Collective wisdom Quote by Edward Shorter
““What has typically happened over the past two hundred years is the slow emergence of a concept as a gradual, evolutionary exercise in collective wisdom: People see something in their patients that hadn’t occurred to them before; they write about it; others start seeing the same thing – for example, that some patients seem to be driven by a kind of furious rage – and slowly the concept emerges. But what comes out of this collective filtering is often a powerful notion, because lots of thoughtful people have endorsed it. (..) in the absence of actual science, the disease designers of the 1970s who produced DSM- 3 in 1980 settled for “consensus”: If a group of influential persons sitting about a table could agree that a disease existed, then it existed.””
About This Quote
Source Book: “The Rise and Fall of the DSM” by Edward Shorter, 2015
Medical concepts often arise from collective observation and consensus rather than direct science, leading to powerful but sometimes shaky classifications.
In simple terms: Ideas grow through shared observation and agreement.
Key Takeaway
Question consensus and seek empirical evidence.
Themes
medicine
history
psychology
consensus
science
skepticism
Mood
analytical
skeptical
Type
philosophical
critical
When to use this quote
- clinical practice
- research meetings
- policy making
Key Concepts
concept formation
collective wisdom
diagnostic criteria
Questions to Reflect On
- How reliable are consensus‑based diagnoses?
- What safeguards ensure scientific rigor?
A Different Perspective
Consensus can legitimize unproven ideas.
