PHIL 331 - Moral Issues in Mental Health

3 Credit(s)

Gen Ed: PI credit.
The diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders raises a number of significant moral and philosophical issues: the meaning or nature of psychiatric diagnoses, the obligations of the mental health professional toward their patients, whether or not mental illness should be considered an extenuating factor when evaluating the moral culpability of an individual who commits a crime, and if the state is ever justified in curtailing the freedoms of mentally ill citizens based solely on their illness. These and other philosophical issues will be explored through careful reading of original work in the philosophy of mind, ethics and philosophy of psychiatry. Fall and Spring.