Wednesday, October 25, 2006

The Heisenberg Insanity Principle

I sometimes wake up in the morning, and wonder whether or not I've lost my mind. This may sound bizarre, but it's ironically reasonable a stance. Can I really certify my own sanity? Surely I'd need to be certifiably sane to do so, and thus am relying on the conclusion as a premise for the determination of that very conclusion. So what if it was the case that I had lost my mind? Would I hypothetically just be maintaining the illusion of sanity to the outside world an to myself? Well, this naturally raises the question: doesn't the same circularity apply to this case? It's very catch-22-type, as you'd assume you'd need to be sane to know sanity from insanity, and thus evaluating my own sanity (or insanity) would require sanity on my part in the first place! But I think this counter-argument is also circular, as my evaluation of my insanity is made by the me who purports to be sane, because I am in fact insane and cannot sanely understand my own claim of being sane (which is, of course, just a masquerade for insanity). Something to think about...

Amusingly enough, if you haven't been driven insane after reading this, you must be insane!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those who claim to have an unshakeable conviction that they are fully, 100% absolutely certifiably sane are often quite mad, whereas having a slight nagging feeling that one might actually be insane is probably a good indication that you're not.

Well, that's what the voices in my head keep telling me anyway...

Enigma said...

Wonderfly logical, I believe.

Although I don't think you need to be insane in order to understand your post. Just regular "slightly crazy" or "odd" folks, even artists should get this quite easily as well.

I for one, think backwards. (see my blog for my thoughts on that)

Will said...

But what about proving (in, un) sanity exists? Has anyone gotten around to doing that bit first?

Because really, to accept one is sane or not, one has to know that there is a sense of sanity beyond general conviction and collective thought and society.

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