[Naive objectivism in the assessment of behavioral disorders]

Naive objectivism is a widespread attitude in human and social science research, although it disregards important principles of the theory of cognition. In the history of philosophy two naive approaches to the understanding of the world were continually disputed; 1. rationalism which purports unlimited cognitive power of the human mind, 2. a kind of empiricism which denies subjective elements in the process of cognition. Today the overestimation of human understanding is reflected in a dogmatic adherence to specific professional or idealogically biased doctrines and in the dubious ideal of a purely empirical science with its limited applicability to mankind. The exaggerated expectations regarding the inherent lawfulness of the empirical research field is demonstrated by excessive data collection and by the useless attempt to define behavioral disorders as deviation from the statistical norm. However, behavior disorders can only be understood, if the totality of being human is considered. They are to be seen as failing attempts to give and to maintain a meaning to life.