Explanatory Pluralism and Patchy Reductionism/Dr. Kendler Replies

A major hurdle for clinicians regularly engaging in the critical reductionist approach advocated by Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D. (1), is our own method of diagnosing psychiatric problems, embodied in the DSM-IV-TR. The concept of intentional causality associated with meaning and belief and the nonintentional associated with chemical and physical law-like relationships can provide an acceptable explanation of mental function. The mind can then be explained in a framework of dynamic intentional and nonintentional causal processes in which top-down and bottom-up causality can explain all mental functions and dysfunctions, from molecular interactions to the higher-level intentional processes that produce consciousness.