The Role of Emotions in Psychiatric Diagnosis

It was the German psychiatrist Kurt Schneider (1887-1967) who used the analysis of emotional life undertaken by the philosopher Max Scheler (1874-1928) to the benefit of psychiatric diagnostics. In a first step attention is given to the cardinal questions in psychiatry. Then the answers of the philosopher Max Scheler and the psychiatrist Kurt Schneider are compared. Finally the possibilities and limitations of Max Scheler´s philosophy of feelings in its application to Kurt Schneider´s clinical psychopathology are discussed in detail. The book is adressed to philosophers, psychiatrists and psychologists with an interest in the historical and philosophical foundations of psychopathology.