[The logic of delusions].

Abstract

The author attempts to uncover the logic behind the various delusion phenomena. Starting from the hypothesis that the paranoic interprets certain I-thou relations exclusively as auto-reference, a new conceptualization of the notion of 'auto-reference' is proposed. On the basis of a reformulated Freudian structure model, auto-reference (id) is defined as physical self-reference. With the aid of a many-valued (transclassical) logic it is shown that delusion phenomena represent mirror-like mappings of certain physical structures of the paranoic. The formal treatment of delusion structures should therefore directly indicate the composition of certain organic structures, especially brain structures, of the paranoic. As this paper tries to show, progress in delusion research can only be achieved by interdisciplinary cooperation.