Crossing Dialogues

Il Mito dei Fatti

An Introduction to Philosophy of Psychopathology

Essay writing - 124 pages
Soft Cover - Size 15x23 - black and white
1st edition 12/2009


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At the moment the book exists only in its Italian version and if you would like to buy it please contact us at info@crossindialogues.com

Description
This book should not to be intended as an attack to the utility of the scientific evidence-based approach in psychiatry; rather its aim is to give a philosophical support to clinicians and researchers in the field.
A philosophical approach is relevant because progress in the current debate is hampered by two opposite fruitless positions. On one side facts are transformed in myths by surreptitiously introducing the idea that evidences are pure descriptions and measurements of objective natural entities.
Such an unawareness of their own limits puts many supporters of the evidence-based approach in an easily discreditable position; as a consequence acquiring a more clear knowledge of the limits in their way of conceiving evidences is primarily in the interest of evidence-based researchers.
On the other side, those who critic the evidence-based approach take two unconvincing stances. One is to radically attack and reject any evidence-based approach; the other is to admit that the evidence-based approach is legitimate in the field of facts, which in their view is sharply distinct (although meshed) from their field of interest, that of values.
This book defends the alternative position that in psychopathology facts and theory are always intrinsically and inextricably interconnected. Concrete and idealized examples are presented throughout the text in order to present, in an easily understandable speech, philosophical topics to non-philosophers. Professional philosophers will probably be interested in this rejection of a purely abstract way of doing philosophy on mind matters, in favour of a philosophy that, at the same time, retains its specificity (it is not a naturalized epistemology) is aimed at influencing directly clinical and research practice.
The importance of philosophy in psychopathology, epidemiology and psychiatric research will arise naturally from the reading of this book, supporting the need of further multidisciplinary debate around these themes.