The Paradoxes of Delusion: Wittgenstein, Schreber, and the Schizophrenic Mind

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Summary: another view into the asylum
Review: First, I must warn I am biased, I am third generation Wittgensteinian logician. Nuff said on that.
This book is not for most, few like or appreciate scholarly dissertations of this quality. If you do then this is a model on how to write one. It is not appropriate to engage on this site with opinions, or counter arguments, etc. as to whether what Prof. Sass presents is right or wrong. That is up to you to read and participate in. It is not fair to respond to a dissertation with an opinion, too much effort was invested in the former.
The subject or premise is very interesting. I am sure it has caused many a heated argument within the field of psychiatry. It seems to me an invitation to many to travel down a new road further to see what can be found. I am sure that is the Professor's main goal.
But to a philosopher, Sass' application of Wittgenstein is appreciated. The man's life and works beg for such applications in a wide field of study and human behaviour.
I loved the book and will probably reread it numerous times. I think the next time through, I will substitute a society such as ours presently, a supra-consciousness, as the schizophrenic patient, not Schreber, and see how that fits and plays out throughout the text. I think that has far reaching interest and consequences for us all, perhaps. When a patient is subjected to the dreaded reality test is there degrees of insanity, or is it just pass/fail? What would a test be like for a society? Perhaps these are matters for readers to find on their own on the road Dr. Sass openned for us.

Rating:
Summary: An interpretation of crystalline elegance
Review: Sass offers a beautifully written and densely textured close reading of schizophrenic experiences in this book, adroitly weaving a fabric of connections between Schreber's bizarre subjective world and Wittgenstein's lucid philosophical writings. Through this juxtaposition, certain frequently ignored features of the worlds of schizophrenia are brought to light, such as the quasi-solipsistic structure of the schizophrenic's experiential world and the intricately tangled web of psycho-logical paradoxes that this structuring entails. Though Sass speaks little about the interpersonal, historical, or biological contexts in which delusions arise, such is not the point of the book. We need, Sass argues, to get clear on what a delusion IS if we are to accurately interpret why one shows up. And to do that, we need to do this sort of close phenomenological reading of schizophrenic experience. The previous reviewer misses the point. Not only is it flatly untrue to attribute to Sass the idea the schizophrenics do not act on their delusions (he simply does not say this), whether they do or don't is not what Sass is trying to determine. What is important here is the phenomenological texture of the delusion itself, and Sass explicates that admirably.

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Summary: A Vast Museum of Strangeness
Review: Sass presents an unorthodox view of the workings of the schizophrenic mind in his comparison of Daniel Schreber and Ludwig Wittgenstein. He explores schizophrenia not as a disease to be treated, but rather as an alternate view of reality whose credibility cannot be fully discounted. This blatantly contradicts traditional conceptions of the essence of this disorder. Sass virtually ignores the biomedical aspects of schizophrenia, opting for a more philosophical interpretation of the symptomatic delusions. He makes a unique correlation between solipsism's self-focused tendencies and the mental isolation of the schizophrenic. Sass employs several metaphysical analogies to illustrate the paradoxical nature of schizophrenia. Many of Wittgenstein's theories on literal tautologies and their place in schizophrenic thought can be difficult to grasp but are worth the extra words used to explain them. The nature of subjective and objective realities is analyzed in relation to the standards by which we judge consensual reality. The organization of the book is conducive to a clear understanding of the inherently complicated paradoxes that are central to Sass' argument. Endnotes enhance the points presented by providing more detail, context, and additional support. Sass presents a detailed glimpse into the mental turmoil of the schizophrenic mind through the lens of his own unconventional stance.

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Summary: Taking delusions seriously
Review: Sass's view of Schizophrenia as an illness that is capable of being characterised as an excess of rationality misses what is the central feature of delusions - their fixity. He does so through his own belief that schizophrenics do not really hold to their delusions. There may be of course inconsistencies in action - between delusions of grandeur and say leading an ordinary life. However the use of Wittgensteins criticism of sense data as induced through a static staring, introduces an "as if" quality to delusions and moreover a voluntarist aspect or interpretation. So someone who thinks that his wife is the devil's agent and murders his wife under this delusion, is in some sense choosing this interpretation. This seems, at least wrong and dangerous. Interpretation engenders communication not dismissal. Sass does not offer any systematic interpretation only appeals to excesses of rationality and illustrative interpretations in Schreiber of the solipsistic viewpoint. This is but a starting point. Finally, invoking a refusal to enter the everyday as an aspect of the solipsistic,(a constant description and appeal in his book) reinvokes a meaningless imperative - be more involved in the world and your delusions will cease to be of relevance. But this suggests that the schizophrenic is somehow fixed in their focus. That is firstly to reintroduce the fixity notion and secondly to ignore the content of delusion (anything can become its focus) and possible structures of translation rather than interpretation (Jean Laplanche). Sass's book is fascinating in its diversity, but for those who have to work with people with acute psychoses not much use and errs on the dangerous. People do act on their delusions.