Disturbed Consciousness: New Essays on Psychopathology and Theories of Consciousness

Rocco J. Gennaro

In my recently published anthology Disturbed Consciousness: New Essays on Psychopathology and Theories of Consciousness (MIT Press, 2015), philosophers and other scholars examine various psychopathologies in light of specific philosophical theories of consciousness. The contributing authors consider not only how a theory of consciousness can account for a specific psychopathological condition but also how the characteristics of a psychopathology might challenge such a theory. So the basic idea for this volume was for authors to defend, discuss, or critique at least one specific philosophical theory of consciousness with respect to one or more psychopathologies. Authors were asked to keep in mind such questions as: How can a (or your) theory of consciousness account for a specific psychopathological condition? How might one reply to an actual (or potential) criticism of your theory of consciousness based on a psychopathology? How might one theory of consciousness explain a psychopathology better than another theory? Another purpose of the volume is to advance the interdisciplinary dialogue in what are sometimes called “philosophical psychopathology” and “philosophy of psychiatry”...