vix.ing · top · new · best · stats · spec

Defining Dysfunction: Natural Selection, Design, and Drawing a Line

2007/07/01 by Peter H. Schwartz · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Medicine · #Mental Health and Psychiatry #Mental Health Research Topics #Schizophrenia research and treatment

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/521970

Abstract

Accounts of the concepts of function and dysfunction have not adequately explained what factors determine the line between low-normal function and dysfunction. I call the challenge of doing so the line-drawing problem . Previous approaches emphasize facts involving the action of natural selection (Wakefield 1992a, 1999a, 1999b) or the statistical distribution of levels of functioning in the current population (Boorse 1977, 1997). I point out limitations of these two approaches and present a solution to the line-drawing problem that builds on the second one.

Citations

Cited by

Related