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The Phenomenological Role of Affect in the Capgras Delusion

Ratcliffe, M.

Authors

M. Ratcliffe



Abstract

This paper draws on studies of the Capgras delusion in order to illuminate the phenomenological role of affect in interpersonal recognition. People with this delusion maintain that familiars, such as spouses, have been replaced by impostors. It is generally agreed that the delusion involves an anomalous experience, arising due to loss of affect. However, quite what this experience consists of remains unclear. I argue that recent accounts of the Capgras delusion incorporate an impoverished conception of experience, which fails to accommodate the role played by ‘affective relatedness’ in constituting (a) a sense of who a particular person is and (b) a sense of others as people rather than impersonal objects. I draw on the phenomenological concept of a horizon to offer an interpretation of the Capgras experience that shows how the content ‘this entity is not my spouse but an impostor’ can be part of the experience, rather than something that is inferred from a strange experience.

Citation

Ratcliffe, M. (2008). The Phenomenological Role of Affect in the Capgras Delusion. Continental Philosophy Review, 41(2), 195-216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-008-9078-5

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jun 1, 2008
Deposit Date Aug 13, 2009
Journal Continental Philosophy Review
Print ISSN 1387-2842
Electronic ISSN 1573-1103
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 41
Issue 2
Pages 195-216
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-008-9078-5
Keywords Affect, Belief, Capgras delusion, Feeling of unfamiliarity, Horizons, Possibilities.


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