ABSTRACT
Philosophers, more than other academicians in the liberal arts, are inclined to feel insecure about their speciality and, indeed, to wonder if they have a speciality. Psychiatrists, more than their colleagues in the other branches of medicine, are inclined to feel insecure and defensive about their activities. This chapter sugggests that philosophers and psychiatrists may find themselves backed into the same or similar corners. This would account for a certain neurotic dependency, and the subsequent need to give rational arguments for the alignment. Historically, philosophy has worked behind the scenes. The sciences and the arts work on the stage, and philosophy attempts to relate and synthesize, to put the blocks together in some fairly intelligible scheme. New sciences often develop within a philosophical framework. Once they achieve a reasonable maturity, they take up an independent existence. But as Gregory Zilboorg points out, psychiatry originates, not in philosophy, but in medicine.
