Filip Radovic
Senior Lecturer
Linguistics and Theory of ScienceAbout Filip Radovic
I am a Senior Lecturer and Docent in theoretical philosophy at Gothenburg University. I received my PhD in theoretical philosophy at Lund University (2004); my thesis examined more or less hidden presumptions in relation to the problem of how phenomenal consciousness relates to brain-states.
Contemporary philosophy
Since my PhD-thesis I have continued work in philosophy of consciousness and cognition. I have specialized in illusory states and cognitive errors in general, e.g. dream consciousness and the nature of belief formation in normal and altered cognitive states. A considerable portion of my work has been done in the field of philosophical psychopathology. I have examined states like depersonalization and derealization, that is, states in which the self or world feels unreal. I have also examined the nature of monothematic delusions, especially so-called nihilistic delusions (delusions about death and non-existence. I have also done some work on the concept of mental illness, focusing in particular on the qualification “mental” in “mental disorder” and I have made some contributions to the field of forensic psychiatry mainly focusing on the link between mental disorders and crime and responsibility.
In addition to work in the philosophy of mind, I made contributions to the philosophy of life, especially in relation to the question of life’s meaning. I have published papers on purpose-theories of life, the cognitive content of meaning-questions, and life’s meaning in relation to the scientific worldview and religion by and large.
Ancient and medieval philosophy
Since 2010 I have done extensive work in the history of philosophy and I have published a variety of papers, mainly on ancient and medieval Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. I was a member of the research programme Representation and Reality from 2012 and 2019 where I mainly focused on dream consciousness and other illusory mental states. https://www.gu.se/en/research/representation-and-reality-historical-and…
I am currently a specialist on ancient and medieval theories of mind and most of my historical work relates to the Aristotelian tradition broadly conceived. I have also combined historical and contemporary enquiries into specific topics. For example, I have undertaken a thorough study of a certain type of hallucination called Autoscopy as described and explained by Aristotle, the commentary tradition, and modern psychiatry. I have also performed a comprehensive study on various accounts of why dreams are mistaken for real events in ancient, medieval and contemporary philosophical discussions.
At present I am working on a book that examines various applications of the so-called dream argument (aka the argument from dreaming).