Imperfect Cognitions

This week, we welcome Daniel Vespermann (Heidelberg University) and Sanna Karoliina Tirkkonen (University of Helsinki) to present their recent paper Existential injustice in phenomenological psychopathology in  Philosophical Psychology.   Sanna Karoliina Tirkkonen   In our paper “Existential injustice in phenomenological psychopathology”, we discuss a particular type of affective injustice. We start from the widely shared premise in phenomenological psychopathology that distressing alterations of background feelings play an important role in challenging mental health conditions. Background feelings are standing states that orient our evaluative perceptions of the world, shape emotional patterns, and regulate how we relate to others. In our paper, we refer to feelings of insecurity, self-blame, anxiety, estrangement, or inferiority as examples of distressing background feelings. Phenomenological approaches to psychopathology usually treat alterations of background feeling...

This week's post is by Alexander Edlich, and Alfred Archer and is based on their paper Rejecting Identities: Stigma and Hermeneutical Injustice . Alexander Edlich's work focuses on ethics, social philosophy, and moral responsibility. He is the author of The Scope of Moral Protest: Beyond Blame and Responsibility (Springer, 2025) and research papers in different areas of ethics and social philosophy. Alfred Archer is an Associate Professor of philosophy at Tilburg University. He is the co-author of Extravagance and Misery: The Emotional Regime of Market Societies (Oxford University Press 2024); Why It’s Ok to be a Sports fan (Routledge 2024) and Honouring and Admiring the Immoral: An Ethical Guide (Routledge 2021). He is currently writing a book on ethics and sportswashing for Routledge’s Ethics and Sport series.      Alexander Edlich                                     Alf...

Todays post is by Manuel Almagro (University of Valencia) and Carme Isern-Mas (University of the Balearic Islands), presenting their recent paper ' Blunting concepts: The double-edged effect of popularizing psychotherapy language ' (Philosophical Psychology). Manuel Almagro In the last week, a friend might have described a harmful and impactful past experience as “traumatic”, talked about their “OCD” after arranging their bookshelf by color, or called a weekend of binge-watching shows and ignoring work emails “self-care”. A colleague might have tried to justify their demand that their partner not hang out with friends under the pretext that these were their “boundaries”. A relative might have explained their feelings of exhaustion and detachment as symptoms of “burn-out”, or mentioned that their boss has recommended “mindfulness” to an overwhelmed worker so that they can better cope with time pressure atwork. Psychotherapy language is more and more present in our everyday talk....