THE METAPHYSICAL CONCEPTION OF INSANITY

A New Conception of Legal Insanity

ions are not at all that different from the personifications of the fairy tale" (p. 75). Statements about crazy behavior that ascribe agency to intrapsychic entities such as "impulses" or "internal pressures" are homologous to statements that the insane are ruled by demons. The anthropomorphisms of the former mode of explanation are more subtle and use terms that sound mechanical and impersonal...

The Metaphysical Status of Logic

The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of logic from a metaphysical point of view – what is logic grounded in and what is its relationship with metaphysics. There are three general lines that we can take. 1) Logic and metaphysics are not continuous, neither discipline has no bearing on the other one. This seems to be a rather popular approach, at least implicitly, as philosophers of...

Metaphysical Minimalism

Properties and facts play a central role within metaphysics, yet there is no widely accepted account of what constitutes a property or a fact. Traditional conceptions of these metaphysical notions raise serious philosophical puzzles, making the existence of each seem dubious. Drawing on the minimalist theory of truth, I argue in favor of a minimalist conception of properties and facts. A minima...

The Materialism of Insanity

The metaphysician, though never so good a theorist, the physician, however sound a practitioner, must both give place to one who, sitting by the well of knowledge, dispenses with grace and justice to his thirsting brethren. He who, by opportunity and industry, can draw the deepest, to him we may look for the best and clearest supply. The pathology of insanity is still in its infancy; nothing is...

Insanity