Mind and Action

Abstract

The author argues that Cutting's Principles of psychopathology (1997) is a remarkable compendium of ideas on psychopathology and philosophy, and offers a valuable resource for those interested in this area. There is, however, a marked contrast between the way in which Cutting views philosophy (as a source of ideas) and the way contemporary philosophy views itself (as being about the skills of deepening understanding and arriving at original ideas through the application of analytical and critical thinking skills). In addition, Cutting's survey of the philosophy literature is highly selective and is concentrated largely on pre-World War II philosophy. As a result of both these features, the book underemphasises the potential value of philosophy for psychopathology. It is argued in this paper that philosophy provides strategies for inquiry into the nature of the mind and its pathologies, rather than being merely a source of ideas. This point is made in more detail by exploring the contrast between the approach Cutting adopts and the approach used by both Karl Jaspers and in recent work on the philosophy of psychopathology, specifically K.W.M. Fulford (1989). Although the author of this paper is entirely in agreement with Cutting's general view (that psychopathology is underpinned by philosophy), it is argued that he does not take his exploration far enough to extract from his survey the fundamental underlying implications for psychopathology-that psychopathology is inherently evaluative and normative in its stance, but that this aspect is rendered opaque, currently, by psychopathology's status as an empirical science.