Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:962-967
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
The empiricist and his new clothes: DSM-III in perspective
D Faust and RA Miner
The authors examine and critique the methodological underpinnings and
programmatic goals of DSM-III's underlying doctrine--strict empiricism. The
methodological program of DSM-III emphasizes description and the reduction
of inference and theory. Regardless of appearances to the contrary, these
goals have not been approached, cannot be attained, and should not be
pursued, at least in their extreme form. They are throwbacks to earlier and
now revised views of science. These goals give the highest priority to
things that either should not receive it or that are secondary outgrowths
of other accomplishments, and they have the potential to discourage the
conceptual and theoretical developments that are the prime movers of
scientific progress, according to the authors.
