1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910789291403321

Autore

Zachar Peter

Titolo

A metaphysics of psychopathology / / Peter Zachar

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; ; London : , : MIT Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-262-32228-5

0-262-32227-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (287 p.)

Collana

Philosophical Psychopathology

Disciplina

616.89

Soggetti

Psychology, Pathological

Metaphysics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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.

Sommario/riassunto

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.