Abstract
Does the reference to a mental realm in using the notion of mental disorder lead to a dilemma that consists in either implying a Cartesian account of the mind-body relation or in the need to give up a notion of mental disorder in its own right? Many psychiatrists seem to believe that denying substance dualism requires a purely neurophysiological stance for explaining mental disorder. However, this conviction is based on a limited awareness of the philosophical debate on the mind-body problem. This article discusses the reasonableness of the concept of mental disorder in relation to reductionist and eliminativist strategies in the philosophy of mind. It is concluded that we need a psychological level of explanation that cannot be reduced to neurophysiological findings in order to make sense of mental disorder.
Highlights
Introduction to the Philosophy ofMind and Mental Illness
We only show that there is a correlation between the mental states and a type of neurophysiological states
Which role folk psychology will keep in the process is still undecided; but to eliminate it is neither necessary on theoretical grounds nor advisable on practical grounds, for it is through its coarse grain that in the end the psychological perspective facilitates our access to the mental world
Summary
Reviewed by: Markus Rüther, Max Planck Society, Germany Sebastian Muders, Universität Zürich, Switzerland. The special feature of Ryle’s argument as compared to other critiques of dualism is his claim that asking about the relationship between mind and body is already by itself non-sensical (Ryle, 1949, 23) Even if this view is correct, the category mistake argument alone does not support Szasz’s theory, because the mere suggestion that “mind” and “body” belong to different categories does not allow the conclusion that a mental illness cannot exist. Identity theory claims that there is a one-to-one correspondence between neurophysiological processes—any knowledge about which we have only ever gathered in the last few decades—and the taxonomy of folk-psychology It seems more than unlikely, that categories that originated long before our knowledge of the brain and nervous system can be precisely identified with corresponding neurophysiological types of processes. Which role folk psychology will keep in the process is still undecided; but to eliminate it is neither necessary on theoretical grounds nor advisable on practical grounds, for it is through its coarse grain that in the end the psychological perspective facilitates our access to the mental world
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