Join us for the UPEI Department of Philosophy Speaker Series Inaugural talk for 2020-2021.

Dr. Daniel Adsett (recently from Marquette University) will be launching our Philosophy Department Speaker Series this Friday Nov.6 from 2 to 3 pm on the topic of:

"What's so Irrational About Delusions?: A Jaspersian Account."

With the US election happening this week, this IS the time to be talking about delusions and rationality!  Dr. Adsett's talk won't focus on issues south of the border, but the relevance is abundant, as we might explore in the follow-up discussion.

The meeting will be on Zoom at: 

Meeting ID: 652 9309 6143
Passcode: UPEI

All are welcome! 

ABSTRACT:

Delusions are generally thought to be paradigmatic manifestations of irrationality. While not all irrational attitudes are delusional, I assume that whatever makes certain attitudes irrational also make delusions irrational. Given this assumption, the question arises as to what it is that makes delusions and other attitudes irrational. Today, foundationalism and coherentism offer two competing accounts. According to foundationalism, irrational attitudes are those attitudes that are not well grounded. Coherentism, by contrast, considers a given individual's attitudes irrational when they do not fit either with that individual's other attitudes or with the other attitudes held in that individual's society.

In this paper, Dr. Adsett presents an alleged case of an individual holding delusional beliefs.  He argues that neither foundationalism nor coherentism can account for the irrationality of this individual's beliefs. As an alternative, he argues for a Jaspersian account of irrationality according to which irrationality is characterised by incorrigibility or, better, inalterability. An individual's beliefs are irrational, on this view, insofar as that individual is unwilling, under any circumstances, to allow that these beliefs might be false.

If you have any questions about the talk or about the Speaker Series, please contact Pamela Courtenay-Hall, Chair of the Philosophy Dept. at pcourtenay@upei.ca