The Measure of Madness: Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Delusional Thought
Philip Gerrans
Abstract
This book offers a novel explanation of delusion. Over the last two decades, philosophers and cognitive scientists have investigated explanations of delusion that interweave philosophical questions about the nature of belief and rationality with findings from cognitive science and neurobiology. The book argues that once we fully describe the computational and neural mechanisms that produce delusion and the way in which conscious experience and thought depend on them, the concept of delusional belief retains only a heuristic role in the explanation of delusion. The book proposes that delusions ... More
This book offers a novel explanation of delusion. Over the last two decades, philosophers and cognitive scientists have investigated explanations of delusion that interweave philosophical questions about the nature of belief and rationality with findings from cognitive science and neurobiology. The book argues that once we fully describe the computational and neural mechanisms that produce delusion and the way in which conscious experience and thought depend on them, the concept of delusional belief retains only a heuristic role in the explanation of delusion. The book proposes that delusions are narrative models that accommodate anomalous experiences. It argues that delusions represent the operation of the default mode network (DMN)—the cognitive system that provides the raw material for humans' inbuilt tendency to provide a subjectively compelling narrative context for anomalous or highly salient experiences—without the “supervision” of higher cognitive processes present in the nondelusional mind. This explanation illuminates the relationship among delusions, dreams, imaginative states, and irrational beliefs that have perplexed philosophers and psychologists for over a century.
Keywords:
delusion,
belief,
rationality,
default mode network,
supervision,
cognitive science,
nondelusional mind,
irrational beliefs,
dreams,
imaginative states
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2014 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780262027557 |
| Published to MIT Press Scholarship Online: September 2015 |
DOI:10.7551/mitpress/9780262027557.001.0001 |
