The philosophical "mind-body problem" and its relevance for the relationship between psychiatry and the neurosciences.
Perspectives in biology and medicine January 1, 2010 Lukas Van Oudenhove, Stefaan E Cuypers
Contemporary analytical philosophy of mind examines the relationship between the mental and the physical, drawing on empirical science as well as introspection. This article argues that the philosophical mind-body problem has important implications for psychiatry's autonomy and its relationship with neurology and neuroscience. The authors analyze five principles from Kandel's 1998 article and show that his position is ambiguous, ranging from reductive physicalism to non-reductive physicalism, epiphenomenalist dualism, or emergent dualism. These different interpretations lead to radically different views on psychiatry's identity and its relationship to the expanding field of neuroscience.