Lisa Bortolotti

Events in 2026 Talks " Expertise and Epistemic Injustice ", at the Epistemic Injustice, Expertise, and Legal processes workshop, Bristol, 10 February 2026. " Resources for professionals supporting people who hear voices ", AI Psychosis, Hearing Voices and Suicidality workshop, Birmingham Network for Phenomenology and Mental Health, 20 March 2026. Part of British Philosophy Fortnight 2026. "Agency and the Experience of Epistemic Injustice in Dementia and Paranoia", Agency in AI, Mind and Mental Disorders workshop, American College of Greece, Athens, 30 March 2026. "Blame and Vulnerability in Mental Healthcare", Faces of Vulnerability Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 8 March 2026. "You become your diagnosis": Agency, stigma, and epistemic injustice in dementia and paranoia, Mental Interpretation and Mental Diversity Workshop, University of Granada, 25-26 May 2026; and at the Webinar of Neural Mechanisms Online, 8 June 2026. " Epis...

This year, World Philosophy Day was for me an opportunity to bring to young people some philosophical reflections on how we make decisions, arrive at explanations, and interact with each other in challenging contexts. In the morning I visited a primary school and talked to year 5 and 6 students about how we seek an explanation when something unexpected happens. We started by considering some definitions of philosophy and accounts of the value of philosophy ("What is philosophy for?") and then we watch two brief videos together.  The Ant and the Grasshopper  is about how we tend to blame others (especially people and institutions we don't like) when we find ourselves in a crisis; and The Fox and the Owl  is about how we often prefer to arrive at the solution of a problem by ourselves, without consulting with other people, even when they may have relevant knowledge to share. In the discussion after watching the videos, children recognised in the various animal characters di...

On 10th August Why Delusions Matter is out in paperback! One of the key ideas of the book is that we should avoid thinking of beliefs that we find irrational as a sign of a pathology. In the last few days, two open-access papers have been published where I capture some aspects of this idea. In one paper,  Is it pathological to believe conspiracy theories? , I ask how we decide that some ways of thinking about the world are pathological. Either those ways are considered to be harmful or the output of a malfunctioning mechanism. But in the case of conspiracy beliefs, harmfulness is hard to ascertain, and beliefs that are harmful in some ways can also bring benefits.  For instance, the belief that a vaccine is unsafe and is promoted by health authorities to benefit the pharmaceutical company who produced it may lead someone not to take advantage of the vaccine. As a result, the person is left unprotected against a serious disease. But conspiracy theories also aim to respond to e...

On 25th November in Geneva I will be speaking at Emotions, arguing that curiosity and empathy help us develop relationships that bring positive change to our lives. The meeting was supposed to be held in February 2022 but has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A brief explanation of my interest in curiosity and empathy (in Italian) can be found in this video . What is Emotions ? "Reversing the stereotype of women ruled by their emotions and incapable of rationality, the Emotions Itinerant BrainForum has invited brilliant scientists from the most prestigious international universities and institutions to analyse the emotions, considering all their biochemical, genetic, epigenetic, psychological and neurological aspects. And to discuss the fundamental role of women’s emotional expertise in inclusion, empathy, preservation, sustainability, for solving the challenges of the Third Millennium – from migration to global heating to exploitation of resources and the difficult et...