Philosophical questions have little obvious relevance for most medical specialities. If you are faced with a patient suffering from a broken leg or the measles the concept of “normality” is so obvious both to you and to the patient that neither of you need to think about it at all. A quick gabble through the Hippocratic Oath as part of a single lecture on ethics is more than enough for most clinicians. Psychiatry, by contrast, is enmeshed in philosophical concepts. As soon as it broke free from theological ideas of an external force – “the devil” possessing the patient – psychiatry had to consider concepts like rationality, the relationship of the mind to the body, consciousness, and the emotions, as well as a variety of complex social and ethical problems. Starting with Karl Jaspers’ General Psychopathology, a major founding text in phenomenology, psychiatry has had an important influence on the development of philosophy. Judging by the increasing number of Kings College philosophy students trying to use the Institute of Psychiatry library this influence is increasing, to the extent that if you want to get your new book onto a philosophy undergraduate reading list you should call it something like The Handbook of Cognitive Neurophilosophy. There are now two very successful masters degree programmes on philosophy and mental health in the UK alone, a well‐established core journal, Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology, and an increasing range of new books, topped off now by this one.
The Maudsley Hospital, as the heart of modern British psychiatry, naturally has a philosophy group, consisting of young clinicians with a keen interest in academic philosophy. As I am not a clinician, not much of a philosopher, and am, alas, no longer young, I maintain a rather semi‐detached relationship with this group, but I was fortunate enough to get its convenor, Matthew Broome, to look through this book with me. I am glad to say that he gave it his bouncingly cheerful approval. 36 contributors, drawn mainly from the UK and the USA, have produced 30 chapters discussing a range of philosophical topics related to mental health. I am slightly concerned at the Anglo‐American bias. There is a strong separate French tradition of philosophical thought based on psychoanalytic concepts, which is under‐represented here. I would have liked to see some French and German contributions to make this a more balanced book. Similarly, given that psychiatry is a collection of applied techniques rather than a pure science, I would have liked to see a greater emphasis on moral and political philosophy. Only one section out of five is on norms, values and ethics. Nevertheless, this book can be recommended. I do not really see it as a reference book, so this is, perhaps, not the best journal in which to discuss it in depth, but all academic libraries catering for courses in philosophy, psychology or psychiatry should consider acquiring lending copies. There is a strong public interest in mental health, and, in my limited public library experience, there are quite a range of autodidactic philosophers out there. I am not sure to what extent this adds up to a public interest in the philosophy of mental health, but public libraries may, perhaps, wish to consider the book as an entry route into a fruitful field of modern philosophy.
