ABSTRACT
Most people in the debate endorse a broadly materialist world-view, according to which mental processes depend on the brain, so the disagreement does not rely on fundamentally different assumptions about the mind-brain relationship such as, for example, Cartesian dualism. The primary focus will be on what theoretical presuppositions underlie disagreements about brain disorders, and how these could be resolved. Physical or mental disorder requires dysfunction, whereby some organs or psychological processes in the agent are not operating as they are supposed to. The view that mental disorders are brain disorders is often equated with the medical model of mental disorder and contrasted with the bio-psycho-social model of mental disorder. Many argue that viewing mental disorders as brain disorders is detrimental to the people affected by the condition because of how it affects the way others and they themselves view them.
