In his lecture, Angelos Sofocleous will examine a prevalent aspect of depression experiences, which refers to depressed individuals describing their experience as ‘unhomelike’. The lecture is scheduled for February 7 at 11:00 a.m. and will be online via Zoom with a live audience at the Institute’s Grand Hall.
The author will investigate the implications of this experiential feature on individuals’ interpersonal relationships. In this regard, he will illustrate how the intersubjective dimension of the sense of unhomelikeness is characterised by reports that the experience of depression is incommunicable to, and incomprehensible by, other people. This is attributed to the fact that depression is, to such an extent, a fundamentally different way of experiencing the world that attempts to describe the experience in ordinary language are futile. As a result, depressed individuals often use metaphorical language (e.g. incarcerated, suffocating, living in a bubble) to describe their experience. He will suggest that we conceptualise these metaphors through the metaphor of ‘being a spectator in the world’ in order to understand how the feeling of unhomelikeness manifests in experiences of depression.
Angelos Sofocleous has recently obtained his PhD in philosophy from the University of York with his thesis titled “A Phenomenological Study of Interpersonal Relationships in Experiences of Depression”. His research was focused on understanding certain disruptions that take place in the depressed individual’s interpersonal relationships. He also holds a BA in Philosophy & Psychology and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Durham. He is currently a tutor in Philosophy at the Centre for Lifelong Learning of the University of York.
https://zoom.us/j/98131237002?pwd=Sjg2OElTUlhnWmI3NURLZDRURURlZz09
Meeting ID: 981 3123 7002
Passcode: 764314
