Em Walsh

I am currently entering my fourth year of my PhD in philosophy at McGill university. I specialize in philosophy of psychiatry, philosophy of mind and memory, feminist philosophy, and bioethics. According to the feminist relational conception of the self, developing a coherent sense of self requires an ongoing process. My thesis explores what happens to one’s sense of self if one feels psychologically or socially “stuck in time”. Specifically, I explore how this can interrupt the ongoing processing of the self. My thesis explores two ways individuals can be stuck in time: either psychologically, by experiencing a mental illness such as PTSD, or socially, due to occupying a marginalized social position. I am interested in both the relational and personal harms of this experience, as well as what this experience informs us about the relational self.

Publications

Cognitive Transformation, Dementia, and the Moral Weight of Advance Directives”, The American Journal of Bioethics, 2020, vol.20 (8), 54-64.

A Critical Dialogue on the Transformational Nature of Dementia: Response to Open Peer Commentaries on “Cognitive Transformation, Dementia, and the Moral Weight of Advance Directives”, The American Journal of Bioethics, 2020, vol.20 (8), W4-W7