Virginia Ballesteros
Assistant Professor
University of Valencia
About me
I am an Assistant Professor in the Departament of Philosophy at the University of Valencia (Spain).
My research focuses on the philosophy of psychiatry. I am also interested in the philosophy of psychedelics and, more generally, in altered states of consciousness.
I am a member of the research projects "The Social Roots of Mental Health: Agency and Normativity" , "Epistemic and Espeech Injustices" , "Normative Limits of Our World View: Revisionist Projects on Communication, Knowledge and Agency" and "Know Yourself: The Importance, the Nature, and the Applications of Introspective Self-Knowledg" . I am also a member of the VLC Philosophy Lab .
Previously, I worked as a Margarita Salas Fellow in the Department of Philosophy I at the University of Granada (2022-2023), and as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Logic and Theoretical Philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid (2021-2022), where I did research on the philosophy of birth .
I also held a Predoctoral Researcher position in the Philosophy Departament at the University of Valencia (2016-2019), where I obtained my PhD in Philosophy, with a dissertation entitled Conceptions of Mental Illness: in Search of Reality .
Research Interests
Conceptions of mental illness
Self-illness ambiguity
Phenomenology of depression
Epistemic injustice
Social constructionism
Self-knowledge
Philosophy of psychedelic therapy
Phenomenology of ASCs
Psychedelics as enhancers
2025. With Víctor Fernández-Castro and Miguel Núñez de Prado. "It doesn't feel like myself: a mindshaping view on self-illness ambiguity ", in Zawidzki, Tadeusz (ed.), Routledge Handbook to Mindshaping . Routledge.
2025. "Objectivity, standardization, and epistemic injustice in psychiatry ", Synthese 205, 172. doi: 10.1007/s11229-025-05016-4.
2024. "The Psychedelic Experience: A New Perspective, a New Attitude Towards the World ", in Letheby, Chris and Gerrans, Philip (eds.), Philosophical Perspectives on Psychedelic Psychiatry . Oxford University Press.
2024. "The Psychedelic Experience as an Ethical Experience ", in Lovering, Rob (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoactive Drug Use . Palgrave Macmillan.
2024. With Ana L. Batalla. "Valuable Harmful Dysfunctions ", Crítica 56, (167): 75-99. doi: 10.22201/iifs.18704905e.2024.1516
2023. With Pablo Moreno-Romero. "Resonancia natural y capacidad individual de acción ecosocial ". Isegoría 68: e27. doi: 10.3989/isegoria.2023.68.27
2023. "Consideraciones sobre la relación mente-cuerpo en el proceso del parto ". Eikasía 114: 57-73. doi: 10.57027/eikasia.114.580
2023. With Pablo Moreno-Romero. "Dar a luz: de la vulnerabilidad al empoderamiento ". En-claves del pensamiento 33: e597. doi: 10.46530/ecdp.v0i33.597
2022. "A Stigmatizing Dilemma in the Labor Room: Irrationality or Selfishness? ". Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 28, (5): 875-882. doi: 10.1111/jep.13747
2021. Concepciones de la enfermedad mental: en busca de la realidad . Doctoral Thesis. Universitat de València
2020. "De Günther Anders al transhumanismo: la obsolescencia del ser humano y la mejora moral ". Isegoría 63: 289-310. doi: 10.3989/isegoria.2020.063.01
2019. "Applied Mysticism: A Drug‐Enabled Visionary Experience Against Moral Blindness ". Zygon 54, (3): 731-55. doi: 10.1111/zygo.12544
2019. "Quines normes? Una aproximació al debat sobre el concepte de malaltia mental ". Quaderns de Filosofia 6, (1): 79-118. doi: 10.7203/qfia.6.1.14820
2018. "The Metaphysics behind Pharmacotherapy: Treating Depression with Conventional and Psychedelic Drugs ". Psicología, Conocimiento y Sociedad 8, (2): 7-28. doi: 10.26864/PCS.v8.n2.2
2016. "Ingeniería humana: alterando el cuerpo para ampliar la fantasía moral. Una posible solución a los problemas planteados por Günther Anders ". Daimon , sup 5: 31-41. doi: 10.6018/daimon/268521
Work in Progress
A reframing of autism as a form of life.
An analysis of the conception of psychedelics as introspection enhancers.
An analysis of the theoretical assumptions about the mind as a source of epistemic injustice.