Essay Topic: (Discuss one of the following topics in a brief essay)
1. Is there something morally objectionable to thinking about what have been called “mental disorders” as conditions requiring something analogous to medical intervention?
2. Many of those who experience alleged mental disorders would not agree that they are “worse-off” in their condition than otherwise. For example a compulsive gambler who has just won, a bipolar individual in the manic phase of the condition and an anorexic are all likely to deny it. The productive bipolar person may even value his/her manic phases even after s/he has passed out of them. Do you think Graham’s account of being worse off would be an adequate answer to objectors?
3. Joan of Arc was treated by her accusers as (pick one or more) a witch, or a heretic, or influenced by the devil because of her claim that her actions were a response to the voices of saints. We would no longer categorize her this way, of course, but could she be regarded as someone with religious delusions reinforced by auditory hallucinations? I suspect that Graham would not do so. Would you see a mental disorder in her behavior? Why, or why not?
– Please use this book as the PRIMARY SOURCE of the essay: Graham, G. (2010). The disordered mind: An introduction to philosophy of mind and mental illness. New York: Routledge. Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Disordered_Mind.html?id=p0Wdi3QScGsC
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