A metaphysics of psychopathology / Peter Zachar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zachar, Peter, author.

Series:

Philosophical psychopathology.

Philosophical Psychopathology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychology, Pathological.

Metaphysics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (287 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London : MIT Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this study Peter Zachar considers such terms as 'real' and 'reality' - invoked in psychiatry but often obscure and remote from their instances - as abstract philosophical concepts. He then examines the implications of his approach for psychiatric classification and psychopathology. Proposing what he calls a scientifically inspired pragmatism, Zachar considers such topics as the essentialist bias, diagnostic literalism, and the concepts of natural kind and social construct.

Contents:

Introduction: psychiatry, science wars, and the problem of realism

A scientifically-inspired pragmatism

Instrumental nominalism

Psychological and scientific essentialism

Misplaced literalism

Literalism and the distrust of authority

The objective within, not beyond, experience

Classification and the concept of psychiatric disorder

Four conceptual abstractions: natural kind, historical concept, normative concept and practical kind

Can grief really be a disorder?

Is narcissistic personality disorder real?

Psychiatry, progress, and thinking philosophically about philosophical concepts.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-262-32228-5

0-262-32227-7

OCLC:

878138866