Nancy Nyquist Potter

Nancy Nyquist Potter is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Louisville, where she has taught since 1995, after receiving the Ph.D. in 1994 from the University of Minnesota. She is a Core Faculty Member of the U of L Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Bioethics and Medical Humanities, an Adjunct Faculty with Women and Gender Studies, an Associate with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Senior Editor of the journal of Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology.

Nancy Potter has published extensively in feminist ethics and political philosophy as well as the interdisciplinary field of philosophy and psychiatry, with dozens of book chapters, scores of scholarly articles and numerous reviews to her credit. Her current research is on the connections between theories of knowledge and ethics, with special attention to nosological and diagnostic issues, and on the relationship between voice, silence, and uptake, in particular for patients living with mental illness. Her newest book, The Virtue of Defiance and Psychiatric Engagement, has just been published in the summer of 2016 with Oxford University Press. The Virtue of Defiance presents a “unique and original treatment” of defiance, combining theory and case studies, and it offers a “nuanced and complex look at defiance, taking seriously issues of dysfunction while also attending to social contexts in which defiant behavior may arise. Those living in adverse conditions such as oppression, systematic disadvantages, and disability may act defiantly for good reasons. This perspective places defiance squarely within the moral domain; thus, it should not be assumed that when professionals come across defiant behavior, it is a sign of mental dysfunction. Potter argues that defiance sometimes is a virtue, meaning that a disposition to be ready to be defiant when the situation calls for it is part of living a life with a realistic understanding of the aim of flourishing and its limits in our everyday world.” (OUP Website.)

Dr. Potter’s previous books include a critical analysis of borderline personality disorder, titled Mapping the Edges and the In-between: A Critical Analysis of Borderline Personality Disorder (Oxford U Press, 2009), and an examination of the ethics of trust, in How Can I be Trusted? A Virtue Theory of Trustworthiness (Rowman Littlefield 2002). She is the editor of two other major collections, Trauma, Truth, and Reconciliation: Healing Damaged Relationships (Oxford U Press, 2006) and Putting Peace into Practice: Evaluating Policy on Local and Global Levels (Rodopi Press, 2004).

Dr. Potter teaches courses ranging from Aristotle, Ethical Theory, Philosophy and Sexuality, and The Nature of Violence, to War and Peace on Stage and Screen, Race, Gender and Mental Illness, and the Philosophy of Mental Illness. She is co-Principle Investigator with Mona Gupta, M.D., Ph.D. on a CIHR grant to study types of knowing that psychiatrists draw on when making diagnoses.

Potter is a past president (2008-2012) and vice-president (2004-2008) of the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry and she continues to serve on their Executive Council, as well as on local hospital ethics committees. She has served as a reviewer for many scholarly journals and publishing houses, and she has given the Distinguished Service Award for Community Service by the University of Louisville and the U of L College of Arts and Sciences. Nancy Potter also sings in the Louisville Master Chorale.

Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy & Religion, the Department of Psychology, and the Honors Program

Sources:

• https://louisville.edu/philosophy/faculty-staff/faculty-profile-pages/nancy-potter
   
• https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-virtue-of-defiance-and-psychiatric-engagement-9780199663866?cc=us&lang=en&
   
• https://louisville.edu/philosophy/faculty-staff/faculty-profile-pages/nancy-potter/@@download/curriculum_vitea/Potter_CV_10_15.docx

Published on September 01, 2016