Dr Benedict Smith b.w.smith@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
Among the characteristic features of depression is a diminishment in or lack of action and motivation. In this paper, I consider a dominant philosophical account which purports to explain this lack of action or motivation. This approach comes in different versions but a common theme is, I argue, an over reliance on psychologistic assumptions about action–explanation and the nature of motivation. As a corrective I consider an alternative view that gives a prominent place to the body in motivation. Central to the experience of depression are changes to how a person is motivated to act and, also as central, are changes to bodily feelings and capacities. I argue that broadly characterizing motivation in terms of bodily capacities can, in particular, provide a more compelling account of depressive motivational pathology.
Smith, B. (2012). Depression and Motivation. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 12(4), 615-635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-012-9264-0
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Nov 29, 1999 |
Online Publication Date | Jun 3, 2012 |
Publication Date | Dec 1, 2012 |
Deposit Date | Jul 13, 2016 |
Publicly Available Date | Jul 19, 2016 |
Journal | Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences |
Print ISSN | 1568-7759 |
Electronic ISSN | 1572-8676 |
Publisher | Springer |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 12 |
Issue | 4 |
Pages | 615-635 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-012-9264-0 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1400941 |
Accepted Journal Article
(450 Kb)
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Copyright Statement
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11097-012-9264-0
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