Phenomenological Psychopathology and Schizophrenia: Contemporary Approaches and Misunderstandings

TY - JOUR

T1 - Phenomenological Psychopathology and Schizophrenia

T2 - Contemporary Approaches and Misunderstandings

AU - Sass, Louis

AU - Parnas, Josef

AU - Zahavi, Dan

PY - 2011/3

Y1 - 2011/3

N2 - The present paper clarifies key issues in phenomenology and phenomenological psychopathology (especially of schizophrenia) through a critique of a recent article that addresses these topics. Topics include (1) Phenomenology's role in clarifying issues not amenable to purely empirical methods; (2) The relationship between a phenomenological approach (focusing on the subjective life of the patient) and empirical science, including neuroscience; (3) The nature of self-experience, especially in its pre-reflective form ("ipseity"-involving "operative intentionality"), and its possible disturbance in schizophrenia ("hyperreflexivity" and "diminished self-affection"); (4) The relationship between self-disturbance in schizophrenia and disorders of both temporality and (what Husserl termed) "passive syntheses"; (5) The role of intentional or quasi-volitional processes in the perceptual (and other) disorders in schizophrenia; (6) The nature and diversity of phenomenology's potential contribution to the enterprise of "explanation"; and (7) The meaning of several concepts: "hermeneutic" or "existential" approach, phenomenological "reflection," and "negative symptoms."

AB - The present paper clarifies key issues in phenomenology and phenomenological psychopathology (especially of schizophrenia) through a critique of a recent article that addresses these topics. Topics include (1) Phenomenology's role in clarifying issues not amenable to purely empirical methods; (2) The relationship between a phenomenological approach (focusing on the subjective life of the patient) and empirical science, including neuroscience; (3) The nature of self-experience, especially in its pre-reflective form ("ipseity"-involving "operative intentionality"), and its possible disturbance in schizophrenia ("hyperreflexivity" and "diminished self-affection"); (4) The relationship between self-disturbance in schizophrenia and disorders of both temporality and (what Husserl termed) "passive syntheses"; (5) The role of intentional or quasi-volitional processes in the perceptual (and other) disorders in schizophrenia; (6) The nature and diversity of phenomenology's potential contribution to the enterprise of "explanation"; and (7) The meaning of several concepts: "hermeneutic" or "existential" approach, phenomenological "reflection," and "negative symptoms."

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1071-6076

VL - 18

SP - 1

EP - 23

JO - Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology

JF - Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology

IS - 1

ER -