title: [The "diagnosis" in the light of Charles S. Peirce, Sherlock Holmes, Sigmund Freud and modern neurobiology].
abstract: A diagnostic hypothesis is a causa ficta. It is an assumption, suitable to explain phenomena, which are not yet proven to be the only and valid explanation of the observed. One of Wilhelm Hauff's faitales illustrates how a hypothesis is generated. It is based on the interpretation of signs. Signs are of an ikonic, an indexical or a symbolic nature. According to S. Peirce, a hypothesis is created by abduction, to Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes by immersion into thoughts, and to S. Freud by free floating attention. The three procedures are alike. Neurobiological structures and functions, which correspond to these processes, are described; especially the emotional-implicite memory. The technique of hypothesis-generation is meaningful to clinical medicine.
authors.affiliation: rolf.adler@tele2.ch
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Adler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001317:Austria; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D003933:Diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009446:Neurobiology / Q000266:history; D009484:Neuropsychology / Q000266:history; D010684:Philosophy / Q000266:history; D010825:Physics / Q000266:history; D011572:Psychoanalysis / Q000266:history; D013850:Thinking; D014481:United States