, Stanford University Centre in Oxford; Member of the Philosophy Faculty, University of Oxford

Psychiatry has since its very beginning had a troublesome relationship with philosophy. Some of the founding fathers of psychiatry believed philosophical knowledge to be indispensable for the clinical practice. Can such a verdict still be maintained, or would it improve the scientific credentials of psychiatry, if it resolutely turned its back to philosophy and became more like the other medical specialties? In his talk, Professor Zahavi will suggest that the later move would be a grave mistake. He will show how our conception and description of a variety of different psychiatric conditions inevitable draw on various philosophical concepts and why a familiarity with those concepts and their theoretical foundations are important. He will discuss some historical references, some clinical cases, and also exemplify how ideas from phenomenological philosophy have recently been put to use by Danish psychiatrists.

Organised by the Oxford Forum in association with the Stanford University Centre in Oxford.
Conveners: Dr Roxana Baiasu and Professor Stephen Mulhall.
For more information, contact: [email protected].