ABSTRACT
One of the paradoxes of the current state of mental healthcare is that we have never known more about mental disorders and simultaneously been more uncertain about the science as well as the practice of psychiatry. It is the aim of this chapter to show that most of these practical, conceptual, and moral concerns can be grouped together under three fundamental themes:
1 The nature of psychopathology, especially considering its context dependence and its relatedness to the self.
2 The value-ladenness of psychiatry as a clinical practice.
3 The role and status of scientific knowledge, especially in view of the nature of clinical knowledge.
A second purpose is to highlight one dominant response to the challenges, which is scientistic. The scientistic response seems attractive and convincing at first glance, but it is, in fact, inadequate, as I will show.
The final goal of this chapter is to briefly introduce the philosophical framework I work within, which draws on core ideas developed by Sören Kierkegaard (1848), Paul Ricoeur (1990), Herman Dooyeweerd (1953–1958), Alisdair McIntyre (1981), and Charles Taylor (1989).
