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Related Experiment Videos

Dysfunction as a factual component of disorder.

Jerome C Wakefield1

  • 1Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, Rutgers--The State University of New Jersey, 30 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA. jcw2@columbia.edu

Behaviour Research and Therapy
|July 26, 2003
PubMed
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The harmful dysfunction (HD) analysis defines disorder using harm and dysfunction criteria. This study refutes arguments against the HD analysis, affirming its factual basis for dysfunction in natural selection.

Area of Science:

  • Philosophy of Medicine
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Philosophy of Science

Background:

  • The harmful dysfunction (HD) analysis posits that disorders require both harm (a value judgment) and dysfunction (a factual criterion). Dysfunction is defined as the failure of a mechanism to perform its naturally selected function.
  • Critiques, such as those by Houts, have questioned the factual adequacy of the HD analysis's account of dysfunction.

Discussion:

  • This analysis examines and invalidates Houts' arguments against the HD analysis of dysfunction.
  • Houts' claim that the HD analysis conflates function with purpose is addressed by highlighting the HD analysis's use of value-free effect-explanation for function.
  • The argument that functions imply evaluative norms is refuted by demonstrating that such norms are not inherently evaluative within the HD framework.

Key Insights:

Related Experiment Videos

  • The HD analysis provides a robust, factual account of dysfunction, grounded in the concept of naturally selected functions.
  • The logical structure of the HD analysis of function is analogous to the factual, behavioral notion of function used in functional analysis.
  • Houts' proposed value-based account of disorder is inconsistent with common classificatory judgments, as evidenced by his own examples.

Outlook:

  • Further philosophical and scientific inquiry into the HD analysis can refine our understanding of disorder classification.
  • This work supports the continued application of the HD analysis in fields ranging from psychiatry to evolutionary medicine.
  • Clarifying the factual basis of dysfunction strengthens the theoretical underpinnings of medical and psychological disorder diagnosis.