Dr Anna Bortolan

Senior Lecturer

Politics, Philosophy and International Relations

anna.bortolan@swansea.ac.uk

Office - 015
Ground Floor
James Callaghan
Singleton Campus

Available For Postgraduate Supervision

Research Links

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6544-998X

About

I joined Swansea University as a Lecturer in Philosophy in January 2020. Prior to this, I was a Lecturer and a Teaching Fellow at the University of Aberdeen, and a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow at University College Dublin. I hold a Ph.D. in Philosophy conferred by Durham University in 2016.

My research interests lie primarily at the intersection of phenomenology, philosophy of emotion, and philosophy of psychiatry. More specifically, some of the main questions I have been exploring in my work concern the relationship between emotions, narratives, and self-understanding; the role of affective experience in psychopathology; and the nature of self-esteem.

Publications

Research Highlights

Bortolan, A. (2024). Delusions in Depression. In Ema Sullivan-Bissett (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Delusion Routledge
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67141
https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Philosophy-of-Delusion/Sullivan-Bissett/p/book/9781032283388?srsltid=AfmBOopnbyMBXKyeKUUA3pTb0gDOlX9UmtJEKTGMVkSMeC7-fPLFQFjX
Bortolan, A. (2024). Becoming oneself online: narrative self-constitution and the internet. Philosophical Studies, 181, 2405-2427.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-024-02169-9, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66315
Bortolan, A. (2023). Good Enough to Be Myself? The Fraught Relationship between Self-Esteem and Self-Knowledge. In Alba Montes Sánchez and Alessandro Salice (Ed.), Emotional Self-Knowledge (pp. 125-144). Routledge
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003310945-9, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63566
Bortolan, A. (2023). Healing online? Social anxiety and emotion regulation in pandemic experience. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 22(5), 1195-1214.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-023-09886-2, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62263
Bortolan, A. (2022). Selves hijacked: affects and personhood in ‘self-illness ambiguity’. Philosophical Explorations, 25(3), 1-20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13869795.2022.2093393, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59717

All Research

Journal Articles

Bortolan, A. (2024). Epistemic emotions and self-trust. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 0
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-024-10010-1, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67195
Bortolan, A. (2024). Becoming oneself online: narrative self-constitution and the internet. Philosophical Studies, 181, 2405-2427.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-024-02169-9, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66315
Bortolan, A. (2023). Healing online? Social anxiety and emotion regulation in pandemic experience. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 22(5), 1195-1214.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-023-09886-2, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62263
Bortolan, A. (2022). Selves hijacked: affects and personhood in ‘self-illness ambiguity’. Philosophical Explorations, 25(3), 1-20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13869795.2022.2093393, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59717
Bortolan, A. (2022). Online emotions: a framework. Inquiry, 0, 1-25.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174x.2022.2044378, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58587
Bortolan, A. (2021). Narrate It Until You Become It. Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 7(4), 474-493.
https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2020.46, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa55649
Bortolan, A. (2020). Narratively Shaped Emotions: The Case of Borderline Personality Disorder. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, 45(2), 212-230.
https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhz037, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53473
Bortolan, A. (2020). Affectivity and the distinction between minimal and narrative self. Continental Philosophy Review, 53(1), 67-84.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-019-09471-y, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53370
Bortolan, A. (2018). Self‐Esteem and Ethics: A Phenomenological View. Hypatia, 33(1), 56-72.
https://doi.org/10.1111/hypa.12388, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53369
Bortolan, A. (2017). Affectivity and moral experience: an extended phenomenological account. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 16(3), 471-490.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-016-9468-9, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53367
Bortolan, A. (2017). Affectivity and narrativity in depression: a phenomenological study. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 20(1), 77-88.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-016-9735-0, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53366

Book Chapters

Bortolan, A. (2024). Delusions in Depression. In Ema Sullivan-Bissett (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Delusion Routledge
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67141
https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Philosophy-of-Delusion/Sullivan-Bissett/p/book/9781032283388?srsltid=AfmBOopnbyMBXKyeKUUA3pTb0gDOlX9UmtJEKTGMVkSMeC7-fPLFQFjX
Bortolan, A. (2023). Good Enough to Be Myself? The Fraught Relationship between Self-Esteem and Self-Knowledge. In Alba Montes Sánchez and Alessandro Salice (Ed.), Emotional Self-Knowledge (pp. 125-144). Routledge
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003310945-9, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63566
Bortolan, A. (2022). Social Anxiety, Self-Consciousness, and Interpersonal Experience. In Anna Bortolan, Elisa Magrì (Ed.), Empathy, Intersubjectivity, and the Social World De Gruyter
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59125
https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783110698787/html?lang=en
Ratcliffe, M. & Bortolan, A. (2020). Emotion Regulation in a Disordered World: Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder. In Christian Tewes; Giovanni Stanghellini (Ed.), Time and Body: Phenomenological and Psychopathological Approaches (pp. 177-200). Cambridge University Press
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53475
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/time-and-body/emotion-regulation-in-a-disordered-world/BC46CF3C2C3CB77FD7DA60AA23791E29
Bortolan, A. (2020). Overcoming the Gaze: Psychopathology, Affect, and Narrative. In Anya Daly, Fred Cummins, James Jardine, Dermot Moran (Ed.), Perception and the Inhuman Gaze: Perspectives from Philosophy, Phenomenology, and the Sciences Routledge
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53474
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780367815707-16/overcoming-gaze-anna-bortolan
Bortolan, A. (2020). Self-Esteem, Pride, Embarrassment and Shyness. In Thomas Szanto, Hilge Landweer (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Phenomenology of Emotions Routledge
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53371
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315180786-35/self-esteem-pride-embarrassment-shyness-anna-bortolan
Bortolan, A. (2019). Phenomenological Psychopathology and Autobiography. In Stanghellini, G., Fernandez, A., Fusar-Poli, P., Raballo, A., Rosfort, R. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenological Psychopathology (pp. 1052-1064). Oxford University Press
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198803157.013.98, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53372

Edited Books

Bortolan, A. & Magrì, E. (Eds.). (2022). Empathy, Intersubjectivity, and the Social World. De Gruyter.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59123
https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783110698787/html?lang=en

Other Research Outputs

Bortolan, A. & Salice, A. (2018). Philosophical Perspectives on Affective Experience and Psychopathology
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv8xnhwc, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53373

Supervision

Respect - Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Inclusion (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Dr Paddy Mcqueen
Untitled (current)

MA

Other supervisor: Dr Rob Fraser

Taught Modules

HUP105 Critical Reasoning

This module introduces students to the core elements of critical reasoning: how to identify, construct and analyse arguments; what makes an argument valid and sound; common errors in reasoning; and the basics of propositional logic. In studying these topics, students will cultivate core critical reasoning skills and apply these in analysing real-world textual examples.
HUP259 Philosophy of Mind

The aim of this course is to explore some key philosophical debates concerning the nature of the mind and some related notions. First, we will focus on the ¿mind-body problem¿, exploring questions about the relationship between mental and physical phenomena. Are mental states like beliefs and desires different from neural and bodily states? How do the mind and the body influence each other? We will explore various ways of answering these questions, considering theories like dualism, behaviourism, and functionalism. We will then move to discuss philosophical debates concerning topics such as the self, intersubjectivity, and animal minds.
HUP308 Philosophy, Mental Health and Illness

The module aims to provide an introduction to the field of philosophy of psychiatry broadly conceived, and to explore some of the main issues debated in this area. Philosophical questions concerning mental health and illness will be examined from various theoretical perspectives, but particular attention will be devoted to the contributions which have been made within the philosophical tradition of phenomenology. In this context, different experiences of mental ill-health will be considered, focusing in particular on the experience of depression and schizophrenia.
HUP337 Philosophy of Mind

The aim of this course is to explore some key philosophical debates concerning the nature of the mind and some related notions. First, we will focus on the ¿mind-body problem¿, exploring questions about the relationship between mental and physical phenomena. Are mental states like beliefs and desires different from neural and bodily states? How do the mind and the body influence each other? We will explore various ways of answering these questions, considering theories like dualism, behaviourism, and functionalism. We will then move to discuss philosophical debates concerning topics such as the self, intersubjectivity, and animal minds.

Key Grants and Projects

“The Phenomenology of Self-Esteem” (Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship programme) 2016 - 2018

Career History

Lecturer, Teaching Fellow, University of Aberdeen

2018 - 2019
Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow, University College Dublin

2016 - 2018

Invited Presentations, Lectures and Conferences

Healing Online? Social Anxiety and Emotion Regulation in Pandemic Experience

2022

Cardiff-Exeter Summer Phenomenology Workshop. Cardiff University
Narratives Hijacked: Affects and Personhood in “Self-Illness Ambiguity”

2022

Post-Kantian European Philosophy Seminar. University of Oxford (online)
Epistemic Emotions and Self-Trust: A Phenomenological Proposal

2021

Monthly Phenomenology Series. Network for Phenomenological Research (online)
Empathy and Narrativity in the Experience of Depression

2021

Phenomenology of Empathy Series. University of Chile (online)
“Autostima” (Self-Esteem)

2021

Phenomenology, Medicine and Psychology Seminar. Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (online)
Emotions Online: What are They?

2021

UWTSD Lampeter. Royal Institute of Philosophy Lecture Series (online)

Dr Anna Bortolan

Email address

Research Links

About

Research Highlights

All Research

Respect - Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Inclusion (current)

Untitled (current)

HUP105 Critical Reasoning

HUP259 Philosophy of Mind

HUP308 Philosophy, Mental Health and Illness

HUP337 Philosophy of Mind

“The Phenomenology of Self-Esteem” (Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship programme) 2016 - 2018

Lecturer, Teaching Fellow, University of Aberdeen

Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow, University College Dublin

Healing Online? Social Anxiety and Emotion Regulation in Pandemic Experience

Narratives Hijacked: Affects and Personhood in “Self-Illness Ambiguity”

Epistemic Emotions and Self-Trust: A Phenomenological Proposal

Empathy and Narrativity in the Experience of Depression

“Autostima” (Self-Esteem)

Emotions Online: What are They?