Are ownership and authorship of thoughts necessary for intentionality and rationality?

Lead Research Organisation: University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Philosophy Theology & Religion

Abstract

There is already an extensive philosophical literature on the nature and rationality of delusions, aimed at establishing whether the behaviour of subjects with delusions can be genuinely characterised in intentional terms and what norms of
rationality deluded subjects violate. In this project I will attempt to advance the existing debate by suggesting that in some cases of psychopathology subjects exhibit a failure of self-knowledge, that is, they do not seem to genuinely endorse (and be able to justify with reasons) some of the thoughts that they can access by introspection. Let me offer an example. You tell me that you have just decided to move to Egypt, when I know that you have lived most of your life in the UK, and I ask you: 'Really? How come?' and you reply: 'I don't know. No reason'. This exchange is puzzling because an important decision that is likely to significantly affect someone's life in a variety of ways cannot be supported by any reasons and as a result the interpreter does not know whether the reported intention should be taken seriously. Sometimes this is what happens in delusions: a thought is reported with what appears to be absolute conviction, but no reasons can be given for it, or no reasons that the interpreter can recognise as relevant.
In his very influential 'Authority and Estrangement' Richard Moran argues for a connection between reason giving and self-knowledge. He claims that the capacity to justify a belief (or decision) with reasons shows that the subject has some kind of authority over the content of the belief (or decision).
My project aims at developing this notion of authority and exploring its links with degrees of self-knowledge and intentionality. Maybe what is puzzling about delusions is that they are not justified with reasons by the people reporting them. This might suggest that subjects with delusions lack some form of authority over the content of the thoughts they report. This breakdown of self-knowledge does not eually affect all delusional subjects and does not affect delusional subjects alone and therefore might not be a promising criterion of demarcation between normal and delusional beliefs.
However, importing the notion of authority in the philosophical literature on psychopathology has other important applications. By endorsing reported thoughts an agent forms a conception of herself (e.g. as the person who wants to move to Egypt for, say, a sense of adventure) which guides future action and decision-making (see David Velleman's notion of self-constitution). Gaps in the self-narrative impair this process and affect the exercise of autonomy in thought and action. It is this aspect of the failure of self-knowledge that I want to account for in the project and that could have a contribution to make to current analyses of self-determination, autonomy and moral responsibility.

Publications

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Bortolotti L (2012) Autonomy and Mental Disorder

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Bortolotti L (2012) Can we recreate delusions in the laboratory? in Philosophical Psychology

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Bortolotti L (2009) The Epistemic Benefits of Reason Giving in Theory & Psychology

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Lisa Bortolotti (author) (2009) Delusion in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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Matthew Broome (author) (2009) Mental illness and mental: In defence of psychological realism. in HumanaMente

 
Description I explored the notions of ownership and authorship of thought by considering irrational beliefs in the clinical and non-clinical population. My main results were applied to the phenomenon of clinical delusions. I argued that people with delusions experience failures of rationality and self-knowledge that are usually continuous with the failures of rationality and self-knowledge common in the non-clinical population.
Exploitation Route The new account of what delusions are I provide, in terms of failures of rationality and self-knowledge, can feed back into theories of psychiatric classification and diagnosis and has received attention by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists interested in the definition of delusions. The more general conclusions about irrational beliefs in the non-clinical population can feed back into psychological theories about how the mind works and also cultural views about how making choices and representing the world contribute to agency when reasoning capacities and knowledge are limited.
Sectors Education,Healthcare,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections

URL https://sites.google.com/site/lisabortolottiphilosophy/projects
 
Description The main findings of my research, presented in the research monograph Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs, have been used in discussions about classification and diagnosis in psychiatry, especially around the time of the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, edition 5, in May 2013. My work on delusions and irrational beliefs in general has been influential outside academia and healthcare, for instance leading to a participation in Mental Health Awareness Week in Nottingham in 2010, an appearance on The Forum (BBC World Service) discussing Unintended Consequences (November 2014), and a presentation on myths in an art gallery in Oxford (Modern Art Oxford) featuring works by William Morris and Andy Wharol (January 2015).
First Year Of Impact 2010
Sector Healthcare,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural,Policy & public services

 
Description Delusions and Hypnosis Group 
Organisation Macquarie University
Country Australia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I visited the Group in 2008-2009 and participated in their research activities. I am still in contact with many researchers at Macquarie.
Collaborator Contribution We co-authored papers together on delusions and hypnosis.
Impact Three research papers, including one in Philosophical Psychology, one in Consciousness and Cognition, and one in an edited collection published by OUP.
Start Year 2008
 
Description Narratives and Delusions 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Talk sparked very lively debate afterwards and comments on the site too.

People reported not having thought about delusions in the way I presented them and wanted to know more about the topic.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
URL http://www.meetup.com/nottingham-culture-cafe-sci/events/14363669/
 
Description Rationality and delusions 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Several requests for further information followed the talk.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2013
URL http://culturetheque.org.uk/listen/mnwp/lisa-bortolotti