Philosophical Issues in Psychiatry: Explanation, Phenomenology, and Nosology

Commendation Quotes:"Few books on psychiatry explore with seriousness and clarity the difficult problems of explanation, scientific description, and causality. This one does. The introductions are like having an articulate and patient professor at your shoulder. The material is discussed by first-rate people in their fields, and the commentaries prevent the discussion from becoming static or predictable. I hope this sophisticated book will be read widely and considered carefully." -- John Z. Sadler, M. D., editor of Descriptions and Prescriptions: Values, Mental Disorders, and the DSMsCommendation Quotes: Few books on psychiatry explore with seriousness and clarity the difficult problems of explanation, scientific description, and causality. This one does. The introductions are like having an articulate and patient professor at your shoulder. The material is discussed by first-rate people in their fields, and the commentaries prevent the discussion from becoming static or predictable. I hope this sophisticated book will be read widely and considered carefully. Review Quotes: This book asks the right questions, and sends us in the right direction.--S. Nassir Ghaemi, M. D., M. A., M. P. H. "Metapsychology "Review Quotes: A good collection of papers... Will be of most interest to specialists in the area of philosophy of psychiatry (and to philosophers of mind and psychology)--Rachel Cooper "Metapsychology "Review Quotes: Drs. Kendler and Parnas's book is an invitation into an oft-neglected area of psychiatry, an exploration of the philosophical underpinnings and its attendant complicated and multifaceted issues.--Geoffrey Neimark "American Journal of Psychiatry "Review Quotes: This is a serious and important book... it is certainly one that researchers, scholars and anyone involved in trying to explain the nature of psychiatric disorders to a skeptical audience ought to read.--Femi Oyebode "British Journal of Psychiatry "Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Table of Contents: List of Contributors -- Preface -- Introduction: Why Does Psychiatry Need Philosophy? / Kenneth S. Kendler -- Part I. Explanation -- 1. Explaining Complex Behavior / Sandra D. Mitchell -- Comment: Psychiatry, Scientific Laws, and Realism about Entities / Peter Zachar -- 2. Etiological Models in Psychiatry: Reductive and Nonreductive Approaches / Kenneth F. Schaffner -- Comment: Understanding Causes and Reversing Outcomes / Dominic P. Murphy -- 3. Levels of Explanation in Psychiatry / Dominic P. Murphy -- Comment: Taming Causal Complexity / Sandra D. Mitchell -- 4. Cause and Explanation in Psychiatry: An Interventionist Perspective / James F. Woodward -- Comment: Psychological Causation without Physical Causation / John Campbell -- 5. Causation in Psychiatry / John Campbell -- Comment: Levels of Explanation and Variable Choice / James F. Woodward -- Part II. Phenomenology -- 6. Varieties of Phenomenology: On Description, Understanding, and Explanation in Psychiatry / Josef Parnas, Louis A. Sass -- Comment: Beyond Descriptive Phenomenology / Thomas Fuchs -- 7. Self-agency and Mental Causality / Shaun Gallagher -- Comment: Disorders of Agency in Psychiatric Syndromes / Kenneth S. Kendler -- Part III. Nosology -- 8. Real Kinds but No True Taxonomy: An Essay in Psychiatric Systematics / Peter Zachar -- Comment: A Tail of a Tiger / Kenneth F. Schaffner -- 9. The Incredible Insecurity of Psychiatric Nosology / Kenneth S. Kendler, Peter Zachar -- Comment: Psychiatric Diagnosis / Josef Parnas -- Epilogue / Josef Parnas -- Index. Review Quotes: Kendler and Parnas undertake this exploration in a readable, cogent manner in "Philosophical Issues in Psychiatry.".. The authors go to great lengths to ensure that the book is accessible for those with a limited background in philosophy.--Geoffrey Neimark, M. D. "American Journal of Psychiatry "Biographical Note: Kenneth S. Kendler, MD, is the Rachel Brown Banks Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Virginia, where he is also a professor of human genetics and the director of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics. He is the author of "Genes, Environment, and Psychopathology." Josef Parnas, MD, DrMedSci, is a professor of psychiatry and the consultant medical director for the Department of Psychiatry at Copenhagen University. He is the codirector of the National Danish Research Foundation's Center for Subjectivity Research. Jacket Description/Back: This multidisciplinary collection explores three key concepts underpinning psychiatry--explanation, phenomenology, and nosology--and their continuing relevance in an age of neuroimaging and genetic analysis. This book opens with Dr. Kenneth S. Kendler's introduction to the philosophical grounding of psychiatric practice. Chapters in the first section of the book then address the concept of explanation, from the difficulties in describing complex behavior to the categorization of psychological and biological causality. In the second section, contributors discuss experience, including the complex and vexing issue of how self-agency and free will affect mental health. The third and final section examines the organizational difficulties in psychiatric nosology and the instability of the existing diagnostic system. Each chapter includes both an introduction by the editors and a concluding comment by another of the book's contributors. Contributors: John Campbell, PhD; Thomas Fuchs, MD, PhD; Shaun Gallagher, PhD; Kenneth S. Kendler, MD; Sandra D. Mitchell, PhD; Dominic P. Murphy, PhD; Josef Parnas, MD, DrMedSci; Louis A. Sass, PhD; Kenneth F. Schaffner, MD, PhD; James F. Woodward, PhD; Peter Zachar, PhD"This is a serious and important book... it is certainly one that researchers, scholars and anyone involved in trying to explain the nature of psychiatric disorders to a skeptical audience ought to read."-- "British Journal of Psychiatry"Kenneth S. Kendler, MD, is the Rachel Brown Banks Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Virginia, where he is also a professor of human genetics and the director of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics. He is the author of " Genes, Environment, and Psychopathology." Josef Parnas, MD, DrMedSci, is a professor of psychiatry and the consultant medical director for the Department of Psychiatry at Copenhagen University. He is the codirector of the National Danish Research Foundation's Center for Subjectivity Research. Publisher Marketing: This multidisciplinary collection explores three key concepts underpinning psychiatry--explanation, phenomenology, and nosology--and their continuing relevance in an age of neuroimaging and genetic analysis. An introduction by Kenneth S. Kendler lays out the philosophical grounding of psychiatric practice. The first section addresses the concept of explanation, from the difficulties in describing complex behavior to the categorization of psychological and biological causality. In the second section, contributors discuss experience, including the complex and vexing issue of how self-agency and free will affect mental health. The third and final section examines the organizational difficulties in psychiatric nosology and the instability of the existing diagnostic system. Each chapter has both an introduction by the editors and a concluding comment by another of the book's contributors. Contributors: John Campbell, Ph. D.; Thomas Fuchs, M. D., Ph. D.; Shaun Gallagher, Ph. D.; Kenneth S. Kendler, M. D.; Sandra D. Mitchell, Ph. D.; Dominic P. Murphy, Ph. D.; Josef Parnas, M. D., Dr. Med. Sci.; Louis A. Sass, Ph. D.; Kenneth F. Schaffner, M. D., Ph. D.; James F. Woodward, Ph. D.; Peter Zachar, Ph. D. Contributor Bio:  Kendler, Kenneth S Kenneth S. Kendler is the Director of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth School of Medicine, Virginia, USA.