Owen Earnshaw

Owen Earnshaw is a postgraduate researcher.
His primary interest is in the Philosophy of Psychiatry;
Philosophy of Psychology; Wittgensteinian Approaches to Philosophy; Phenomenology and the Philosophy of Language Use.
Thesis Title:
Title of the Thesis: Recovering the Voice of Insanity: A Phenomenology of Delusions

Thesis Summary:

In my thesis I attempt to recover the voice of those termed ‘delusional’ and give reasons why they should have a seat at the table where the ‘conversation of humanity’ takes place. I do this by challenging the (monological folk-scientific observer) view of language use that leads to the idea that delusions are either empty speech acts, incomprehensible or incorrectly inferred and incorrigible false beliefs. These definitions prevent those termed ‘delusional’ from being considered as competent partners in conversation.

I outline an alternative view of language as ‘wording the world’, that is, as a means of organising experience, which in the case of those classified as ‘insane’ is particularly chaotic. From this conception certain ethical approaches follow as to how to treat those suffering from issues relating to a ‘mental struggle to keep their feet in the everyday’ (which is how I refer to what are presently known as 'mental health issues'). The thread that is followed throughout the thesis is that it is reciprocal trust that allows us to remain in a common sense orientation to the world and it is this that breaks down when people start to say things that are considered delusional. Without the epistemic frame of trust implausible understandings of the world become possible. By treating a person suffering with delusions as trying to say something meaningful the sufferer can be helped back to commonsense through relationships by re-establishing a sense of trust.

Supervisors:

Prof. Matthew Ratcliffe & Dr Andy Hamilton

Teaching:

Past Tutoring:

Reading Philosophy - Autumn 2007

Knowledge & Reality - Autumn 2007

Conference Presentations:

The Constitution of the Self in Response to Despair: Overcoming the Temptation to See the Ethical Limit as a Limitation in Kierkegaard's The Sickness Unto Death - Southampton 2010

The Denial of the Claim to Community in Delusions - Durham 2009

Delusions, Trust and Stigma - Lisbon 2009

The Confessional and the Couch Revisited - Oxford 2009

A Hermeneutic Approach to Delusions - Bergen 2007

Aspect-Blindness and Autism - Oxford 2006

Additional Academic Activities:

Organising a Conference in Durham on the topic of Psychopathology- 2011
Organised and Chaired Eidos (the Durham Postgraduate Seminar Group) for the year- 2007

Contact:

Email Owen Earnshaw at owen.earnshaw^at^durham.ac.uk

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