TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2020//
TI  - Pluralism and incommensurability in suicide research
JO  - Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences
A1  - Maung, Hane Htut
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - This paper examines the complex research landscape of contemporary suicidology from a philosophy of science perspective. I begin by unpacking the methods, concepts, and assumptions of some of the prominent approaches to studying suicide causation, including psychological autopsy studies, epidemiological studies, biological studies, and qualitative studies. I then analyze the different ways these approaches partition the causes of suicide, with particular emphasis on the ways they conceptualize the domain of mental disorder. I argue that these different ways of partitioning the causal space and conceptualizing mental disorder result in incommensurabilities between the approaches. These incommensurabilities restrict the degrees to which the different approaches can be integrated, thus lending support to explanatory pluralism in the study of suicide causation. They also shed light on some of the philosophical underpinnings of the disagreement between mainstream suicidology and the emerging area of critical suicidology.<br><br>Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1369-8486
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2019.101247
ID  - ref1
ER  -