Dr Luca Barlassina | Sheffield
Luca Barlassina is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Psychology and Associate Director of the Hang Seng Centre for Cognitive Studies in the University of Sheffield.
Date | 25 November 2026
Title | You make me sick! Disgust, itch, and the Complexity of the Behavioural Immune System
Location | Room 0.30, D’Olier Street
Abstract:
I put forward a novel account of the Behavioural Immune System (BIM). The received view has it that BIM is identical with disgust and has pathogen-avoidance as its sole function. In this talk, I argue that this view is doubly false. First, there is at least one other capacity that makes up BIM, namely, itch. Second, disgust comes in many varieties, and none of them has avoiding pathogens as its sole function. We live dangerous lives: our environment is riddled with multiple kinds of illness-causing agents. BIM’s architecture reflects this complexity.