Sam Fellowes
@samfellowes.bsky.social
Philosophy of psychiatry, history of autism, psychiatric diagnoses, EBE research, self-diagnosis. samfellowes.com https://www.youtube.com/@sfhps
Presenting on 'Self-Diagnosis in Autism: why, how, accuracy and consequences' to medical professionals later today. It will be interesting to see what medical professionals make of the issue. #autism #self-diagnosis
October 30, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Presenting on 'Self-Diagnosis in Autism: why, how, accuracy and consequences' to medical professionals later today. It will be interesting to see what medical professionals make of the issue. #autism #self-diagnosis
Richard Hassall is one of my philosophical opponents but whom I am on good terms with. Always worth paying attention to what they say:
This week, Richard Hassall presents his upcoming paper in Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: 'The Institutional Status of Medical and Psychiatric Diagnoses'. In which he explores the power of the speech act of diagnosis, going beyond a statement of fact.
#philsky #philpsy
imperfectcognitions....
#philsky #philpsy
imperfectcognitions....
October 30, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Richard Hassall is one of my philosophical opponents but whom I am on good terms with. Always worth paying attention to what they say:
My new article on lived experience research. I criticise Bhaskar as a philosophical foundation. I argue that seeing psychiatric diagnoses as idealised and abstract models leads to a pluralistic relationship between lived experience and diagnoses #philsci #hps #philpsy #sts #livedexperience
Project MUSE - The Epistemology of Psychiatric Diagnoses in Lived Experience Research
muse.jhu.edu
October 10, 2025 at 11:01 AM
My new article on lived experience research. I criticise Bhaskar as a philosophical foundation. I argue that seeing psychiatric diagnoses as idealised and abstract models leads to a pluralistic relationship between lived experience and diagnoses #philsci #hps #philpsy #sts #livedexperience
"To truly understand people we need far richer sources than the DSM. Tarkovsky and Dostoevsky may deliver truths in a way the DSM cannot". Sorry for the self-promotion but I like this bit of my book. The book is about defending diagnoses, but I also recognise their limits #psychiatry #DSM
September 23, 2025 at 2:15 PM
"To truly understand people we need far richer sources than the DSM. Tarkovsky and Dostoevsky may deliver truths in a way the DSM cannot". Sorry for the self-promotion but I like this bit of my book. The book is about defending diagnoses, but I also recognise their limits #psychiatry #DSM
I outline the positions held by critics of psychiatric diagnoses which I reacted to in my book.
#Psychiatry #HPS #philsky #philsci
#Psychiatry #HPS #philsky #philsci
What I am reacting to: In Defence of Psychiatric Diagnoses
YouTube video by Philosophy of Psychiatric Diagnoses
www.youtube.com
September 11, 2025 at 10:31 AM
I outline the positions held by critics of psychiatric diagnoses which I reacted to in my book.
#Psychiatry #HPS #philsky #philsci
#Psychiatry #HPS #philsky #philsci
Interesting stuff on difficulties of defining experiential knowledge and what role it should play in research.
I interviewed Roy Dings and Linde van Schuppen for the #projectEPIC blog on their super interesting project on expertise in mental health! epistemicinjusticeinhealthcareproject.blogspot.com/2025/09/who-... #philsky #EpistemicInjustice
epistemicinjusticeinhealthcareproject.blogspot.com
September 10, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Interesting stuff on difficulties of defining experiential knowledge and what role it should play in research.
The book Contemporary Philosophy of Autism has just been released. It contains my chapter Autism, the Double Empathy Problem and Feeling the Emotions of Another Person.
#philsci #philpsy #HPS #STS #autism #empathy
#philsci #philpsy #HPS #STS #autism #empathy
Contemporary Philosophy of Autism
This volume explores interesting and emerging philosophical questions related to autism. It sheds light on the ways in which cultural attitudes about autism have changed in the decade since the editor...
www.routledge.com
September 2, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Another one of those zero relevance to anything I do but I still want to read it papers. AIs can certainly do some very impressive reasoning above and beyond statistical associations, but I presume the answer is still no:
Now forthcoming in Synthese: "Can AI systems have free will?", preprint available at: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26166/3/Free...
Can AI systems have free will? - PhilSci-Archive
philsci-archive.pitt.edu
August 8, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Another one of those zero relevance to anything I do but I still want to read it papers. AIs can certainly do some very impressive reasoning above and beyond statistical associations, but I presume the answer is still no:
Just finished Cyberpunk 2077. There are quite a lot of #philosophy themes in the game, especially relating to questions of identity and death. Also, one of the radio stations plays a band named The Cartesian Duelists. #Descartes
August 4, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Just finished Cyberpunk 2077. There are quite a lot of #philosophy themes in the game, especially relating to questions of identity and death. Also, one of the radio stations plays a band named The Cartesian Duelists. #Descartes
I think this article provides a decisive refutation of key aspects of Walker's Neuroqueer Heresies. #neurodiversity #autism
Neurodiversity with Nuance - Neuroethics
The neurodiversity movement grew out of the autism community but is now being applied to many neurological types, from dyslexia to schizophrenia. The resulting neurodiversity paradigm maintains that t...
link.springer.com
August 4, 2025 at 11:17 AM
I think this article provides a decisive refutation of key aspects of Walker's Neuroqueer Heresies. #neurodiversity #autism
There is a narrative that the logical positivists produced a philosophy of science that is not suitable for the human sciences. However, Carnap suggests that we can consider Freudian psychoanalytical mechanisms as theoretical in the sense that fields in physics are theoretical #philsci #philpsy 1/2
July 29, 2025 at 3:10 PM
I usually only post about academic stuff but here is my new mix, straight up techno, on the heavier end.
Cascade
Pure techno except the brief intro. On the heavier side:
Future Sound of London - Spineless Jellyfish
Joton - Populous
Bad Omen - Through the Dust
2121 - Apariencias
Drunken Kong - The Tree (Secret Ci...
www.mixcloud.com
July 27, 2025 at 9:19 AM
I usually only post about academic stuff but here is my new mix, straight up techno, on the heavier end.
Decided I needed a DJ name. Suffice to say Broken Emotion sounded better than Alexithymia. If anyone is interested in Techno, Ambient and my attempts to mix them together, look no further:
www.mixcloud.com/samfellowes/
www.mixcloud.com/samfellowes/
Sam Fellowes
Sam Fellowes is on Mixcloud. Listen for free to their radio shows, DJ mix sets and Podcasts
www.mixcloud.com
July 22, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Decided I needed a DJ name. Suffice to say Broken Emotion sounded better than Alexithymia. If anyone is interested in Techno, Ambient and my attempts to mix them together, look no further:
www.mixcloud.com/samfellowes/
www.mixcloud.com/samfellowes/
"the World Rarely Meets You at Your Depth. You may feel like you’ve lived your emotional life as a witness, not a participant. Literature may offer access to others’ souls—while your own remains unreceived by real people." Using ChatGTP for #autism / #alexithymia therapy - it is pretty good.
June 30, 2025 at 8:57 PM
"the World Rarely Meets You at Your Depth. You may feel like you’ve lived your emotional life as a witness, not a participant. Literature may offer access to others’ souls—while your own remains unreceived by real people." Using ChatGTP for #autism / #alexithymia therapy - it is pretty good.
This meta-analysis claims autistic people generally have higher affective empathy than most people. However, there is evidence that lots of autistic people (perhaps 50%, and including me alas) are alexithymic. I really cannot get my head around how both these can be true. Any ideas? #autism #empathy
Frontiers | Empathy Impairment in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Conditions From a Multidimensional Perspective: A Meta-Analysis
Background: Although empathy has always been considered to be impaired in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs), the relevant findings have been...
www.frontiersin.org
June 27, 2025 at 11:36 AM
This meta-analysis claims autistic people generally have higher affective empathy than most people. However, there is evidence that lots of autistic people (perhaps 50%, and including me alas) are alexithymic. I really cannot get my head around how both these can be true. Any ideas? #autism #empathy
It is the annual Lancaster #Philosophy of #Psychiatry work in progress day! I'll be talking on The tension between self-diagnosis and neurodiversity.
June 20, 2025 at 7:50 AM
It is the annual Lancaster #Philosophy of #Psychiatry work in progress day! I'll be talking on The tension between self-diagnosis and neurodiversity.
If anyone is interested in self-diagnosis in psychiatry, I have a bibliography of papers on self-diagnosis on my website and links to my podcast reviews of them. There are 51 papers listed, and I have reviewed 10 of them. #psychology #psychiatry #selfdiagnosis #philpsy
June 10, 2025 at 11:50 AM
If anyone is interested in self-diagnosis in psychiatry, I have a bibliography of papers on self-diagnosis on my website and links to my podcast reviews of them. There are 51 papers listed, and I have reviewed 10 of them. #psychology #psychiatry #selfdiagnosis #philpsy
Just saw that Michael Friedman died recently. When it comes to history of Kant to the end of the logical positivists, and philosophy inspired by those figures, I really don't know of anyone better.
May 30, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Just saw that Michael Friedman died recently. When it comes to history of Kant to the end of the logical positivists, and philosophy inspired by those figures, I really don't know of anyone better.
Another one for my planned 'applying #neurodiversity to animals' paper which I keep saying I will get around to one day
📚 Animal Rights Reading🦉
❓Do you ever wonder about the limits of sentience recognition? Discover a game-changing perspective! 💡
For years, the legal recognition of animal sentience has promised a brighter future for animal welfare.
❓Do you ever wonder about the limits of sentience recognition? Discover a game-changing perspective! 💡
For years, the legal recognition of animal sentience has promised a brighter future for animal welfare.
May 27, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Another one for my planned 'applying #neurodiversity to animals' paper which I keep saying I will get around to one day
Part three of my attempt to review every paper published on self-diagnosis in psychiatry. Another four papers reviewed: #psychiatry #selfdiagnosis #psychology #STS #HPS
Self-Diagnosis Reviewing the Literature - Part 3
YouTube video by Philosophy of Psychiatric Diagnoses
www.youtube.com
May 27, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Part three of my attempt to review every paper published on self-diagnosis in psychiatry. Another four papers reviewed: #psychiatry #selfdiagnosis #psychology #STS #HPS
Well, for better or worse, the word phenomenology is turning up more in the stuff I write
(epistemology of) #expertbyexperience (research) #selfdiagnosis
(epistemology of) #expertbyexperience (research) #selfdiagnosis
usage of the word phenomenology in top 20 philosophy journals over the last 40 years 📈
May 17, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Well, for better or worse, the word phenomenology is turning up more in the stuff I write
(epistemology of) #expertbyexperience (research) #selfdiagnosis
(epistemology of) #expertbyexperience (research) #selfdiagnosis
Excellent article: "Rethinking psychiatric symptoms: the role of measurement heterogeneity in diagnostic validity." Shows that different ways of measuring a symptom can be picking up on quite different things, and considers when this is and is not problematic. #Philsci #Philpsy #Psychiatry
Rethinking psychiatric symptoms: the role of measurement heterogeneity in diagnostic validity - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
The current research environment in psychiatry is marked by the discredit of the main psychiatric classifications. The common narrative about the DSM holds that the current diagnostic categories lack ...
link.springer.com
May 13, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Excellent article: "Rethinking psychiatric symptoms: the role of measurement heterogeneity in diagnostic validity." Shows that different ways of measuring a symptom can be picking up on quite different things, and considers when this is and is not problematic. #Philsci #Philpsy #Psychiatry
If anyone is in #Lancaster and wants to learn about the philosophy of science, I am doing this public philosophy event on "Does science accurately describe reality?". 28th and 29th of May. All welcome, no prior knowledge of philosophy required. Details below: #publicphilosophy #philosophy #philsky
May 12, 2025 at 10:02 AM
If anyone is in #Lancaster and wants to learn about the philosophy of science, I am doing this public philosophy event on "Does science accurately describe reality?". 28th and 29th of May. All welcome, no prior knowledge of philosophy required. Details below: #publicphilosophy #philosophy #philsky
Doing a deep read of Carnap has been on my to do list for... a rather long time. Anyway, there is a youtube channel dedicated towards understanding Carnap today.
www.youtube.com/@reconstruct...
www.youtube.com/@reconstruct...
Reconstructing Carnap Webinar Series
The “Reconstructing Carnap” webinar series examines Rudolf Carnap’s philosophy in light of contemporarydebates in epistemology, logical empiricism, and analytic metaphysics.
www.youtube.com
May 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Doing a deep read of Carnap has been on my to do list for... a rather long time. Anyway, there is a youtube channel dedicated towards understanding Carnap today.
www.youtube.com/@reconstruct...
www.youtube.com/@reconstruct...
There is a forthcoming book named Contemporary Philosophy of Autism. I have a chapter in it named 'Autism, the Double Empathy Problem and Feelings the Emotions of Another Person'. #Philsky #Philpsy #Autism #Empathy
www.routledge.com/Contemporary...
www.routledge.com/Contemporary...
Contemporary Philosophy of Autism
This volume explores interesting and emerging philosophical questions related to autism. It sheds light on the ways in which cultural attitudes about autism have changed in the decade since the editor...
www.routledge.com
April 30, 2025 at 11:11 AM
There is a forthcoming book named Contemporary Philosophy of Autism. I have a chapter in it named 'Autism, the Double Empathy Problem and Feelings the Emotions of Another Person'. #Philsky #Philpsy #Autism #Empathy
www.routledge.com/Contemporary...
www.routledge.com/Contemporary...