Psychosis as the Failure of Symbolization

• Authors: Mooij Antoine
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

After offering a brief outline of Cassirer’s fundamental ideas on symbolization, the article looks at its application to psychopathology, e.g. psychosis, a theme not introduced by Cassirer himself. Psychosis is conceived of as a distortion of a fundamental symbolization, a radical metaphor, thus elaborating a version of Cassirer’s own line of thought. Cassirer’s concept of basis phenomena appears to provide a fruitful conceptual scheme in this regard. At the same time, a case is made for the reappraisal of an anthropological brand of psychopathology. It constitutes a qualification of the currently dominant biological psychiatry, offering a legitimate perspective on psychic disorder, albeit a relative one in both cases – a vision in line with Cassirer’s basic assumptions of symbolization.

Keywords

EN

Cassirer; basis phenomena; psychosis; symbolization; anthropological psychopathology

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Warszawski
• Journal: Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2(4)
• Pages: 5–14

Dates

published

2018-07-18

Contributors

author

Mooij Antoine

• School of Law, University of Utrecht

References

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Identifiers

DOI

10.26319/4712