Book contents
- Levels of Analysis in Psychopathology
- Advance Praise for Levels of Analysis in Psychopathology
- Levels of Analysis in Psychopathology
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- General Introduction
- Part I Neuroscience, Mechanisms, and RDoC
- Part II Phenomenology, Biological Psychology, and the Mind–Body Problem
- Part III Taxonomy, Integration, and Multiple Levels of Explanation
- Section 8
- Section 9
- Section 10
- 28 Introduction
- 29 Psychiatric Classification: An A-reductionist Perspective
- 30 Double Black Diamond
- Section 11
- Section 12
- Section 13
- Section 14
- Section 15
- Index
- References
29 - Psychiatric Classification: An A-reductionist Perspective
from Section 10
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 April 2020
Book contents
- Levels of Analysis in Psychopathology
- Advance Praise for Levels of Analysis in Psychopathology
- Levels of Analysis in Psychopathology
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- General Introduction
- Part I Neuroscience, Mechanisms, and RDoC
- Part II Phenomenology, Biological Psychology, and the Mind–Body Problem
- Part III Taxonomy, Integration, and Multiple Levels of Explanation
- Section 8
- Section 9
- Section 10
- 28 Introduction
- 29 Psychiatric Classification: An A-reductionist Perspective
- 30 Double Black Diamond
- Section 11
- Section 12
- Section 13
- Section 14
- Section 15
- Index
- References
Summary
This paper develops the idea that nosological reform is ultimately a matter of finding homogeneous groups of patients that are maximally distinct from each other. The focus lies on the statistical properties of patients, so that the problem of classification coincides with the problem of the reference class from the philosophy of science. It is argued that specific statistical methods – model selection and causal modeling – can assist in finding good classifications. An important advantage of these statistical methods is that they do not favor any particular explanatory level or vocabulary. Whether or not we should include some patient characteristic in our classification scheme is an empirical issue, to be settled entirely by its contribution to the performance of the scheme in predictions and intervention decisions. For this reason the paper adopts a so-called a-reductionist perspective: we do not need a principled discussion on reductionism.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Levels of Analysis in PsychopathologyCross-Disciplinary Perspectives, pp. 349 - 370Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
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