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On delusions

Contents

  1. 1 American Philosophical Association Book Prize
  2. 2 Special issue of Neuroethics 
  3. 3 Fernando Gil Prize Nomination
  4. 4 Delusions in Tokyo!
  5. 5 Guest-blogging on the Splintered Mind!
  6. 6 Studying delusions at MACCS

American Philosophical Association Book Prize

I was awarded the APA Book Prize 2011 for Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs. The prize is for the best book in philosophy published by a younger scholar in the previous two years. 

Special issue of Neuroethics 

In 2011 the journal Neuroethics, edited by Neil Levy, dedicated an issue to my book on the nature of delusions, Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs. 

The issue includes a précis of the book; extended and careful commentaries by Dominic Murphy, Jakob Johwy and Vivek Rajan, Maura Tumulty, Eric Schwitzgebel, and Keith Frankish; and my response. Thanks to Wellcome Trust funding, my response is available open access here.

Fernando Gil Prize Nomination

The Fernando Gil International Prize "intends to award a work of particular excellence in the domain of the Philosophy of Science, whether regarding general epistemological problems or particular scientific areas." In 2010 the prize was won by Patterns of Change, Linguistic Innovations in the Development of Classical Mathematics by Ladislav Kvasz.  Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs was among the nominees, and in excellent company!

Delusions in Tokyo!

For ten days  in October 2010 I visited the thriving Centre of Philosophy at the University of Tokyo, where Professor Nobuhara kindly invited me to present five lectures on the philosophy and psychology of belief.
 
This was a wonderful experience from an academic point of view, as I had the pleasure to have my work discussed and commented upon by bright and motivated doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers in the Centre, who helped me both clarify my ideas and identify weaknesses in my arguments. 
 
I also enjoyed the buzz of Tokyo! And thanks to the philosophers' great hospitality, I had the opportunity to taste many delicious seasonal dishes during the lively dinners that followed the lectures. A report on the experience can be found on the UTCP blog here.

Guest-blogging on the Splintered Mind!

During the summer in 2010 I was a guest-blogger on The Splintered Mind, a blog run by Eric Schwitzgebel who is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California at Riverside. The blog discusses themes in the philosophy of psychology broadly conceived.
 
My short series of posts was on the nature of delusions (whether they are beliefs and in what sense they are irrational), on delusions and action (whether one can act on a delusion, and whether one can act autonomously on a delusion), on delusions and self-knowledge, and on delusions and hypnosis.

Studying delusions at MACCS

The Endeavour Bulletin (January 2010, issue 12) published a testimonial on my project on delusions at the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science. The project was funded by the Endeavour Research Fellowship and did run from July to December 2008. (In the photo on the left, Christmas Lab Lunch, December 2008). I'm still collaborating with the Delusions and Hypnosis Group at MACCS on some projects, and I'm now Honorary Associate of the Centre.