Naturalism, Interpretation, And Mental Disorder Paperback

Somogy Varga

The Philosophy of Psychiatry is a unique area of research because the nature of the subject matter leads to quite distinct methodological issues. Naturalism, Interpretation, and Mental Disorder is an original new work focusing on the challenges we face when trying to interpret and understand mental illness. The book integrates a hermeneutical perspective, and shows how such an approach can reveal important facts about historical sources in psychiatry and the nature of dialogue in the therapeutic encounter. In addition, the book demonstrates how such an approach can be valuable for understanding the concept of mental disorder itself. Naturalism, Interpretation, and Mental Disorder brings fresh thinking to the philosophy of psychiatry, and will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of Mental Health and Philosophy.

English

Oxford University Press

1 November 2015

272

Somogy Varga earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. He has worked at the Institute of Social Research (Goethe University), the Institute of Cognitive Science at the (University of Osnabruck, Germany) and the Centre for Subjectivity Research (University of Copenhagen, Denmark). His research has several foci, including Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of (Cognitive) Science, Moral Psychology, and Social Philosophy. He is currently a faculty member at the Institute for Intelligent Systems (FedEx Institute of Technology), a visiting research professor at the University of Copenhagen, and serves as the editor of the Southern Journal of Philosophy.

This is a philosophical evaluation of the problems inherent in coming to understand and decide if certain human behavior and emotional states are in fact illnesses. . . and does bring to light an interesting perspective. * Michael Easton, MD (Rush University Medical Center), Doody's Notes *