title: [Explaining and understanding in psychiatry].
abstract: The philosophical debate on explanation and understanding also led to basic methodological reflections in psychiatry. Subsuming one fact under a general law is the characteristic feature of scientific explanations. In this way, deductive conclusions can be achieved with a high degree of objectivity. Hermeneutical understanding makes way for interpretations in front of a given theoretical matrix. On the other hand, sympathetic understanding is a matter of conceiving single-part items as a consequence of other singular aspects (e.g., tracing back an action to an intention). If one understands the growth of knowledge as a rational and critical process, it seems no more justified to insist on exclusive methodologically based positions.
authors.affiliation: Medizinischer Dienst, Krankenversicherung Westfalen-Lippe, Münster.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wölk
mesh_terms: D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011340:Problem Solving; D011570:Psychiatry; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012649:Self Concept
vernacular_title: Erklären und Verstehen in der Psychiatrie.