A Philosophical Study of Theoretical Foundation of Modern Psychiatry

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K13152
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Philosophy/Ethics
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo (2017-2018); Nanzan University (2016)
• Principal Investigator: Suzuki Takayuki 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 准教授 (20434607)
• Research Collaborator: MURAI Toshiya ; TADOKORO Shigenori
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 精神医学の哲学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

1. Through bibliographic studies and seminars, we identified what are the theoretical and philosophical issues concerning the foundation of psychiatry and what options are available for each issue. The issues examined include the definition of mental disease, the classification of mental diseases, and the relationship between the different approaches in psychiatry. 2. Through the participation to PPP Study Group and Fundamenta Study Group, we established the network with Japanese psychiatrists interested in philosophical issues. We presented the result of the collaboration with the psychiatrists at the two symposia of the annual meetings of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology and other events. 3. Through hosting the international workshop of philosophy of psychiatry and inviting Professor Peter Zachar as the main speaker, we started to build the international network of the philosophers of psychiatry.

Free Research Field

心の哲学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現代の精神医学においては、精神疾患とそうでないものをどのように区別するか、さまざまな精神疾患をどのように分類すべきか、生物学的アプローチや心理学的アプローチなどの多種多様な方法論はどのような関係にあるのかなど、さまざまな原理的な問題が存在し、いずれにも明確な解答が得られていないことが明らかになった。精神医学の理論的基礎を確立するためにはこれらの問題の解決が不可欠だが、そのためには、心の哲学や生物学の哲学など、現代分析哲学の隣接領域における研究成果が重要な手がかりとなることも明らかになった。