'Brain Disorders', by Henry Calderwood (1879).

Henry Calderwood, a nineteenth-century Scottish philosopher, published an 1879 work examining the interaction between philosophy of mind, early neuroscience, and mental disease. Holding a spiritual view of the mind, he argued that the phrase 'mental disease' is a misleading metaphor. His detailed analysis of contemporary research by Ferrier, Clouston, Crichton-Browne, Maudsley, Tuke, and Sankey concluded that their findings offered very limited explanatory power for understanding madness. The authors contend that Calderwood's conceptual contribution should be added to the growing list of nineteenth-century writers who began constructing a 'philosophy of alienism' (now 'philosophy of psychiatry').

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Abstract

Henry Calderwood, a nineteenth-century Scottish philosopher interested in madness, published in 1879 an important work on the interaction between philosophy of mind, the nascent neurosciences and mental disease. Holding a spiritual view of the mind, he considered the phrase 'mental disease' (as Feuchtersleben had in 1845) to be but a misleading metaphor. His analysis of the research work of Ferrier, Clouston, Crichton-Browne, Maudsley, Tuke, Sankey, etc., is detailed, and his views are correct on the very limited explanatory power that their findings had for the understanding of madness. Calderwood's conceptual contribution deserves to be added to the growing list of nineteenth-century writers who started the construction of a veritable 'philosophy of alienism' (now called 'philosophy of psychiatry').