They note that the psychiatric disorders in which delusions play a role are more common in cities than in rural areas, which indicates that the more relationships one has to negotiate, the more likely the navigational apparatus is to break down.
Schwitzgebel's position has recently challenged by philosophers who argue that delusions play a belief-role in explaining and predicting intentional action (see Bortolotti 2012; Bayne and Hattiangadi 2013).
Undoubtedly, self-delusion played a part.
According to the explanationist account (Maher 1999; Stone and Young 1997), the content of experience is vaguer than the content of the delusion, and the delusion plays the role of one potential explanation for the experience.
The more purely philosophical approach to explaining delusions concentrates on the role the delusion plays in the subject's mental life, as understood in terms of some theories in philosophy of mind.
Joel: Self-delusion plays a part.
LAURIE ANDERSON in performance MICHAEL McMILLEN, Lighthouse (Hotel New Empire), 2010, Mixed media (with digital motion picture projection), 97 x 132 x 144 inches, Courtesy LA Louver, Venice CA. Anderson's latest live solo performance, Delusion, played one night as part of the UCLAlive!
Both are entries in the great epic of American capitalism, stories of high-flying greed and the power of self-delusion, morality plays about deeply unhappy Trimalchios who drown their insecurities in money and false hopes.
We all daydream about scoring a goal in the World Cup or becoming Prime Minister, but our internal cock-ometer stops us playing such delusions out in public.
But the makers of these shows need to reflect on whether they have underestimated the potential consequences of creating a stage on which fantasies and delusions can be played out.
