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    Szasz and Wakefield both argue that the medical model gai... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The strong interpretation of the medical model does not rule out explanations that cite cognitive processes in brains

    Szasz and Wakefield both argue that the medical model gains its normative force precisely from its commitment to value-free, structural pathology—not functional or representational failure.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Value-free structural criteria (e.g., lesions, biomarkers) avoid imposing subjective cultural norms about what counts as disease.
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    • 2.Medical authority gains legitimacy only when grounded in objective pathology, not contestable judgments about function or representation.
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    • 3.Functional definitions of illness risk medicalizing normal variation or social deviance under the guise of science.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.No structural description is truly value-free; what counts as 'pathology' always involves implicit normative choices about bodies.
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    • 2.Many genuine diseases (e.g., depression, diabetes) lack clear structural markers yet respond to medical intervention measurably.
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    • 3.Isolating structural pathology from function misses how disease actually harms people—through impaired capacities, not tissues alone.
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    Key Terms

    Functional failure(as an alternative type of pathology)
    When something (like a part of the brain or mind) isn't working the way it's supposed to work, even if there's no visible physical damage.
    Medical model(as the approach being criticized)
    The idea that mental or behavioral problems should be treated like physical diseases—something broken in the body or brain that doctors can fix with medicine or treatment.
    Representational failure(as another alternative type of pathology)
    When the mind fails to accurately represent or reflect reality—basically, when your thoughts or perceptions don't match what's actually true.
    Structural pathology(as one type of pathology the medical model relies on)
    A disease or problem that shows up as actual physical damage or abnormality in the body or brain that you could see under a microscope or on a scan.
    Szasz(as a philosopher/psychiatrist critiquing the medical model)
    Thomas Szasz was a psychiatrist who argued that mental illness isn't a real medical disease but rather a social label we use to control people who don't fit social norms.
    Value-free(as a characteristic the medical model claims to have)
    An approach that tries to describe facts without judging them as good or bad, right or wrong—just stating what is objectively true.
    Wakefield(as the subject of critique in this statement)
    Jerome Wakefield is a philosopher who developed an influential theory about what makes something a mental disorder, arguing it involves both a harmful condition and a failure of natural biological functions.
    normative force(Used to describe what Korsgaard's account aims to explain)
    The property in virtue of which an agent's reasons are binding on the agent.

    Connections

    2 topics

    Consciousness & Mind1 linkedBioethics1 linked

    Related

    Functional definitions of illness risk medicalizing normal variation or social d...Isolating structural pathology from function misses how disease actually harms p...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    Many genuine diseases (e.g., depression, diabetes) lack clear structural markers...
    Medical authority gains legitimacy only when grounded in objective pathology, no...
    +3 moreShow less
    No structural description is truly value-free; what counts as 'pathology' always...The strong interpretation of the medical model does not rule out explanations th...Value-free structural criteria (e.g., lesions, biomarkers) avoid imposing subjec...