Sunday, January 15, 2012

That metacognitive impairment thing

Back to this article
Bayne, T. and E. Pacherie, In Defence of the Doxastic Conception of Delusions. Mind and Language, 2005. 20(2): p. 163-188.
http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/1093/mind_language.pdf

The delusion the authors were focusing on was "Cotard delusion" or Walking Corpse Syndrome.  Patients with this type of delusion might believe they are dead or they do not exist. 

Interesting... been there, done that and still living with the feeling that reality is a galaxy away.  What else can I do since I am already on Seroquel?

Following are some notes I took regarding the objections people have for the doxastic concept of delusion with no intent to support or refute either approaches:

The no-content objection: It is unbelievable that people need to look into literature and find citations in order to find examples of delusions while I walk around in my daily life having problems shaking the belief that everything I do and say is being relayed somewhere.  To be honest, I don't quite understand what this objection is about.  Does it mean there are no contents in one's delusions?  8-O

The pragmatically self-defeating objection: I was there.  I knew I was dead and I was being killed in a million and a way.  However, I could not die completely.  Thus, I turned in to the undead and the everything else- until all different forces came with all means in order to get my life restored.  How could I have believed it?  I just did.  I had also walked around knowing I am an "undead" in numerous condition.  "Undead" means I was dead but didn't die quite clean enough.  How was I able to walk around being dead?  I wasn't carrying my own body because I was dead.  It was other forces that helped me carry my body-- and sometimes they took turns.  Did it feel like it was my imagination?  No.  It was the reality.  How do I know it was the reality?  How do you know your reality is the reality? 8-O lol

The lack of evidence objection:  There is never evidence? I wouldn't go so far.  I see evidences everywhere... the things that happens, what people say, what they insinuate and what people do to or for me.  There are evidences everywhere except for you never get a confirmation when asking people questions such as "Have you heard anyone talking about me?"  Whether my observed evidence would be considered as evidence to you, that's another question. 

The theoretical reasoning objection:  Are there inconsistencies in my realities?  Yes.  Big time.  Do I attempt to resolve the inconsistency based on evidences gathered?  Of course!  The only problem is that there are inevitably more evidences gathered through my imaginary world than from the world shared by the rest of the population.

The practical reasoning objection:  Why don't the delusionals act all crazy in accordance to their belief?  Haven't you seen some of us pacing up and down the block in shirt and short in the snow, or, shouting at the passersby?  You will see it when I get to that state while, most of the times, I do trying to appropriate my behaviors to what might be considered normal.  In addition, when I was walking around as an "undead", I was being an undead... flat.

The lack of appropriate affection objection:  So the Apocalypse had arrived.  Why didn't I act all perturbed and cried up a storm etc?  Interesting question but what good does it do?  Guess this also has something to do with individual personality and MO.

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