Psychiatric Genetics and the Ethics of Precision

Kathryn Tabb, PhD, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Bard College

Under the directorship of Thomas Insel, the National Institute of Mental Health enthusiastically joined a new movement in medical research, “precision” (or “personalized”) medicine. In this talk I consider the appropriateness of the model for psychiatric genetics from three different philosophical angles: metaphysical, epistemic, and ethical. I argue that the shift in priorities toward precision has been implicitly justified by an assumption about psychiatric taxonomy: that the true essences of its categories will lie at the level of the biomechanism. I first show why, when it comes to psychiatric genetics, this assumption will end in disappointment; I conclude by considering whether it is also morally wrong.

This Seminar for the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Genetics
Center for Research on Ethical/Legal/Social Implications of Psychiatric, Neurologic & Behavioral Genetics in the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry was originally presented on May 11, 2020.