Sunday, August 12, 2012 23:04 EDT
.post #236
[url=Game Theory, self interest, and praxeology - #37 by zefreak]
What “brain injury” means is clear, but what “genetic variation” means is not. But using “brain injury,” my question becomes:
Are you saying that “behavioral abnormality” (“mental disorder”) is associated with “brain injury,” or identical to “brain injury”? I can’t opine on whether Szasz (dis)agrees with you until I understand what you are saying.
Edit:
Your original question was:
My opinion:
Szasz would not disagree that a change in behavior can correspond with brain damage.
Szasz would disagree that “change in behavior” is identical to “brain damage,” and (obviously) on more than just “ground of terminology.” Behavior is not physical damage or disease. For example, if I spill boiling water on my hand, I’ll jump around and scream, but this behavior is not “damage or disease.” It’s a symptom of the damage (and pain) of spilling boiling water on my hand.
This confuses me. Thyroid hormone is not produced by the brain; it is produced by the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland is not the brain, nor is it even located within the brain; it is a separate organ located in the neck. The fact that a person’s thyroid might produce insufficient amounts of thyroxine is not equivalent to saying that a person has an “abnormal brain.” If you call the behavior of such a person “mentally disordered,” you are still talking about his behavior, not his brain or his thyroid. This is just the expression of your subjective reaction to his behavior or symptoms, and not the rendering of a medical diagnosis.
I don’t think anyone, least of all Szasz, denies that brain damage, brain disease, glandular malfunction, or ingestion of drugs can correspond with behavioral changes. But calling (a changed) behavior a “disease” is incorrect; no behavior is disease. Calling a behavior a “disorder” is just another way of saying you disapprove of the behavior; behavior has no intrinsic “order.”
I need further clarification on what you mean by “A brain that, by way of genetic variation … deviates from what is average.”