Vagueness in psychiatry / edited by Geert Keil, Lara Keuck, Rico 
Hauswald.  Oxford University Press.

In psychiatry there is no sharp boundary between the normal and the 
pathological. Although clear cases abound, it is often indeterminate 
whether a particular condition does or does not qualify as a mental 
disorder. For example, definitions of subthreshold disorders and of 
the prodromal stages of diseases are notoriously contentious. 
Philosophers and linguists call concepts that lack sharp boundaries, 
and thus admit of borderline cases, 'vague'. Although blurred 
boundaries between the normal and the pathological are a recurrent 
theme in many publications concerned with the classification of 
mental disorders, systematic approaches that take into account 
philosophical reflections on vagueness are rare. This book provides 
interdisciplinary discussions about vagueness in psychiatry by 
bringing together scholars from psychiatry, psychology, philosophy, 
history, and law. It draws together various lines of inquiry into the 
nature of gradations between mental health and disease and discusses 
the individual and societal consequences of dealing with blurred 
boundaries in medical practice, forensic psychiatry, and beyond. - 
 From back cover.



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