iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

The #WorkshopOnFunctionsandDysfunctions in Medicine and Psychiatry was a huge success. I am so grateful to all the participants, co-organizers, supporters, and, of course the @vlc-lab.bsky.social. (Photo by HF: @hsherl.bsky.social, me, Jerome Wakefield, @marcartiga.bsky.social & @harrif.bsky.social)

130

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

New paper out! 🎉 “What Health Is: The Blueprint View” is now out in Philosophy of Medicine. In this paper I develop a hybrid theory of health, according to which an organism is completely healthy iff it has the abilities it would have in its design state. philmed.pitt.edu/philmed/arti...

Blueprint graphic of human Body with the following text:

What Health Is:
The Blueprint View
FABIAN HUNDERTMARK

ABILITIES
What degree of which abilities is required for complete health?

FULL FUNCTIONALITY
Traits with etiological functions are fully functional.

DESIGN STATE
The abilities it would have in its design state.

NATURALISTIC DISTINCTION
An objective, naturalistic distinction between health and non-health.

ETIOLOGY OF TRAITS
Design is determined by the etiology of traits.

TREATMENT VS ENHANCEMENT
Distinguishes treatment from enhancement.

Now published open access in
Philosophy of Medicine

philmed.pitt.edu/philmed/article/view/260

Thesis:
An organism is completely healthy if and only if it has the abilities it would have in its design state, where design is determined by the etiology of its traits.

020

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Workshop announcement: Functions and Dysfunctions in Medicine and Psychiatry (11–12 June 2026 at @vlc-lab.bsky.social) with @moody-philosopher.bsky.social, Virginia Ballesteros, @harrif.bsky.social, @frabellazzi.bsky.social, @mjurjako.bsky.social, @hsherl.bsky.social, @emas-b.bsky.social and more.

Poster with mechanical Brain-Heart-like structure as decoration and with the following text:

11-12 June 2026
workshop on
FUNCTIONS
AND DYSFUNCTIONS
IN MEDICINE AND PSYCHIATRY
Facultat de Filosofia i Ciències de l'Educació • Universitat de València
Virginia Ballesteros
(University of Valencia)
Francesca Bellazzi (Durham University)
Harriet Fagerberg
(University of Cambridge)
Victor Fernández
(University of Granada)
Fabian Hundertmark (University of Valencia)
John Matthewson (Massey University)
Miguel de Prado
(University of Granada)
Henrik Røed Sherling
(University of Cambridge)
Ema Sullivan-Bissett
(University of Birmingham)
Marko Jurjako
(University of Rijeka)
James urnel
(Umeå University
Jerome Wakefield
(New York University)
Organizers: Virginia Ballesteros • Fabian Hundertmark • James Turner
VLC
Philosophi
LAB
a
8 GENERALITA
STATAL DE
NIVERSITA VALENCI

1128

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

New paper out! 🎉 “Swampman goes to the doctor” (with @moody-philosopher.bsky.social) is now out in Mefisto. Yes, this is an actual paper title. And yes, the question is: can a creature without a past be physically or mentally ill? philarchive.org/rec/TURSGT

Vintage-style comic-book cover in a retro 1970s/1980s aesthetic. A green, moss-covered swamp-creature sits in a doctor’s office while a female doctor with dark hair and glasses, wearing a white coat, holds a syringe and a clipboard and speaks to him. A yellow comic-style burst reads: “Can a creature without a past be ill?” The cover also includes the author names James Turner and Fabian Hundertmark and publication information for Mefisto, Vol. 9, No. 2 (2025). The overall tone is pulpy, playful, and philosophical.

011

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

New paper out! 🎉 “Moving Past Ahistorical Theories of Function and Malfunctioning” (with @moody-philosopher.bsky.social) is now in Biology & Philosophy. doi.org/10.1007/s105...

A “Change My Mind”–style meme photo. Two academics (Fabian Hundertmark and James Turner) sit at a small table outdoors (park setting) with laptops, books, and takeaway coffee cups. A large sign on the front of the table reads: “Malfunctions need history. Otherwise you fail Distinction and Futile Functioning challenge.” Below it: “Fabian Hundertmark & James Turner. Biology & Philosophy (2026). DOI: 10.1007/s10539-026-10010-2.” The photo is framed like a promotional announcement for a new paper.

032

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Author's copy just arrived. What a beautiful book! 😍

030

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Great talk by @quillkukla.bsky.social on Healthism, Neurodiversity, and Respectability Politics #gap.12

Audience looks at Quill Kukla giving a talk. Slides say:

How "should" we attend?
• Neurodivergent attention is stigmatized and disruptivo in productvity cuture.
• But it aiso has episteric advantages:
- Hypertocus can lead to deep research and dive, Hyperperceptvity can lead to sensory overshelm, but also to tho discovery of significant patters, creatity, aesthetic joy Special interests can lead to deep expertise, and the abilty to stick with a project past official need.
- Focusing on the "wrong" things can help us see through ideology, question presuppostions.
- Neurotypical culture suppresses some forms ol attention, such as to wty norms are in place.
• Gardiner: We should pay attention to what objectively mattors. Her example: Pay attention to the art and not the
bathrooms in the Louvre.
• But non standard attention to bathrooms may give hidden insights into gender, class, architecturel
• No single objectively correct form of attention, although there are norms of attention and we sometimes rightly want our attention to work differently. Attentional differences do not inherenty yield delusions or false bellefs and may provide valuable epistemic diversity.
• Neurodivergent attention can be good for detective work, philosophy, art, science, design
GAP: 12
PATHWAYS TO TRUTH

020

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

I am delighted to present my new website (created by my brother Christian, many thanks to him): fhundertmark.net

040

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

I'm happy and proud to be joining @vlc-lab.bsky.social in September! I'm even already on the website! vlclab.blogs.uv.es/senior-membe...

Screenshot of VLC Website with Photo of Fabian + the following text:

FABIAN HUNDERTMARK – Homepage

Fabian Hundertmark is a postdoctoral researcher in the AUSAD project at the University of Valencia. Before joining the VLC Lab, he worked in two research projects at Bielefeld University on teleosemantics and the metaphysics of biological dispositions. His research is situated at the intersection of the philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychiatry, philosophy of biology, and metaphysics. He is particularly interested in naturalistic theories of biological function, the metaphysics of dispositions and abilities, and the conceptual foundations of mental disorder. His work addresses questions about what mental disorders are, how biological norms are grounded, and how modal properties figure in scientific explanations. He is currently developing a naturalistic theory of abilities.

2104

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

New publication in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy: „What are Causal Bases of Dispositions?“ with María Ferreira Ruiz. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/CEW4S...

0104

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 15/05/2024

We are delighted to announce our workshop "Philosophy of Psychiatry," which will take place on May 28th and 29th (at Bielefeld University and via Zoom). More infos here: www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/...

Poster Content:
Universität Bielefeld, May 28 and 29, 2024 Bielefeld Workshop on Philosophy of Psychiatry 2024

Speakers:
Florence Adams Cambridge
Sanja Dembic Belin
Cornelia Elke Bielefeld
Sascha Fink Erlangen
Anna Hagemann Bielefeld
Jonas Hartmann Bielefeld
Fabian Hundertmark Beleteld
David Lambert Bielefeld
Roberta Locatelli rubingen
Lara Keuck Bielefeld
Vladimir Markovic Hannover
Daniel Montero Hannover
Caroline Stankozi Bochum
James Turner Shetteld

Organized by
Fabian Hundertmark (Bielefeld)
David Lambert (Bielefeld)
Daniel Montero (Hannover)

020

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 27/03/2024

And here is my humble contribution to the recently published book symposium on the wonderful book "Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?" by @annelijefferson.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/P3G9V...

Partial realization and biological normality: Jefferson’s
account of brain dysfunction reinterpreted
Fabian Hundertmark

In her book “Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?” (2022),
Anneli Jefferson proposes that brain processes that always
realize mental dysfunctions are brain dysfunctions. This
paper explores possible interpretations of two underdeveloped
aspects of this thesis. First, it argues that “realization”
should be interpreted as partial rather than full realization.
Second, it argues that the “always” should only quantify over
biologically normal situations. Taken together, these changes
can account for the fact that some psychological dysfunctions
are partially realized by functional mechanisms, for the
existence of psychological dysfunctions due to mismatches
rather than brain dysfunctions, and for the fact that brain
dysfunctions do not cease to be brain dysfunctions just
because they can be compensated.

021

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 16/03/2024

New publication in Biology & Philosophy: „Biological functions and dysfunctions: a selected dispositions approach“ with Marlene van den Bos 🥳 Open Access: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Abstract

Justin Garson has recently argued that proper functions are proximal activities of traits selected by phylogenetic or ontogenetic selection processes, and that traits are dysfunctional only if they cannot perform their proper functions for constitutional reasons. We partially agree with Garson, but reject the view that functions are proximal activities, as well as his account of dysfunctions. Instead, we propose our own theory that biological functions are selected dispositions and that a trait is dysfunctional in virtue of not having the dispositions for which it was selected. This account can explain both defects (or dysfunctions in Garson’s sense) and dysfunctions due to environmental factors. Moreover, it offers a neat way to explain the graduality of dysfunction.

040

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 25/01/2024

The article by my esteemed collaborator James Turner entitled "Bad Feelings, Best Explanations: In Defense of the Propitiousness Theory of the Low Mood System" has been published in Erkenntnis. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

There are three main accounts of the proper function of the low mood system (LMS): the social risk theory, the disease theory, and the propitiousness theory. Adjudicat- ing between these accounts has proven difficult, as there is little agreement in the literature about what a theory of the LMS’s proper function is supposed to explain. In this article, drawing upon influential work on the evolution of other affective sys- tems, such as the disgust system and the fear system, I argue that a theory of the proper function of the low mood system should: (i) account for the reliable, distal causes and effects of the system’s activation, and (ii) explain how having a system that performed such a function increased fitness in ancestral environments. On this basis, I show that the proper function of the low mood system is to limit resource expenditure in relatively unpropitious circumstances, exactly as hypothesised by the propitiousness theory.

010

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 02/01/2024

I will give a talk entitled „Revisiting dysfunction in disorders: degrees, diversity, and distality“ at the workshop „Function and Dysfunction in Medicine and Psychiatry“, February 20-21, 2024. In London and online. Registration and program can be found here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/workshop-f...

020

Fabian Hundertmark @fhundertmark.bsky.social · 18/12/2023

I am very much looking forward to this workshop next February! Organized by Justin Garson, Harriet Fagerberg, Elselijn Kingma, @davidpapineau.bsky.social and Rivkah Hatchwell www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/templeton-...

Tuesday, 20-21 February 2024
Templeton-Sowerby Joint Workshop: Function and Dysfunction in Medicine and

Interdisciplinary Workshop for researchers working at the intersection of Philosophy and Medicine

By Sowerby Philosophy & Medicine Project, King's College London

040