Abstract

MOLINS GALVEZ, Ferrán  and  LOPEZ-SANTIN, José Manuel. Postwittgensteinian perspective on the neopositivistic oversimplification of psychopathological language. Rev. Asoc. Esp. Neuropsiq. [online]. 2015, vol.35, n.125, pp.135-145. ISSN 2340-2733.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S0211-57352015000100010.

Neopositivism and operationalism in psychiatry has promoted a simplification of the psychopathological language. According to its selection criteria, the psychopathological terms that should be kept are those whose descriptions can be done in the lowest possible level of inference, in descriptions of external behavior, or else in simple lay language. Four issues are discussed in relation to this criteria from a post-wittgensteinian perspective: the possibility of a pure observational language, the absence of a unique theoretical framework in psychopathology, the presence of methapors and analogies as well as the question about the representational nature of the psycho-pathological language.

Keywords : Psychiatry; Psychopathology; Philosophy of science; Philosophy of language; Wittgenstein.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )