Hoff P
Psychiatrische Klinik der Universität, München.
Psychiatr Prax. 1994 Sep;21(5):190-5.
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.
克雷佩林的主要意图是将精神病学确立为一门独立的、以医学和科学为导向的专业。他试图将威廉·冯特的复杂理论体系应用于精神病学研究，从而对其进行简化，但并非歪曲。他将不同类型的精神疾病视为自然实体。根据他的核心假设，所有科学方法迟早都会得出这些实体。像国际疾病分类第10版（ICD - 10）和精神疾病诊断与统计手册第三版修订本（DSM - III - R）这样新的可操作诊断系统源于逻辑经验主义：理论假设，尤其是关于发病机制和病因学的假设，不应影响诊断过程。与克雷佩林相反，在基本的疾病分类学问题上不应做出隐含的决定（即严格分离的自然疾病实体与模糊边界或分类法与维度法）。这种比较表明，克雷佩林虽然对认识论问题不太感兴趣，但可以被视为将这些问题纳入精神病学研究讨论必要性的一个有说服力的例子。
