An excess of meaning : conceptual over-interpretation in confabulation and schizophrenia

Bergamin, Joshua A.

Abstract

I argue that ordinary (non-pathological) confabulation is a side-effect of an interpretive faculty that makes sense of the world by rationalising our experience within the context of a personal and cultural narrative. However, I argue that a hyperactivity of the same process manifests as schizotypy—latent schizophrenic tendencies—that can lead to extreme dissociation of interpretation from experience. I first give a phenomenological account of the process of interpretation, arguing that it is enacted through the creation of conceptual cognitive content from an originary non-conceptual experience. I then ground this account in empirical evidence, showing how our direct perception is moulded and adapted as it is conceptualised to fit our individual and collective expectations. Finally, I argue that hyperactive over-interpretation results in schizotypic dissociation, thus suggesting that schizophrenia should be understood as a disorder of interpretation, the extreme end of a spectrum that includes ordinary confabulation.

Citation

Bergamin, J. A. (2020). An excess of meaning : conceptual over-interpretation in confabulation and schizophrenia. Topoi, 39, 163-176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-018-9609-6

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: Nov 23, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2018
• Journal: Topoi
• Print ISSN: 0167-7411
• Electronic ISSN: 1572-8749
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 39
• Pages: 163-176
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-018-9609-6
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1699915