When Self-Consciousness Breaks: Alien Voices and Inserted Thoughts (Philosophical Psychopathology) [Hardcover]

George Graham (Author), G. Lynn Stephens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 12, 2000 | Series: Philosophical Psychopathology

In this book, G. Lynn Stephens and George Graham examine verbal hallucinations and thought insertion as examples of what they call "alienated self-consciousness." In such cases, a subject is directly or introspectively aware of an episode in her mental life but experiences it as alien, as somehow attributable to another person.Stephens and Graham explore two sorts of questions about verbal hallucinations and thought insertion. The first is their phenomenology--what the experience is like for the subject. The second concerns the implications of alien episodes for our general understanding of self-consciousness. Psychopathologists look at alien episodes for what they reveal about the underlying pathology of mental illness. As philosophers, the authors ask what they reveal about the underlying psychological structure and processes of human self-consciousness.The authors suggest that alien episodes are caused by a disturbed sense of agency, a condition in which the subject no longer has the sense of being the agent who thinks or carries out the thought. Distinguishing the sense of subjectivity from that of agency, they make the case that the sense of agency is a key element in self-consciousness.

Editorial Reviews

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"An admirable contribution...one that demonstrates the ways in which philosophy can inform the interdisciplinary study of consciousness." S. Krippner Choice

"An admirable contribution... one that demonstrates the ways in which philosophy can inform the interdisciplinary study of consciousness." S. Krippner Choice

About the Author

George Graham is a Professor of Philosophy and Neuroscience at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: A Bradford Book (June 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262194376
• ISBN-13: 978-0262194372
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,265,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars inserting rigorous thought into psychiatry, June 19, 2001

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This review is from: When Self-Consciousness Breaks: Alien Voices and Inserted Thoughts (Philosophical Psychopathology) (Hardcover)

Stephens and Graham here continue the much-needed insertion of philosophically rigorous thought into psychiatry and clinical psychology that has been begun by philosophical psychopatholoy. For some of us who work within these fields, the logical sloppiness of most of the theoretical positions on madness available is quite infuriating, and it is satisfying to see these two philosophers come in and "clean house." However, in some respects, these authors' command of the literature on madness is a little disappointing. For example, they suggest that the alien quality of alien voices and inserted thoughts may be due to the subject's inability to integrate these experiences into her picture of herself as agent- a theory that is probably right but not exactly original. Post-Freudian psychoanalysts have been saying almost identical things for years, and it is too bad Stephens and Graham were not aware enough of psychoanalytic literature to make real use of it; if they did so they might have found themselves in possession of a more comprehensive phenomenology of agency and a more highly differentiated account of its distortions. As it is, to be sure, their theory is nevertheless pretty good, and of course one can't expect those doing this kind of interdisciplinary work to be completely versed in every single theory available. Perhaps the best quality of the book is that it is capable of introducing psychologists and psychiatrists to the intellectual rigor of philosophical discourse.