Matthew Ratcliffe is Professor of Philosophy at the University of York, UK. His work addresses issues in philosophy of mind, psychology, and psychiatry. Matthew’s research falls within the areas of phenomenology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of medicine and health. In particular he has sought to show how phenomenological research can be brought into dialogue with psychiatry, in ways that are mutually illuminating.

Matthew is the author of five books, including most recently, Grief Worlds: A Study of Emotional Experience which explores a host of philosophical questions raised by grief, and shows how philosophical inquiry can enhance our understanding of grief and vice versa.

In a discussion which opens by exploring some of the inherently puzzling qualities of grief, and the world-altering impacts across an individual’s life – in this episode of Grief Tending, Professor Ratcliffe seeks to make some of the features of phenomenological enquiry into grief both tangible and accessible to professional caregivers who are walking alongside grieving and bereaved clients. We also discuss some of the relational challenges in grief including how bereaved individuals continue to relate to both the living and the dead.