{"id":645,"date":"2014-07-17T16:39:25","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T20:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/?page_id=645"},"modified":"2024-12-18T20:05:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T01:05:55","slug":"subjectivity-v-delusions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/articles\/medicalisation\/subjectivity-v-delusions\/","title":{"rendered":"Subjectivity versus Delusions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>by Jack Dawkins, 2014 (edited in February 2021; updated in July 2023)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_71 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/articles\/medicalisation\/subjectivity-v-delusions\/#The_difference_between_subjective_phenomena_and_delusions\" title=\"The difference between subjective phenomena and delusions\">The difference between subjective phenomena and delusions<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/articles\/medicalisation\/subjectivity-v-delusions\/#Learning_the_hard_way\" title=\"Learning the hard way\">Learning the hard way<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_difference_between_subjective_phenomena_and_delusions\"><\/span>The difference between subjective phenomena and delusions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Although delusional disorders do exist, <em>not all subjective phenomena are delusions<\/em>.\u00a0Delusions are falsifiable, incorrect beliefs about objective consensus reality; subjective experiences can\u2019t be falsified. If someone makes a delusional claim, it can be disproved. If someone believes their ears are made of broccoli, that\u2019s a delusion. Subjective identities are not necessarily delusional. They\u2019re not making untrue claims about the physical world; they\u2019re describing the way they see themselves internally, but they also distinguish subjective experiences from those of the physical world. For example, someone in a plural system might be a werewolf. If this person is saying that they are a werewolf internally, then that isn\u2019t a delusion in itself. It\u2019s a subjective self-perception that is different from their system\u2019s physical body, but they acknowledge the difference. It\u2019s not a delusion; it\u2019s a parallel belief.<\/p>\n<p>If this same person is claiming their physical body actually transforms into a wolf&#8217;s at the full moon, though, then that would be a delusion. As I\u2019ve said before, delusional is thinking your body is actually, literally, physically a cabbage. My own background, appearance, and identity are different from what we\u2019ve experienced out here in the physical world, but I\u2019m aware of it. I don\u2019t claim that my own history is the only one we\u2019ve experienced or that our physical body resembles mine. I don\u2019t think I can physically manifest myself in this world. I\u2019m aware of the contradiction and parallel existence. If I were actually delusional, I\u2019d believe things about myself that can be falsified easily, but I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Sceptics who criticise others\u2019 subjective beliefs\u2014from plurality to religion to even transgender or nonbinary identity\u2014will often claim that these beliefs are delusional. But, as we\u2019ve seen, they\u2019ve misused the word in the first place, since a parallel belief can exist without claims about the physical world. There isn\u2019t the slightest pretence at academic rigour in internet trolling, but some trolls do use the language of psychiatry and fail miserably. You can be a strict physicalist if you like, but that doesn\u2019t give you the authority to misuse the word <em>delusional<\/em>. Parallel beliefs\u2014a kind of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Non-overlapping_magisteria\">nonoverlapping magisterium<\/a>,\u201d a term the palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould used to describe the relationship between science and religion\u2014aren\u2019t incompatible with physicalism anyway, since they cannot be applied to the physical world.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Learning_the_hard_way\"><\/span>Learning the hard way<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Sadly, we know the distinction between subjectivity and delusions firsthand. Some time ago, we had a bipolar manic episode that included delusions. These beliefs were incorrigible, nonsensical, and inconsistent with how we ordinarily perceived consensus reality. What&#8217;s more, even our <i>subjective<\/i> stories changed. Ethnic backgrounds, personal memories, cultural references, and other individual traits were jumbled and distorted, just as our outworld memories and perceptions were. After we came back round, we were better able to appreciate the distinction between subjective self-perceptions and clinical delusions. We question where we come from. We have different beliefs about our origins. We speculate, examine, analyse, interpret our plurality. <em>None<\/em> of this happens when you are delusional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Jack Dawkins, 2014 (edited in February 2021; updated in July 2023)\u00a0 The difference between subjective phenomena and delusions Although delusional disorders do exist, not all subjective phenomena are delusions.\u00a0Delusions are falsifiable, incorrect beliefs about objective consensus reality; subjective experiences can\u2019t be falsified. If someone makes a delusional claim, it can be disproved. If someone [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1234,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"coauthors":[12],"class_list":{"0":"post-645","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1701,"href":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/645\/revisions\/1701"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.exunoplures.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}