[Wittrs] An MD against the DSM, inspired by something Wittgensteinian
- From: Wittr2Feed <wittrs2feed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "wittrsfeed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <wittrsfeed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "wittrs2feed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <wittrs2feed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2012 19:35:19 -0800 (PST)
link: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/01/07/why-psychiatry-needs-to-scrap-the-dsm-system-an-immodest-proposal/
... a doctor appealing to a Wittgensteinian idea as grounds to scrap the DSM
(a.k.a., book of spells)
"The present DSM categories convey the impression that diseases have “necessary
and sufficient” features that define them—akin to the Platonic concept of ideal
“forms.” A contrasting view is that of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, who
argued that such “essential” definitions do not represent how language actually
works. Wittgenstein wrote, instead, of “family resemblances” that help
characterize a particular word or category, in a particular context. By
analogy, no single feature or features characterize all five members of, say,
the Jones family; however, four of the Joneses have blond hair, three of those
four have blue eyes, and four are very tall. We can see the “resemblances” when
the Joneses stand together for the family photo. Wittgenstein compared family
resemblances to the overlapping fibers of a rope—no single fiber is present
throughout the rope, but a large number of fibers overlap so as to create a
continuous and
recognizable object. The same may be posited with respect to any given
psychiatric disease category. There may be no single set of “necessary and
sufficient conditions” that define schizophrenia or bipolar disorder; but
patients who suffer with either illness resemble one another in very
characteristic ways. "
--------------------------
Wittrs mailing list
Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://undergroundwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/wittrs_undergroundwiki.org
** Note: This message was forwarded to Wittrs by the Editorial Board, so that
members might enjoy or comment upon it. This is a common practice. If the
message came from another list or rss feed, the link(s) should appear above. In
such a situation, the original author may not see your reply. Members of Wittrs
are encouraged to visit the link(s)that are fed here.
Other related posts:
- » [Wittrs] An MD against the DSM, inspired by something Wittgensteinian - Wittr2Feed
