Aida Roige (University of Valencia): What kind of thing are mental disorders? An account based on reasons-responsiveness

Abstract:

What ties together the different mental disorders? An answer to this question would help us get a clearer sense of what mental disorders are. In this talk, I provide a novel account of mental disorders (in general; particular disorders likely have other more specific characterizations). Roughly, a mental disorder is a pathology affecting how (some) mental outputs (e.g. behaviors, beliefs, emotions, desires) are produced, such that the degree of reasons-responsiveness of the mechanism(s) responsible for their production is greatly diminished with respect to what we would folk-psychologically expect it to be. I discuss the advantages of this account in comparison to other alternatives, as well as some historical hypotheses as to why systems of psychiatric classification came to adopt this notion of mental disorders.