ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author outlines the reductionism objection and show that the form of reductionism the author account is committed to is unproblematic. He addresses the externalism objection. The author concedes that the interaction between the agent and their environment plays an important role in deciding which conditions are pathological. Worries about reductionism feature prominently in objections to the claim that mental disorders are brain disorders, though they take different forms. Borsboom et al. rightly claim that current mental disorders are not well explained as stemming from one unified underlying brain cause. The claim that psychiatric disorders are fundamentally different from somatic ones due to the role externalism plays in classifying a condition as disordered has not gone unquestioned. The reductionist agenda inherent in the claim that mental disorders are brain disorders need not be problematic.
