Two sides, or approaches, of psychiatry are discussed: "academic" psychiatry based on experimental research , i.e., Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) and Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM), and "clinical" psychiatry stemming from daily clinical practice. The author examines the philosophical implications of both approaches as well as their diverse modes of cognitive functioning and of research methodology. The author argues that the discipline should not be dichotomized and suggests that the two sides of psychiatry should coexist in a dialectical relationship given that both sides play a crucial role in the progress of knowledge.
Keywords: Experimental and clinical psychiatry, natural and social sciences, "Naturwissenschaften" and "Geisteswissenschaften", nomothetic and idiographic approaches, epistemology of psychiatry