Philosophical foundations of French and U.S. nosology
- 1 September 1979
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychiatric Association Publishing in American Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 136 (9) , 1135-1138
- https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.136.9.1135
Abstract
The author examines the philosophical foundations of French and American nosology with a view toward understanding the relatively minor influence of French psychiatry in America. Despite the excellence of its descriptive psychiatry, much of French nosological writing is based on philosophical viewpoints that are antithetical to the empirical and pragmatic traditions of American psychiatry. French nosology, which is closely involved with the metaphysical issues of existentialism, phenomenalism, and structuralism, reveals these interests in language and concepts that do not easily permit its hypotheses to be scientifically tested, a prerequisite for any American classification.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- HUGHLINGS JACKSON'S PRINCIPLES AND THE ORGANO-DYNAMIC CONCEPT OF PSYCHIATRYAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1962