ABSTRACT

If mental and physical are separate domains, “mental illness” should not involve the body. But bodily symptoms are common among people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders. Examples are altered perceptions of hot and cold, and hallucinations of touch. Overlooking the body may contribute to the stigma of psychiatric diagnosis.

SPEAKER PROFILE

Catherine Stinson is a philosopher of science with interests in neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, and computational science. Her main interest is how scientific explanations work: How can we be sure that experimental models behave the same way as the systems they stand in for? Are computational models more like experiments run on a digital model, or like a series of calculations? How can we relate the personal, cognitive, neural, and molecular level explanations of a complex psychiatric disorder? One project Catherine is working on at the Rotman Institute is coming up with an account of what sort of a thing an explanation is that can make sense of the diverse and overlapping explanations (at multiple levels, coming from various types of models) that we use to understand a given scientific phenomenon.

Read more about Catherine Stinson.

EVENT POSTER

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EVENT VIDEO

This event is co-sponsored with the London Public Library and the Western Department of Philosophy.