Skip to content
Social Science
Encyclopedia
Ian Gold

Ian Gold

Professor of Philosophy & Psychiatry, McGill University

Ian Jeffery Gold is Professor of Philosophy & Psychiatry at McGill University. He is also the Chair of the Department of Philosophy.

He has written about psychological delusions, the theory of mind, & reductionism in neuroscience and psychiatry.

He has taught courses on the philosophy of neuroscience, the philosophy of psychiatry, and the philosophy of mind.

Together with his brother, psychiatrist Joel Gold, he co-developed the idea of the Truman Show delusion.

You can find his book, Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness, co-authored with Joel Gold, here (https://www.amazon.com/Suspicious-Minds-Culture-Shapes-Madness/dp/143918156X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LNYXKUTNY2HA&keywords=Suspicious%20Minds%3A%20How%20Culture%20Shapes%20Madness&qid=1640036189&sprefix=suspicious%20minds%20how%20culture%20shapes%20madness%20%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-1).

Doctoral Dissertation: Color and Other Illusions: A Philosophical Theory of Vision.

Theory of Mind:

Schmidtmann, Gunnar & Logan, Andrew & Carbon, Claus-Christian & Loong, Joshua & Gold, Ian. In the Blink of an Eye: Reading Mental States From Briefly Presented Eye Regions. i-Perception. 2020. 11.

Schmidtmann, Gunnar & Jennings, Ben & Sandra, Dasha & Pollock, Jordan & Gold, Ian. The McGill Face Database: Validation and Insights Into the Recognition of Facial Expressions of Complex Mental States. Perception. 2020. 49. 1-20.

Schmidtmann, Gunnar & Jordan, Maiya & Loong, Joshua & Andrew, Canada & Logan, J & Carbon, Claus-Christian & Gold, Ian. Temporal processing of facial expressions of mental states. Iperception. 2020 Sep-Oct; 11(5).

Prevost, Marie & Carrier, Marie-Eve & Chowne, Gabrielle & Zelkowitz, Phyllis & Joseph, Lawrence & Gold, Ian. The Reading the Mind in the Eyes test: Validation of a French version and exploration of cultural variations in a multi-ethnic city. Cognitive neuropsychiatry. 2013. 19.

Education
PhD Philosophy, Princeton University · MA Philosophy, McGill University · BA Philosophy, McGill University
Topics
Philosophy · Psychology · Psychological Delusions · Reductionism (Psychology) · Theory of Mind

Talks & video2

Selected publications6

  1. 2012Gold, Joel & Gold, Ian. The “Truman Show” delusion: Psychosis in the global village. Cognitive neuropsychiatry. 2012. 17.
  2. 2011Kirmayer, Laurence & Gold, Ian. Re-Socializing Psychiatry: Critical Neuroscience and the Limits of Reductionism. Critical Neuroscience: A Handbook of the Social and Cultural Contexts of Neuroscience. 2011. 305-330.
  3. 2010Gold, Ian. Re: Reduction in Psychiatry and Psychiatry and Neuroscience. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2010. 55. 1
  4. 2009Gold, Ian. Reduction in Psychiatry. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2009. 54. 506-12.
  5. 2005Fine, Cordelia & Craigie, Jillian & Gold, Ian. Damned If You Do; Damned If You Don't: The Impasse in Cognitive Accounts of the Capgras Delusion. Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology. 2005. 12(2):143-151.
  6. 2005Fine, Cordelia & Gold, Ian. The Explanation Approach to Delusion. Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology. 2005. 12(2):159-163.

Positions & affiliations12

  • McGill University (2006 - present)
  • Chair of the Department of Philosophy, McGill University (2021 - present)
  • Professor of Philosophy & Psychiatry, McGill University (2019 - present)
  • Associate Professor of Philosophy & Psychiatry, McGill University (2013-2019)
  • Canada Research Chair in Philosophy & Psychiatry, McGill University (2006 - 2013)
  • Senior Lecturer, School of Philosophy and Bioethics, Monash University (2003 - 2005)
  • Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, Monash University (2000 - 2002)
  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Philosophy, McGill University (1999 - 2006)
  • Fellow, Vision Research Unit, McGill University (1999)
  • Visiting Fellow, Program in Philosophy, Australian National University (1997 - 1998)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Optical Sciences Centre, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University (1995 - 1997)
  • Departments of Philosophy & Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College (Fall 2002)