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Kraepelin and degeneration theory

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Abstract

Emil Kraepelin’s contribution to the clinical and scientific field of psychiatry is recognized world-wide. In recent years, however, there have been a number of critical remarks on his acceptance of degeneration theory in particular and on his political opinion in general, which was said to have carried “overtones of proto-fascism” by Michael Shepherd [28]. The present paper discusses the theoretical cornerstones of Kraepelinian psychiatry with regard to their relevance for Kraepelin’s attitude towards degeneration theory. This theory had gained wide influence not only in scientific, but also in philosophical and political circles in the last decades of the nineteenth century. There is no doubt that Kraepelin, on the one hand, accepted and implemented degeneration theory into the debate on etiology and pathogenesis of mental disorders. On the other hand, it is not appropriate to draw a simple and direct line from early versions of degeneration theory to the crimes of psychiatrists and politicians during the rule of national socialism. What we need, is a differentiated view, since this will be the only scientific one. Much research needs to be done here in the future, and such research will surely have a significant impact not only on the historical field, but also on the continuous debate about psychiatry, neuroscience and neurophilosophy.

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Notes

  1. This would, for example, be one of the highly interesting scientific topics that we need to deal with in the near future, as mentioned at the end of this paper.

  2. The influence of the founder of experimental psychology, Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), on Kraepelin can hardly be overestimated. Wundt’s aim was to establish psychology as a kind of natural science. He declined the speculative approach of the romantic “philosophy of nature” (e.g. Schelling), but did not agree with materialism or association psychology (e.g. Herbart) either. At least in his earlier writings, Wundt favoured a parallelistic point of view in the mind-body-problem: Experimental research may successfully be used in psychology as in natural sciences, without thereby ignoring the epistemological differences between the mental and the physical [30].

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  1. Dept. of General and Social Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Lenggstr. 31, P.O. Box 1931, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Paul Hoff MD, PhD

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Correspondence to Paul Hoff MD, PhD.

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Hoff, P. Kraepelin and degeneration theory. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosc 258 (Suppl 2), 12–17 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-008-2002-5

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