Repository | Series | Book | Chapter

183359

Understanding schizophrenia through Wittgenstein

empathy, explanation, and philosophical clarification

Elisabetta Lalumera

pp. 239-254

Abstract

In this paper I claim that concepts taken from Wittgenstein's philosophy can shed light on the phenomenon of schizophrenia in at least three different ways: with a view to empathy, scientific explanation, or philosophical clarification. I consider two different "positive" wittgensteinian accounts—Campbell's idea that delusions involve a mechanism of which different framework propositions are parts, Sass' proposal that the schizophrenic patient can be described as a solipsist-, and a "negative" wittgensteinian account, namely Rhodes' and Gipp's, where epistemic aspects of schizophrenia are explained as failures in the ordinary background of certainties. I argue that none of them amounts to empathic-phenomenological understanding, but they provide examples of how philosophical concepts can contribute to scientific explanation, and to philosophical clarification respectively.

Publication details

Published in:

Hipólito Inês, Gonçalves Jorge, Pereira João G.  (2018) Schizophrenia and common sense: explaining the relation between madness and social values. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 239-254

Full citation:

Lalumera Elisabetta (2018) „Understanding schizophrenia through Wittgenstein: empathy, explanation, and philosophical clarification“, In: I. Hipólito, J. Gonçalves & J. Pereira (eds.), Schizophrenia and common sense, Dordrecht, Springer, 239–254.