Psychiatry as a Human Science

Antoine Mooij is Professor Emeritus of Law and Psychiatry, Utrecht University, and a former Honorary Professor, Department of Philosophy, Utrecht University, who also works as a psychoanalyst in private practice. He published on Lacanian psychoanalysis, on hermeneutical psychiatry, and on philosophy of action. An example of his work is Intentionality, Desire, Responsibility. A Study in Phenomenology, Psychoanalysis and Law (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2010).

• AcknowledgementsIntroductionPart IThe Medical Discourse: The Exclusion of Psychic RealityThe History of Hermeneutical PsychiatryThe Relationship between the Psychic and the Physical RealityEmpiricism in PsychiatryPart IIThree Forms of HermeneuticsPsychic Reality and the Symbolic Function in TriplicateThree Psychopathological Structures and Nine Subject PositionsThe Interpretation of a Life HistoryEpilogueAppendix: Table Outlining Psychopathological StructuresBibliographyName IndexSubject Index

"In summary, Mooij has performed an excellent service in laying the philosophical and linguistic groundwork for psychiatry as a human science. … Mooij has deeply examined the theoretical underpinnings of psychiatry as a human science. As such, his work is of value to psychiatrists and psychoanalysts who seek a deeper insight into the phenomenological basis of their work." – in: Journal of Phenomenological Psychology 44 (2013)"…posits some compelling challenges to conventional psychiatry. … Overall, Psychiatry as a Human Science is a very convincing critique of the medical discourse in psychiatry and its neglect of subjective psychiatry. It does insightfully capture many of the concepts and ideas that a hermeneutic approach might draw on in order to redress this neglect. … The book will probably be the most important for psychiatrists though; firstly, because Mooij’s self-reflexive critique of the theories underpinning conventional psychiatry is excellent and secondly, for those new to hermeneutics, this book does provide an extensive (though not altogether accessible) introduction to many of the central ideas in a hermeneutic approach to psychiatry. … Hopefully all readers will be encouraged to consider the crucial importance of engaging with the subjective psychic reality of mental illness and some of the ways the hermeneutic approach attempts to do so. This point alone makes the book well worth reading." – in: Metapsychology 17/28 (9 July 2013)