Imperfect Cognitions

This week's post is by Joshua Sealy (Macquarie University) on his recent paper  Redefining disability and pathology as both developmental and relational: the ‘phenomenological congruence and flexibility’ approach to disability   in  Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences.  Joshua Sealy A popular sentiment in the deaf community is that deafness is not a disability, it is a ‘difference’, with deaf cultures all over the world acting as sources of various values and habits associated with sight, touch, sign language, and solidarity. On the other hand, deafness is hearing impairment, a dysfunction of the deaf person’s ear and/or brain; a disability. Many assume an irreconcilable tension between the two positions. But growing up as a deaf person, I knew intuitively that both positions were true at the same time. The solution required addressing messy definitions of ability, disability, impairment, and pathology. Indeed, a deaf person can be ‘healthy’ despite their disabi...

In Athens, you can visit the site of Plato's Academy. A few steps away, you find a Digital Museum of Plato's Philosophy. In this post, Lisa Bortolotti talks about her visit to the Museum and how the curators have made Plato's philosophy fun and relevant. Plato's Academy Digital Museum Plato founded his Academy in 388 BCE. Some people call this the very first university, as it was a place where people studied what we now consider to be the foundations of Western science and philosophy. Now there is not much left of the Academy, it is a small archaeological site in Athens, in a quiet park where people walk their dogs.  Plato! Not far from the Academy, there is a wonderful  philosophy museum  dedicated to Plato's life and philosophy. The museum was opened twelve years ago, and admission is free. The project was funded by the National Strategic Reference Framework (The Citizen and Society) and is supported by the Onassis Foundation, Athens University, the Municipality o...

The British Library hosts an exhibition on fairy tales, which brings to the fore the common elements of folk tales across cultures, such as the fable as a way of advising the reader about how to live their lives, the plot as the battle between good and evil, magical powers as a way to transcend the limitations of human agency, and transformations as a reflection on identity. The Beast, Belle and her father in the classic tale of The Beauty and the Beast The exhibition starts with editions of the works by Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm gathered many folk tales from friends and family and put them in writing, preparing versions for adults and for children. Stories include Snow White and Hansel and Gretel. Perrault lived in France over 300 years ago and he is attributed Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and Sleeping Beauty. Edition of Brothers Grimm fairy tales One section of the exhibition concerns villains, and features prominently giants, goblins, stepmothers, ...

On 20th March 2026, at the Exchange in Birmingham, we held a workshop on Hearing Voices, Suicidality and AI psychosis, during Philosophy Fortnight. It was supported by University of Birmingham QR funding, the EPIC project, the Royal Institute of Philosophy, and the Birmingham network for Phenomenology and Mental Health.  Here we report here from the morning talks, which were all on philosophical perspectives on the phenomenon of AI psychosis. Speakers and organisers To begin the session, the first presenter,  Elisabetta Lalumera  (University of Bologna), discussed the use of the concept "AI psychosis". Instead of asking whether AI psychosis is a real thing, she asked whether we should introduce "AI psychosis" as a medical concept, and she carefully reviewed reasons for and against adopting this concept. The use of concepts can be evaluated on the basis of need, relevance, evidence, alternatives and trade-off. Elisabetta argued convincingly that there is no good reas...

This post is by Nathália de Ávila (University of Cologne). Nathália de Ávila Written kisses don’t reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the way by the ghosts. It is on this ample nourishment that they multiply so enormously. […]  The spirits won’t starve, but we will perish. (Franz Kafka in a letter to Milena Jesenská) In 2025, the journal Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience reported the case of a 26-year-old woman with no prior history of psychosis or mania who believed she was communicating with her deceased brother through an AI chatbot. A review of her chat logs showed that the system consistently validated her delusions. After hospitalization and treatment with antipsychotic medication, her symptoms resolved. Three months later, however, she continued her immersive interactions with ChatGPT. How does Artificial Intelligence transform the culture of grief?  Whatever ghost is believed to be hiding in ChatGPT, it is a very specific type that differs from ...

This week's post is by Floriane Brunet (Service de pédopsychiatrie, CH de Saint Nazaire) and Christophe Gauld (Service de Psychopathologie du Développement de l’Enfant et de l’Adolescent, Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant – Hospices Civils de Lyon).  Floriane Brunet  Christophe Gauld Today, growing attention is being directed toward self-diagnostic practices among teenagers, a trend that may legitimately be related to the notions of childism and epistemic injustice within adolescent psychiatry. These two notions provide insight into the multiple processes through which adolescents’ testimonies are silenced within Western societies. Becoming aware of this systemic invisibilization of singular adolescent experiences, as well as of the continuum of violence directed toward them, calls for renewed forms of adult engagement. How does this bundle of domination shape the way clinicians listen to adolescents lived experiences? How can the reception of self-diagnostic practices at this ag...