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Ema Sullivan-Bissett

@emas-b.bsky.social
1.8K followers 254 following 17 posts

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham. #philosophy #philsky

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Reposted by Ema Sullivan-Bissett
Lisa Bortolotti @lisabortolotti.com · 30/10/2025
Is it normal to be delusional? @emas-b.bsky.social launches our 2026 series of Philosophy workshops at @winterbournehouse.bsky.social this February! Ticket is free and includes access to the Garden. Thanks @triphilosophy.bsky.social for supporting this initiative #philsky #philosophyforeveryone
Mini Socrates asks questions about delusions
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Reposted by Ema Sullivan-Bissett
Lisa Bortolotti @lisabortolotti.com · 01/10/2025
Very happy day! Ellie Palafox-Harris passed her viva with no corrections! She wrote a great thesis on #epistemicinjustice and delusions #philsky Proud supervisors @emas-b.bsky.social and I are delighted 😀 Here is an open access paper by Ellie: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
link.springer.com
Resisting Perceptions of Patient Untrustworthiness
A beneficial therapeutic relationship between a patient and their clinician requires mutual trust. In order to effectively treat someone, a clinician has to trust the patient’s reports of their symptoms, relevant experiences, medical history, and so on. Many...
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Reposted by Ema Sullivan-Bissett
Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
My copy of The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Delusion by @emas-b.bsky.social with chapters by @rritunnano.bsky.social @lisabortolotti.bsky.social @philcorlett.bsky.social @psychunseen.bsky.social (me) & others has arrived! 30 years ago I loved reading books like this; now I helped write one!
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
We agree! In the paper we argue that neither conspiracy beliefs nor monothematic delusions are appropriately characterised as pathologies of belief.
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Thank you Lisa. Any love for the cover to be shared with you since you helped me choose it!
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
I’d like to think so! Upper level undergraduate/graduate course perhaps, as a guide to further reading (I think and hope I’ve been reasonably comprehensive in capturing the various debates surveyed).
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Carolina, this is extremely generous coming from someone whose own work exemplifies those properties! Thank you!
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Many thanks to @keithfrankish.bsky.social for the invitation and support, and to those in the intersection of 'gave me very helpful comments' and 'on bluesky': @kmurphyhollies.bsky.social, @jtsuth.bsky.social, and @samljwilkinson.bsky.social.
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
My Cambridge Element on Irrationality is out, and open access for a month! In it I discuss akrasia, conspiracy beliefs, self-deception, delusion, and implicit bias. www.cambridge.org/core/element...
cambridge.org
Irrationality
Cambridge Core - Philosophy: General Interest - Irrationality
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Very pleased to see published the fruits of mine and Anna Ichino's co-writing labour! We argue there are no grounds for the difference in approaches to pathology when it comes to beliefs in conspiracy theories and monothematic delusions. Open access! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Conspiracy Beliefs and Monothematic Delusions: A Case for De-pathologizing - Erkenntnis
Monothematic delusions and beliefs in conspiracy theories share some important features: they both typically have bizarre contents and are resistant to counterevidence. Yet conspiracy beliefs are gene...
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Reposted by Ema Sullivan-Bissett
Chenwei Nie @chenweinie.com · 25/11/2024
Are delusions normal explanations of anomalous experiences?🤔 Delighted to share my newly published reply to @emas-b.bsky.social and @paulnoordhof.bsky.social’s thought-provoking commentary on my 2023 paper. In this exchange, I challenge, while they defend, a positive answer to this question. ✨
doi.org
One-Factor versus Two-Factor Theory of Delusion: Replies to Sullivan-Bissett and Noordhof - Neuroethics
I would like to thank Sullivan-Bissett and Noordhof for their stimulating comments on my 2023 paper in Neuroethics. In this reply, I will (1) articulate some deeper disagreements that may underpin our...
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Thank you Chenwei, very kind! Btw, I enjoyed your response to mine and @paulnoordhof.bsky.social's commentary!
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
I have a new paper on delusion which I'm very pleased to see published today, and open access too. I argue that monothematic delusions are best understood as beliefs formed in tricky (read: Millikanian abNormal) conditions, rather than as malfunctions of belief. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Monothematic delusions are misfunctioning beliefs - Synthese
Monothematic delusions are bizarre beliefs which are often accompanied by highly anomalous experiences. For philosophers and psychologists attracted to the exploration of mental phenomena in an evolut...
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
My tremendous colleague and friend Merten Reglitz's book is published today. Bonus features: (1) Published on #WorldPhilosophyDay, and (2) in time for Christmas! www.cambridge.org/core/books/f...
cambridge.org
Free Internet Access as a Human Right
Cambridge Core - Human Rights - Free Internet Access as a Human Right
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Reposted by Ema Sullivan-Bissett
Lisa Bortolotti @lisabortolotti.com · 20/11/2024
New paper! Biases are among the cognitive antecedents of delusions and conspiracy theories. Does this mean that when we have delusions and conspiracy theories we should be excluded from shared epistemic projects? (Spoiler: no) link.springer.com/ar... open access! #philsky
link.springer.com
The Ant and the Grasshopper: Does Biased Cognition Compromise Agency in the Case of Delusions and Conspiracy Theories?
Review of Philosophy and Psychology - This paper starts from an observation of our practices: when people are ascribed delusional beliefs or conspiracy beliefs, they tend to be excluded from shared...
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
If you’ve got this far please consider ordering it into your institutional libraries, after all, it is an ‘outstanding resource for both students and researchers’ according to the blurb. www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...
routledge.com
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Delusion
Delusions play an important and fascinating role in philosophy and are a particularly fertile area of study in recent years, spanning philosophy of mind and psychology, epistemology, ethics, psycholog...
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Thank you to Paul Noordhof (not here yet) for stepping in late in the process and writing an additional chapter. Originally slated to write the chapter on Doxasticism, he also wrote the chapter on Non-doxasticism – the two pair beautifully!
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Special thanks to @lisabortolotti.bsky.social for her advice back at proposal stage on topics to include (although any omissions are mine). There are some topics that didn’t make it due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, but I hope that the end result is nevertheless pretty comprehensive.
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
I am tremendously grateful to all 47 contributors who, without exception, made the various stages of pulling this together as easy as it could have been.
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
There was absolutely a need for a resource like this, and it felt like a huge responsibility to be the one to oversee its genesis. Thanks to Tony Bruce at Routledge (not here yet!) for trusting the task to me, his advice along the way, and for allowing me to choose a new cover quite late in the day.
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
For my first post here I'm delighted to share, on publication day, The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Delusion! 🧵 www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...
routledge.com
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Delusion
Delusions play an important and fascinating role in philosophy and are a particularly fertile area of study in recent years, spanning philosophy of mind and psychology, epistemology, ethics, psycholog...
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Ema Sullivan-Bissett @emas-b.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
As someone who moved over today, thank you!!!
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