The Disordered Mind

This interdisciplinary book serves as an introduction to the philosophy of mind and mental illness. It considers the nature of mental disorders and what human vulnerability to such conditions reveals about the nature of mind and mentality. Graham rejects the neurological disorder theory, arguing instead that we should 'seek for explanations of a mental disorder that combine references to brute, a-rational, neural mechanisms and to the rationality of persons.' Reason, he argues, is partly but not fully incapacitated in a mental disorder, which he characterises as a truncated rationality theory. Philosophy of mind brings another level of sophistication and different discourse to bear on what some clinicians may interpret in a purely biomedical fashion. The book covers a range of topics such as depression, acute anxiety, addiction, religious delusions and paranoia. It also examines some non-mental neurological disorders with psychological symptoms such as Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome. It will be of particular value to psychiatrists, psychologists and philosophers wishing to extend the range of their thinking.