Dan Degerman
Biographic Data
| ID | 1288367 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dan Degerman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Dan |
| FAMILY NAME | Degerman |
| SIGNATURE | DEGERMAN D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bristol |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0440-0792 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 42 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Silence, depression, and bodily doubt: Toward a phenomenology of silence in psychopathology
Despite the relevance of silence in several psychopathologies, first-person perspectives on silence have been largely neglected in the phenomenological scholarship on those conditions. This paper proposes a phenomenological framework for addressing this neglect and demonstrates its usefulness through a case study of empty silence, an experience which can be found in many first-person accounts of depression. The paper begins by surveying research …
Lost in speech: Depressive rumination and the dynamics of inner silence
This paper clarifies the experiential profile of depressive rumination, a form of repetitive and persistent negative thinking that is phenomenologically and aetiologically central in depression. Phenomenological analyses of depression have generally remained too high-level to account for this centrality. Drawing on first-person depression narratives and recent philosophy of psychiatry and psychology, we elucidate an underexplored phenomenological…
Anxiety, Insecurity, and Redistribution in the UK ‘Red Wall’: Have Policy Preferences Changed Since the Covid-19 Pandemic
Anxiety is often seen as a driver of far-right politics in British political culture that is strategically irrational insofar as the consequences of the policies pursued by such parties contribute to an increase in poverty and inequality, which are drivers of anxiety. This article shows that anxiety can also drive voter support for strategically rational, progressive policies, which hold out a real prospect for addressing the threats that voters …
Silence as epistemic agency in mania
Silence is a byword for socially imposed harm in the burgeoning literature on epistemic injustice in psychiatry. While some silence is harmful and should be broken, this understanding of silence is untenably simplistic. Crucially, it neglects the possibility that silence can also play a constructive epistemic role in the lives of people with mental illness. This paper redresses that neglect. Engaging with first-person accounts of mania, it conten…
Covid-19 and the Politics of Fear
After nudging: The ethical challenge of post-pandemic policymaking in the UK
This article explores the interplay between crises, opportunities and democratic change in the United Kingdom. A vast body of scholarship underlines that crises open ‘windows of opportunity’ that can occasionally lead to radical shifts in the role of the state and the design of public policy. Even when a radical shift occurs, however, it has often proved temporary, with relationships and processes quickly reverting to pre-crisis modes once the im…
Experiences of Silence in Mood Disorders
This article challenges the consensus that silences about mental disorders are there to be broken. While silence in mental disorders can be painful, even deadly, the consensus rests on an oversimplified understanding of silence. Drawing upon accounts from depression and bipolar memoirs, this article names and analyses some salient experiences of silence in mood disorders. It does so with two goals in mind. The first is to show that mood disorders…
Covid-19 and the Politics of Fear
Epistemic Arguments for a Democratic Right to Silence
While much ink has been spilt over the political importance of speech, much less has been dedicated to the political importance of silence. This article seeks to fill that gap. We propose the need for a robust, democratic right to silence in public life and argue that there are politically salient epistemic reasons for recognising that right. We begin by defining what silence is and what a robust right to silence entails. We then argue that the r…
The Politics of Negative Emotions
Epistemic injustice, naturalism, and mental disorder: On the epistemic benefits of obscuring social factors
Naturalistic understandings that frame human experiences and differences as biological dysfunctions have been identified as a key source of epistemic injustice. Critics argue that those understandings are epistemically harmful because they obscure social factors that might be involved in people’s suffering; therefore, naturalistic understandings should be undermined. But those critics have overlooked the epistemic benefits such understandings can…
What makes for successful deployment of fear during a crisis
A year ago, the three of us came together out of shared concern for the place of emotions in politics and shared belief that many orthodoxies on fear as an instrument of public administration were just wrong. As the pandemic worked its way through communities and countries across the globe, it became increasingly clear that longstanding rejections of fear as a negative or pre-political emotion failed to grasp not just its adaptive evolutionary va…
The Political Is Medical Now: Covid-19, Medicalization and Political Theory
Virtually our entire existence became medicalized in the spring of 2020. How we worked, shopped, washed, loved had suddenly been transformed into actions with a profound impact on our own health as well as the health of our nations, essentially into matters of life and death. Medicalization is obviously not a new phenomenon; many of the activities just mentioned have been subject to medical expertise and language. Yet the intensity and scope of t…
Introduction: Negative emotions in dark times
[No Abstract]
In defence of fear: Covid-19, crises and democracy
The COVID-19 crisis has served not just to instil fear in the populace but to highlight the importance of fear as a motivating dynamic in politics. The gradual emergence of political-philosophical approaches calling for concern for ‘positive’ emotions may have made sense under non-pandemic conditions. Now, however, describing fear in the face of a deadly pandemic as ‘irrational’ or born of ‘ignorance’ seems ‘irrational’ and ‘ignorant’. In this ar…
Maladjusted to injustice? Political agency, medicalization, and the user/survivor movement
This paper examines the factors that shape the political agency of psychiatric service users/survivors. I begin by outlining an Arendtian framework for thinking about political agency and its sources. I then use this framework to explore the politically empowering and disempowering factors that users/survivors face, drawing upon evidence from the writings of user/survivor activists and organisations, newspaper articles, and psychiatric profession…
‘Am I mad?’: The Windham case and Victorian resistance to psychiatry
This article revisits the notorious trial of William Windham, a wealthy young man accused of lunacy. The trial in 1861–2 saw the country’s foremost experts on psychological medicine very publicly debate the concepts, symptoms and diagnosis of insanity. I begin by surveying the trial and the testimonies of medical experts. Their disparate assessments of Windham evoked heated reactions in the press and Parliament; these reactions are the focus of t…
Within the heart’s darkness: The role of emotions in Arendt’s political thought
Interest in the political relevance of the emotions is growing rapidly. In light of this, Hannah Arendt’s claim that the emotions are apolitical has come under renewed fire. But many critics have misunderstood her views on the relationship between individuals, emotions and the political. This paper addresses this issue by reconstructing the conceptual framework through which Arendt understands the emotions. Arendt often describes the heart – wher…
Brexit anxiety: A case study in the medicalization of dissent
This paper illustrates how concepts of mental disorder have been deployed to medicalize negative emotions and, thereby, weaken the political agency of some individuals. First, I theorise the link between political agency and emotions, arguing that effective political action entails the transformation of emotions into public issues. Using the British referendum on membership in the EU as a case study, I then examine how medically loaded terms and …
Within the heart’s darkness: The role of emotions in Arendt’s political thought
Interest in the political relevance of the emotions is growing rapidly. In light of this, Hannah Arendt’s claim that the emotions are apolitical has come under renewed fire. But many critics have misunderstood her views on the relationship between individuals, emotions and the political. This paper addresses this issue by reconstructing the conceptual framework through which Arendt understands the emotions. Arendt often describes the heart – wher…
In defence of fear: Covid-19, crises and democracy
The COVID-19 crisis has served not just to instil fear in the populace but to highlight the importance of fear as a motivating dynamic in politics. The gradual emergence of political-philosophical approaches calling for concern for ‘positive’ emotions may have made sense under non-pandemic conditions. Now, however, describing fear in the face of a deadly pandemic as ‘irrational’ or born of ‘ignorance’ seems ‘irrational’ and ‘ignorant’. In this ar…
Brexit anxiety: A case study in the medicalization of dissent
This paper illustrates how concepts of mental disorder have been deployed to medicalize negative emotions and, thereby, weaken the political agency of some individuals. First, I theorise the link between political agency and emotions, arguing that effective political action entails the transformation of emotions into public issues. Using the British referendum on membership in the EU as a case study, I then examine how medically loaded terms and …
Anxiety, Insecurity, and Redistribution in the UK ‘Red Wall’: Have Policy Preferences Changed Since the Covid-19 Pandemic
Anxiety is often seen as a driver of far-right politics in British political culture that is strategically irrational insofar as the consequences of the policies pursued by such parties contribute to an increase in poverty and inequality, which are drivers of anxiety. This article shows that anxiety can also drive voter support for strategically rational, progressive policies, which hold out a real prospect for addressing the threats that voters …
Epistemic injustice, naturalism, and mental disorder: On the epistemic benefits of obscuring social factors
Naturalistic understandings that frame human experiences and differences as biological dysfunctions have been identified as a key source of epistemic injustice. Critics argue that those understandings are epistemically harmful because they obscure social factors that might be involved in people’s suffering; therefore, naturalistic understandings should be undermined. But those critics have overlooked the epistemic benefits such understandings can…
What makes for successful deployment of fear during a crisis
A year ago, the three of us came together out of shared concern for the place of emotions in politics and shared belief that many orthodoxies on fear as an instrument of public administration were just wrong. As the pandemic worked its way through communities and countries across the globe, it became increasingly clear that longstanding rejections of fear as a negative or pre-political emotion failed to grasp not just its adaptive evolutionary va…
Epistemic Arguments for a Democratic Right to Silence
While much ink has been spilt over the political importance of speech, much less has been dedicated to the political importance of silence. This article seeks to fill that gap. We propose the need for a robust, democratic right to silence in public life and argue that there are politically salient epistemic reasons for recognising that right. We begin by defining what silence is and what a robust right to silence entails. We then argue that the r…
Maladjusted to injustice? Political agency, medicalization, and the user/survivor movement
This paper examines the factors that shape the political agency of psychiatric service users/survivors. I begin by outlining an Arendtian framework for thinking about political agency and its sources. I then use this framework to explore the politically empowering and disempowering factors that users/survivors face, drawing upon evidence from the writings of user/survivor activists and organisations, newspaper articles, and psychiatric profession…
Brexit anxiety: A case study in the medicalization of dissent
This paper illustrates how concepts of mental disorder have been deployed to medicalize negative emotions and, thereby, weaken the political agency of some individuals. First, I theorise the link between political agency and emotions, arguing that effective political action entails the transformation of emotions into public issues. Using the British referendum on membership in the EU as a case study, I then examine how medically loaded terms and …
‘Am I mad?’: The Windham case and Victorian resistance to psychiatry
This article revisits the notorious trial of William Windham, a wealthy young man accused of lunacy. The trial in 1861–2 saw the country’s foremost experts on psychological medicine very publicly debate the concepts, symptoms and diagnosis of insanity. I begin by surveying the trial and the testimonies of medical experts. Their disparate assessments of Windham evoked heated reactions in the press and Parliament; these reactions are the focus of t…
Within the heart’s darkness: The role of emotions in Arendt’s political thought
Interest in the political relevance of the emotions is growing rapidly. In light of this, Hannah Arendt’s claim that the emotions are apolitical has come under renewed fire. But many critics have misunderstood her views on the relationship between individuals, emotions and the political. This paper addresses this issue by reconstructing the conceptual framework through which Arendt understands the emotions. Arendt often describes the heart – wher…
The Political Is Medical Now: Covid-19, Medicalization and Political Theory
Virtually our entire existence became medicalized in the spring of 2020. How we worked, shopped, washed, loved had suddenly been transformed into actions with a profound impact on our own health as well as the health of our nations, essentially into matters of life and death. Medicalization is obviously not a new phenomenon; many of the activities just mentioned have been subject to medical expertise and language. Yet the intensity and scope of t…
Introduction: Negative emotions in dark times
[No Abstract]
In defence of fear: Covid-19, crises and democracy
The COVID-19 crisis has served not just to instil fear in the populace but to highlight the importance of fear as a motivating dynamic in politics. The gradual emergence of political-philosophical approaches calling for concern for ‘positive’ emotions may have made sense under non-pandemic conditions. Now, however, describing fear in the face of a deadly pandemic as ‘irrational’ or born of ‘ignorance’ seems ‘irrational’ and ‘ignorant’. In this ar…
Maladjusted to injustice? Political agency, medicalization, and the user/survivor movement
This paper examines the factors that shape the political agency of psychiatric service users/survivors. I begin by outlining an Arendtian framework for thinking about political agency and its sources. I then use this framework to explore the politically empowering and disempowering factors that users/survivors face, drawing upon evidence from the writings of user/survivor activists and organisations, newspaper articles, and psychiatric profession…
What makes for successful deployment of fear during a crisis
A year ago, the three of us came together out of shared concern for the place of emotions in politics and shared belief that many orthodoxies on fear as an instrument of public administration were just wrong. As the pandemic worked its way through communities and countries across the globe, it became increasingly clear that longstanding rejections of fear as a negative or pre-political emotion failed to grasp not just its adaptive evolutionary va…
The Politics of Negative Emotions
Epistemic injustice, naturalism, and mental disorder: On the epistemic benefits of obscuring social factors
Naturalistic understandings that frame human experiences and differences as biological dysfunctions have been identified as a key source of epistemic injustice. Critics argue that those understandings are epistemically harmful because they obscure social factors that might be involved in people’s suffering; therefore, naturalistic understandings should be undermined. But those critics have overlooked the epistemic benefits such understandings can…
Covid-19 and the Politics of Fear
After nudging: The ethical challenge of post-pandemic policymaking in the UK
This article explores the interplay between crises, opportunities and democratic change in the United Kingdom. A vast body of scholarship underlines that crises open ‘windows of opportunity’ that can occasionally lead to radical shifts in the role of the state and the design of public policy. Even when a radical shift occurs, however, it has often proved temporary, with relationships and processes quickly reverting to pre-crisis modes once the im…
Experiences of Silence in Mood Disorders
This article challenges the consensus that silences about mental disorders are there to be broken. While silence in mental disorders can be painful, even deadly, the consensus rests on an oversimplified understanding of silence. Drawing upon accounts from depression and bipolar memoirs, this article names and analyses some salient experiences of silence in mood disorders. It does so with two goals in mind. The first is to show that mood disorders…
Covid-19 and the Politics of Fear
Epistemic Arguments for a Democratic Right to Silence
While much ink has been spilt over the political importance of speech, much less has been dedicated to the political importance of silence. This article seeks to fill that gap. We propose the need for a robust, democratic right to silence in public life and argue that there are politically salient epistemic reasons for recognising that right. We begin by defining what silence is and what a robust right to silence entails. We then argue that the r…
Silence, depression, and bodily doubt: Toward a phenomenology of silence in psychopathology
Despite the relevance of silence in several psychopathologies, first-person perspectives on silence have been largely neglected in the phenomenological scholarship on those conditions. This paper proposes a phenomenological framework for addressing this neglect and demonstrates its usefulness through a case study of empty silence, an experience which can be found in many first-person accounts of depression. The paper begins by surveying research …
Lost in speech: Depressive rumination and the dynamics of inner silence
This paper clarifies the experiential profile of depressive rumination, a form of repetitive and persistent negative thinking that is phenomenologically and aetiologically central in depression. Phenomenological analyses of depression have generally remained too high-level to account for this centrality. Drawing on first-person depression narratives and recent philosophy of psychiatry and psychology, we elucidate an underexplored phenomenological…
Anxiety, Insecurity, and Redistribution in the UK ‘Red Wall’: Have Policy Preferences Changed Since the Covid-19 Pandemic
Anxiety is often seen as a driver of far-right politics in British political culture that is strategically irrational insofar as the consequences of the policies pursued by such parties contribute to an increase in poverty and inequality, which are drivers of anxiety. This article shows that anxiety can also drive voter support for strategically rational, progressive policies, which hold out a real prospect for addressing the threats that voters …
Silence as epistemic agency in mania
Silence is a byword for socially imposed harm in the burgeoning literature on epistemic injustice in psychiatry. While some silence is harmful and should be broken, this understanding of silence is untenably simplistic. Crucially, it neglects the possibility that silence can also play a constructive epistemic role in the lives of people with mental illness. This paper redresses that neglect. Engaging with first-person accounts of mania, it conten…
Psychology (14 works) · Political science (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Politics (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Medicine (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Social Psychology (7 works)