At the beginning of the 20th century Husserl introduced the idea that phenomenology, or the study of subjective psychological events, was the science that preceded all others. Husserl considered that phenomenology described the form and content
of
subjective psychological experiences, and that psychology explained these experiences and their causal relationships.
Diltey intorduced the concept of understanding into the psychology and pointed out the need in psychology to understand the individual as a whole. The concept of phenomenoloty and understanding were introduced into psychiatry by Karl Jaspers. His
book
General psychopathology(Allgemeine Psychopathologie) had a profound effect on German psychiatry.
According to Jaspers there are four modes of scientific thought which are relevant to psychopathology : descriptive phenomenology, causal explanation, genetic understanding(the psychology of meaningful connection), and the construction of
complex
unities.
The phenomenological approach to psychopathology, involving as it does the careful analysis of the phenomena of mental disorders, constitute a basic contribution to clinical knowledge.
For Jaspers, the establishment of explanatory connections(erklarende Psychologie) in psychopathology belongs to the sphere of natural sciences. In Jaspers' schema natural science is equated with biolgy. Jaspers bases his argument for the need of
a
science of understanding(verstehende Psychologie), as opposed to explanation, in which meaningful psychic connections can be established.
In sum, Jaspers enlarges the field of general psychopathology to extend from the natural sciences via descriptive phenomenology to existentialist philosophy.
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