Reasons for the Rejection of Anti-Realism in Relation to Mental Disorders

This paper will attempt to explain reason’s for the rejection of anti-realism in relation to mental disorders by psychologist George Graham of Georgia State University. In this essay I will explain the relevance of realism and anti-realism as well as present two arguments that Graham proclaims support anti-realism. This analysis of Graham’s thoughts and ideas on anti-realism and mental disorders will be squarely based upon the information supplied by Graham in his book titled, The Disordered Mind. In this book, the realist minded Graham develops and ultimately supports a non-reductive theory on the subject of mental disorders.

To understand the ideas of Graham, a realist, it is crucial to understand the two different positions on the existence of mental disorders, realism and anti-realism. Realist justify scientific rationality, or the use scientific information to explain reasons behind fundamental theories. Realism hypothesizes through the use of two claims the reason for the way things are in the world; the evaluation-independence claim and the existence claim. The evaluation-independence claims suggest that objects according to scientific theory, are independent from people, and what people think about them. The existence claim suggests that the objects and all of their properties in fact do exist. Realism basically states that objects (toys, mountains, the sun, the moon etc.) are independent from the social, cultural and linguistic conventions that people tend to administer to them. In regards to mental disorders, this means that realism treats good health as someone having the absence of disease. For a realist, a disease is any type of organism, internal or external that interrupts the normal natural function of a human be...

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...he existence of a mind through physicalism suggests that mental disorders, as they are illnesses of the mind also exist. Despite the increase in knowledge of how the human brain functions the understanding of how mental states and thoughts occur would not increase as well.

I think the best way to reject the second argument of moral skepticism is by further assessing the thoughts of Graham. Graham raises the question of how respect actually exists in the real world. For example, an individual getting offended every time someone else claims that people in other countries exist. Just because a statement or fact might be offensive to one individual does not change the reality that such a thing does not exist. Thus moral skepticism can be assessed as a viewpoint of whether or not it is morally acceptable to diagnose and label people that may have mental disorders.