Introspection in the Disordered Mind: And the Superintrospectionitis Thesis

The author examines the claim that people with schizophrenia or depersonalization disorder possess superior introspective abilities that reveal normally hidden features of experience, a view termed the superintrospectionitis thesis. Through argumentation, the author introduces distinctions and questions about introspection's architecture and function that could expand the framework proposed by Kammerer and Frankish for considering introspection in non-human animals, enhanced humans, artificial intelligences, and aliens. The note focuses on disordered or neurodiverse minds rather than other possible forms of introspection.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In their target article, Kammerer and Frankish (K&F) wonder what forms introspection could take in non-human animals, enhanced humans, artificial intelligences, and aliens. In this short note, I focus on disordered or neurodiverse minds. More specifically, I assess a claim that has often been made more or less implicitly to the effect that, in virtue of their conditions, people with schizophrenia or depersonalization disorder have superior introspective abilities that allow them to discern some important but normally hidden characteristics of our experiences — call this the superintrospectionitis thesis. In the course of my argumentation, I introduce distinctions and questions concerning the nature of the architecture and the function of introspection that might enrich K&F's framework.