[Psychiatric diagnosis: Emil Kraepelin and ICD-10]

Kraepelin's main intention was to establish psychiatry as an independent, medically and scientifically oriented specialty. He tried to apply Wilhelm Wundt's complex theoretical system on psychiatric research, thereby simplifying, but not falsifying it. He regarded different kinds of mental illness as natural entities. According to his central hypothesis, all scientific methods will sooner or later arrive at these entities. The new operationalized diagnostic systems like ICD-10 and DSM-III-R stem from logical empiricism: Theoretical assumptions, especially with regard to pathogenesis and etiology, should not influence the diagnostic process. Contrary to Kraepelin, no implicit decision should be made on the fundamental nosological questions (i.e. strictly separated natural disease entities vs. blurred borders or categorical vs. dimensional approach. This comparison shows that Kraepelin, although not too much interested in epistemological issues, can be regarded a convincing example for the necessity to include them in the discussion of psychiatric research.