Abstract

The paper by Bergnar and Bunford in this edition of Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology is a sophisticated examination of a central question that has lacked consensus in the philosophy of psychiatry, namely, what is “the key aspect of the meaning of this fundamental term, mental disorder”? To settle this question, the authors use an empirical approach by surveying graduate students in clinical psychology. In this way, they attempt to invoke the Wittgensteinian method of determining the meaning of a term by seeing how it is used. The empirical results, the authors argue, serve as strong evidence in support of the position that the term ‘mental disorder’ designates disability...