Articles

Teaching philosophy

• L Bortolotti (2024). Using Explainer Videos to Do Philosophy with Children and Young People. Journal of Philosophy in Schools 11 (2), 6-27.

• A Ichino, F Zambra, L Bortolotti, P Ceravolo and D Tarantola (2024). Fake Plots: un juego para ‘vacunar’ a los jóvenes contra la desinformación y las teorías de la conspiración. Pensar Juntos, vol. 8, 1-19.

Mental health

Delusions

• L Bortolotti and F Zambra (2025). Criterios epistémicos para la atribución de creencias delirantes. Análisis Filosófico DOI: 10.36446/af.e1025. 

• L Bortolotti (2024). Revisiting delusions to demystify human agency: a response to critics. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 5. DOI: 10.33735/phimisci.2024.11744

• R Ritunnano and L Bortolotti (2021). Do delusions have and give meaning? Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. DOI 10.1007/s11097-021-09764-9.

• E Lancellotta and L Bortolotti (2020). Delusions in the two-factor theory: pathological or adaptive? European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 16 (2), 37-57. DOI: 10.31820/ejap.16.2.2.

• L Bortolotti (2020). Doctors without disorders. Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 94 (1), 163–184. DOI: 10.1093/arisup/akaa006.

• M Grigoriou, R Upthegrove and L Bortolotti (2019). Instrumental rationality and suicide in schizophrenia: a case for rational suicide? Journal of medical ethics 45(12), 802–805. DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2019-105454

• E Lancellotta and L Bortolotti (2019). Are clinical delusions adaptive? WIREs in the Cognitive Sciences 10 (5), e1502. DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1502.

• M Broome and L Bortolotti (2018). Affective instability and paranoia. Discipline Filosofiche XXVIII (2), 123-136.

• L Bortolotti and K Miyazono (2016). The ethics of delusional belief. Erkenntnis 81 (2), 275-296. DOI: 10.1007/s10670-015-9739-9.

• K Miyazono and L Bortolotti (2015). The causal role argument against doxasticism about delusions. Avant V (3), 30-50. DOI: 10.26913/50302014.0112.0003.

• L Bortolotti and K Miyazono (2015). Recent work on the nature and the development of delusions. Philosophy Compass 10 (9), 636-645. DOI: 10.1111/phc3.12249. 

• L Bortolotti, M Broome and M Mameli (2014). Delusions and Responsibility for Action: Insights from the Breivik case. Neuroethics 7 (3), 377-382. DOI: 10.1007/s12152-013-9198-4.

• L Bortolotti and M Broome (2012). Affective dimensions of the phenomenon of double bookkeeping in delusions. Emotion Review 4 (2), 187-191. DOI: 10.1177/1754073911430115.

• L Bortolotti (2012). In defence of modest doxasticism about delusions. Neuroethics 5 (1), 39-53. DOI: 10.1007/s12152-011-9122-8.

• L Bortolotti and M Mameli (2012). Self-deception, delusion and the boundaries of folk psychology. Humana.Mente 20, 203–221.

• L Bortolotti, R Cox and A Barnier (2012). Can we recreate delusions in the laboratory? Philosophical Psychology 25 (1), 109-131. DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2011.569909.

• L Bortolotti (2011). Psychiatric classification and diagnosis. Delusions and confabulations. Paradigmi XXXIX (1), 99-112. 

• M Broome, M Mameli and L Bortolotti (2010). Moral responsibility and mental illness: a case study. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 19 (2), 179-187. DOI: 10.1017/S0963180109990442.

• L Bortolotti and M Broome (2009). A role for ownership and authorship of thoughts in the analysis of thought insertion. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 8 (2), 205-224. DOI: 10.1007/s11097-008-9109-z.

• L Bortolotti and M Broome (2008). Delusional beliefs and reason giving. Philosophical Psychology 21 (6), 801-821. DOI: 10.1080/09515080802516212

• L Bortolotti (2005). Delusions and the background of rationality. Mind & Language 20 (2), 189-208. DOI: 10.1111/j.0268-1064.2005.00282.x.

Agency and mental health

• A Khan, L Bortolotti, A Fox and M Broome (forthcoming). “Being funnelled” into a diagnosis: how the stigma associated with psychosis impacts patient identities and social interactions. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.

• L Bortolotti (2025). Agential Epistemic Injustice in Clinical Interactions Is Bad for Medicine. Philosophy of Medicine 6 (1), 1-19.  DOI: 10.5195/pom.2025.222.

• L Bortolotti (2024). Esperienza e competenza. Rivista di filosofia CXV, 2, 303-318. DOI: 10.1413/114469.

• C Bergen, L Bortolotti, R Temple, C Fadashe, C Lee, M Lim, R McCabe (2023). Implying implausibility and undermining versus accepting peoples’ experiences of suicidal ideation and self-harm in Emergency Department psychosocial assessments. Frontiers in Psychiatry 14. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1197512.     

• L Bortolotti and K Murphy-Hollies (2023). Why We Should Be Curious about Each Other. Philosophies 8 (4):71. DOI: 10.3390/philosophies8040071.

• L Bortolotti (2023). How to avoid epistemic injustice in healthcare: the case of youth mental health emergency services in the UK. MEFISTO. Journal of Medicine, Philosophy, and History 7 (1), 9-26. DOI: 10.4454/mefisto.7-1.592.

• C Bergen, L Bortolotti, K Tallent, et al. (2022). Communication in youth mental health clinical encounters: Introducing the agential stance. Theory & Psychology 32 (5), 667-690. DOI: 10.1177/09593543221095079.

• J Houlders, L Bortolotti and M Broome (2021). Threats to Epistemic Agency in Young People with Unusual Experiences and Beliefs. Synthese 199, 7689–7704. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-021-03133-4.

Irrationality

Epistemic innocence

• L Bortolotti (2025). In the Twisted Fairytale of Human Agency, Irrational Beliefs Are the Unlikely Heroes. Society DOI: 10.1007/s12115-025-01108-6.

• L Bortolotti (2023). Are conspiracy beliefs epistemically innocent? Philosophical Topics 51 (2), 73-91. DOI: 10.5840/philtopics202351217.

• K Puddifoot and L Bortolotti (2019). Epistemic innocence and the production of false memory beliefs. Phil Studies 176 (3), 755-780. DOI: 10.1007/s11098-018-1038-2.

• L Bortolotti and E Sullivan-Bissett (2018). Epistemic innocence of clinical memory distortions. Mind & Language 33 (3), 263-279. DOI: 10.1111/mila.12175.

• L Bortolotti (2018). Stranger than fiction: Costs and benefits of everyday confabulation. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 9 (2), 227-249. DOI: 10.1007/s13164-017-0367-y.

• R Gunn and L Bortolotti (2018). Can delusions play a protective role? Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 17 (4), 813-833. DOI: 10.1007/s11097-017-9555-6

• A Polonioli, S Stammers, L Bortolotti (2018). ‘Good’ Biases: Does doxastic irrationality benefit both individuals and groups? Revue Philosophique de la France et de l'Étranger 143 (3), 327-344. DOI: 10.3917/rphi.183.0327.

• M Antrobus and L Bortolotti (2016). Depressive delusions. Filosofia Unisinos 17 (2), 192-201. DOI 10.4013/fsu.2016.172.14.

• L Bortolotti (2016). The epistemic benefits of elaborated and systematised delusions in schizophrenia. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 67 (3), 879-900. DOI: 10.1093/bjps/axv024.

• L Bortolotti (2015). The epistemic innocence of motivated delusions. Consciousness & Cognition 33, 490-499. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.10.005.

• L Bortolotti (2009). The epistemic benefits of reason giving. Theory & Psychology 19 (5), 1-22. DOI: 10.1177/0959354309341921.

• L Bortolotti and R Cox (2009). 'Faultless ignorance': strengths and limitations of epistemic definitions of confabulation. Consciousness & Cognition 18 (4), 952-965. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2009.08.011.

Optimism

• V Motta and L Bortolotti (2020). Solitude as a positive experience: empowerment and agency. Metodo. International Studies in Phenomenology 8 (2), 119-147. DOI: 10.19079/metodo.8.2.119.

• L Bortolotti (2018). Optimism, agency, and success. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 21 (3), 521-535. DOI: 10.1007/s10677-018-9894-6.

• L Bortolotti (2017). Last Word: Optimism. RSA Journal 163 (2), 5570, 50. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26798424. DOI: 10.2307/26798424.

• L Bortolotti and A Jefferson (2016). Moral preferences. Society 53 (3), 269-272. DOI: 10.1007/s12115-016-0027-3.

• A Jefferson, L Bortolotti and B Kuzmanovic (2017). What is unrealistic optimism? Consciousness & Cognition 50, 3-11. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.10.005.

• L Bortolotti and M Antrobus (2015). Costs and benefits of realism and optimism. Current Opinion in Psychiatry 28 (2), 194-198. DOI: 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000143.

Stories and conspiracies

• L Bortolotti (2024). The Ant and the Grasshopper: does biased cognition compromise agency in the case of delusions and conspiracy theories?  Review of Philosophy and Psychology. DOI: 10.1007/s13164-024-00760-x.

• L Bortolotti (2024). Is it pathological to believe conspiracy theories? Transcultural Psychiatry 61 (5), 749-755. DOI:10.1177/13634615231187243 

• L Bortolotti (2023). Are conspiracy beliefs epistemically innocent? Philosophical Topics 51 (2), 73-91. DOI: 10.5840/philtopics202351217.

• L Bortolotti (2022). Sharing responsibility for conspiracy beliefs: The agency-in-context model. Resistances 3 (6), e210103. DOI: 10.46652/resistances.v3i6.103.

• L Bortolotti and K Murphy-Hollies (2022). Exceptionalism at the time of COVID-19: where nationalism meets irrationality. Danish Yearbook of Philosophy 55, 90-111. DOI: 10.1163/24689300-bja10025.

• L Bortolotti, A Ichino, M Mameli (2021). Conspiracy theories and delusions. Reti, Saperi e Linguaggi 2, 183-200. DOI: 10.12832/102760.

• A Ichino and L Bortolotti (2021). Complottismi, negazionismi, e altre distorsioni cognitive: una sfida all'incrocio tra psicologia e filosofia. (Conspiracy theories, denialisms, and other cognitive distortions: a challenge at the intersection of psychology and philosophy). Syzetesis VIII, 143-162. DOI: 10.53242/syzetesis/9.

• K Murphy-Hollies and L Bortolotti (2021). Stories as Evidence. Memory, Mind & Media 1, E3. DOI:10.1017/mem.2021.5

• L Bortolotti and A Jefferson (2019). The Power of Stories: Responsibility for the use of autobiographical stories in mental health debates. Diametros 60, 18–33. DOI: 10.33392/diam.1319.

Beliefs and choices

• L Bortolotti and E Sullivan-Bissett (2019). Is choice blindness a case of self-ignorance? Synthese 198, 5437–5454. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-019-02414-3.

• L Bortolotti (2011). Does reflection lead to wise choices? Philosophical Explorations 14 (3), 297-313. DOI: 10.1080/13869795.2011.594962. 

• L Bortolotti (2005). Intentionality without rationality. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society CV (3), 385-392. DOI: 10.1111/j.0066-7373.2004.00119.x.

• L Bortolotti (2004). Can we interpret irrational behavior? Behavior and Philosophy 32 (2), 359-375. 

• L Bortolotti (2003). Inconsistency and interpretation. Philosophical Explorations VI (2), 109-123. DOI: 10.1080/10002003058538743.

Immortality and boredom

• L Bortolotti (2010). Agency, life extension, and the meaning of life. The Monist 93(1), 38-56. DOI: 10.5840/monist20109313.

• L Bortolotti and Y Nagasawa (2009). Immortality without boredom. Ratio XXII (3), 261-277. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9329.2009.00431.x.

Ethics

Animal ethics

• A Blasimme and L Bortolotti (2010). Intentionality and the welfare of minded non-humans. Teorema XXIX (2), 83-96.

• L Bortolotti (2008). What does Fido believe? Think 7 (19), 1-9. DOI: 10.1017/S1477175608000018.

• M Mameli and L Bortolotti (2006). Animal rights, animal minds and human mindreading. Journal of Medical Ethics 32, 84-89. DOI: 10.1136/jme.2005.013086.

• L Bortolotti (2006). Moral rights and human culture. Ethical Perspectives 13 (4), 603-622. DOI: 10.2143/EP.13.4.2018711.

• L Bortolotti (2007). Disputes over moral status: philosophy and science in the future of bioethics. Health Care Analysis 15 (2), 153-158. DOI: 10.1007/s10728-006-0031-7.

Research ethics

• L Bortolotti and B Heinrichs (2007). Delimiting the concept of research: an ethical perspective. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 28 (3), 157-179. DOI: 10.1007/s11017-007-9036-y.

• S Holm and L Bortolotti (2007). Large scale survey for policy formation and research - a study in inconsistency. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 28 (3), 205-220. DOI: 10.1007/s11017-007-9033-1.

• L Bortolotti and M Mameli (2006). Deception in psychology: moral costs and benefits of unsought self-knowledge. Accountability in Research 13 (3), 259-275. DOI: 10.1080/08989620600848561.

• J Harris, L Irving and L Bortolotti (2005). An ethical framework for stem cell research in the European Union. Health Care Analysis 13 (3), 157-162. DOI: 10.1007/s10728-005-6439-7.

• L Bortolotti and J Harris (2005). Stem cell research, personhood and sentience. Reproductive Biomedicine Online 10 (1), 68-75. DOI: 10.1016/s1472-6483(10)62210-9.

Ethics of reproduction 

• D Cutas and L Bortolotti (2010). Natural versus assisted reproduction. In search of fairness. Studies in Ethics, Law and Technology 4 (1), 1-18. DOI: 10.2202/1941-6008.1109.

• L Bortolotti and D Cutas (2009). Reproductive and parental autonomy: an argument for compulsory parental education. Reproductive Biomedicine Online 19 (1st July), 5-14. DOI: 10.1016/s1472-6483(10)60057-0.

• S Camporesi and L Bortolotti (2008). Reproductive cloning in humans and therapeutic cloning in primates: is the ethical debate catching up with the recent scientific advances?Journal of Medical Ethics 34 (9), e15. DOI: 10.1136/jme.2007.023879.

• L Bortolotti and J Harris (2006). Embryos and eagles: symbolic value in research and reproduction. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 15 (1), 22-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180106060038.

Philosophy and ethics of psychiatry 

• R Ambríz González and L Bortolotti (2023). Putting scientific realism into perspective. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 48 (2), 299-310. DOI: 10.1080/03080188.2022.2156150.

• L Grassi, F Folesani, M Marella, E Tiberto, MB Riba, L Bortolotti, T Toffanin, L Palagini, M Belvederi Murri, B Biancosino, M Ferrara, R Caruso (2022). Debating Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Death in People with Psychiatric Disorders. Current Psychiatry Reports 24(6):325-335. DOI: 10.1007/s11920-022-01339-y.

• B Fulford, L Bortolotti and M Broome (2014). Taking the Long View: an Emerging Framework for Translational Psychiatric Science. World Psychiatry 13 (2), 110-117. DOI: 10.1002/wps.20139.

• L Bortolotti (2013). The relative importance of undesirable truths. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 16 (4), 683-690. DOI: 10.1007/s11019-012-9449-x.

• L Bortolotti and H Widdows (2011). The right not to know: the case of psychiatric disorders. Journal of Medical Ethics 37, 673-676. DOI: 10.1136/jme.2010.041111.

• M Broome and L Bortolotti (2009). Mental illness as mental: In defence of psychological realism. Humana.Mente 11, 25-44.

Other publications

Book synopses

• L Bortolotti (2024). Understanding delusions to improve our mutual interactions: a precis of Why Delusions Matter. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 5. DOI: 10.33735/phimisci.2024.11678

• L Bortolotti (2012). Précis of Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs. Neuroethics 5 (1), 1-4. DOI: 10.1007/s12152-011-9128-2.

Commentaries 

• L Bortolotti (2022). Are delusions pathological beliefs? Asian Journal of Philosophy 1, 31. DOI 10.1007/s44204-022-00033-3.

• C Bamboulis and L Bortolotti (2022). The Epistemic Relevance of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 29 (2), 91-93. DOI: 10.1353/ppp.2022.0014.

• K Murphy-Hollies and L Bortolotti (2022). The Agency-First Epistemology of Psychedelics. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences vol. 3. DOI: 10.33735/phimisci.2022.9283.

• L Bortolotti and M Belvederi Murri (2021). Can there be delusions of pain? Rivista internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia 12 (2), 167-172. DOI: 10.4453/rifp.2021.0014.

• R Ambríz González and L Bortolotti (2021). The appeal and challenges of an integrative approach to psychiatry. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1590/1516-4446-2021-0035.

• A Jefferson and L Bortolotti (2018). Why (some) unrealistic optimism is permissible in patient decision making. American Journal of Bioethics 18 (9), 27-29. DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2018.1498940.

• A Jefferson and L Bortolotti (2018). What aspects of good practice in early interventions in psychosis can be codified in guidelines? – A commentary on Corsico et al. Child and Adolescent Mental Health 23 (3), 194-5. DOI: 10.1111/camh.12265.

• L Bortolotti and K Miyazono (2015). Are alien thoughts beliefs? (Commentary on Jordi Fernandez’s Transparent Minds). Teorema 34 (1), 135-148.

• L Bortolotti (2011). Shaking the bedrock. Philosophy Psychiatry and Psychology 18 (1), 77-87. DOI: 10.1353/ppp.2011.0000.

• M Broome and L Bortolotti (2010). What's wrong with 'mental' disorders? Commentary on D Stein et al.'s "What is a Mental/Psychiatric Disorder? From DSM-IV to DSM-V". Psychological Medicine 40 (11): 1783 -1785. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291709992352.

• L Bortolotti and M Broome (2007). If you didn't care, you wouldn't notice: recognition and estrangement in psychopathology. Philosophy Psychiatry and Psychology 14 (1), 39-42.

Editorials (misc.)

• L Bortolotti, L Chiu and L Saling (2023). A Journey into the Mind. Philosophical Psychology 36 (4), 701-3. 

• L Bortolotti (2023). Challenges and Achievements for Philosophical Psychology Philosophical Psychology 36 (1), 1-3.

• L Bortolotti (2022). A New Philosophical Psychology. Philosophical Psychology 35 (1), 1-5.

• S Stammers and L Bortolotti (2020). Introduction: Philosophical Perspectives on Confabulation. Topoi 39, 115–119. DOI: 10.1007/s11245-019-09668-z.

• L Bortolotti and E Sullivan-Bissett (2017). How can false and irrational beliefs be useful? Philosophical Explorations 20, S1-S3. DOI: 10.1080/13869795.2017.1287290.

• L Bortolotti and E Sullivan-Bissett (2015). Costs and benefits of imperfect cognitions. Consciousness & Cognition 33, 487-489. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.03.013.

• A Wright and L Bortolotti (2011). Introduction. Journal of Consciousness Studies 18 (9-10), 6-18 (special issue on 'Pain and the Experience of Pain: Theoretical Models and Practical Implications').

• L Bortolotti and L Malatesti (2010). Conceptual challenges in the characterisation and explanation of psychiatric phenomena. European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 6 (1), 5-10 (special issue on 'Classification and Explanation in Psychiatry: Philosophical Issues').