title: Mind, medicine, and metaphysics: reflections on the reclamation of the human spirit.
abstract: Following the publication of such works as Auguste Comte's Cour de Philosophie Positive (1830-1842), in which he argued the inherent immaturity of metaphysical discourse, metaphysics, for Western intellectuals--and especially for Western intellectuals committed to science--has largely been abandoned. In recent years, however, we have seen renewed interest in metaphysics among some researchers and clinicians, due, in part, to increasing attempts to integrate diverse fields of study into some unified and coherent understanding of human life. For many psychologists and psychiatrists, this renewed interest is accompanied by an implicit, and sometimes explicit, re-embrace of the notion of the "human spirit." In this paper we explore some of the processes animating this movement and some of the clinical implications that flow from it.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Psychology, Franklin and Marshall College, P.O. Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003, USA. Michael.Penn@fandm.edu
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Penn
authors.forename: Lindsay
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D008678:Metaphysics / Q000266:history*; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history; D011584:Psychology / Q000266:history; D011603:Psychophysiology / Q000266:history*