The sciences occasionally generate discoveries that undermine their own assumptions. Two such discoveries are characterized here: the discovery of apophenia by cognitive psychology and the discovery that physical systems cannot be locally bounded within quantum theory. It is shown that such discoveries have a common structure and that this common structure is an instance of Priest’s well-known Inclosure Schema. This demonstrates that science itself is dialetheic: it generates limit paradoxes. How science proceeds despite this fact is briefly discussed, as (...) is the connection between our results and the realism-antirealism debate. We conclude by suggesting a position of epistemic modesty. (shrink)

Dans ce qui suit, je décrirai un modèle pour la formation et la maintenance des délires polythématiques rencontrés dans la schizophrénie, en adéquation avec le modèle pour les délires décrit par Brendan Maher. Les délires polythématiques y sont considérés comme les conclusions d’arguments déclenchés par l’apophénie et qui comportent des erreurs de raisonnement très communes, telles que le sophisme post hoc et le bais de confirmation. Je décris tout d’abord la structure du raisonnement qui conduit au délire de référence, de (...) télépathie et d’influence, en distinguant entre les arguments délirants de type primaire, secondaire, tertiaire et quaternaire. Ces quatre niveaux d’arguments correspondent respectivement à une phase de nature instancielle, inductive, interprétative au niveau monothématique et, enfin, interprétative au niveau polythématique. Je m’attache ensuite à déterminer de manière précise quelles sont les étapes fallacieuses dans le raisonnement correspondant. J’expose également le rôle de l’apophénie dans l’élaboration des idées délirantes. Enfin, je m’attache à décrire le rôle joué par les hallucinations dans le présent modèle.We proceed to describe a model for the formation and maintenance of polythematic delusions encountered in schizophrenia, which is in adequation with Brendan Maher’s account of delusions. Polythematic delusions are considered here as the conclusions of arguments triggered by apophenia that include some very common errors of reasoning such as post hoc fallacy and confirmation bias. We describe first the structure of reasoning which leads to delusions of reference, of telepathy and of influence, by distinguishing between the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary types of delusional arguments. These four levels of arguments correspond to a stage the nature of which is repectively instantial, inductive, interpretative at a monothematic level and interpretative at a polythematic level. We also proceed to identify accurately the fallacious steps in the corresponding reasoning. We expose then the role of apophenia in the elaboration of delusional ideas. Lastly, we describe the role played by the hallucinations in the present model. (shrink)

Significance appears as an alignment of stimuli, from a sea of randomly and methodically inputted or stored content into what we might call patterns in the mind. What Klaus Conrad refers to as apophenia, Micheal Shermer as patternicity and Jung as synchronicity, significance serves as synaptic moments recognizing formal elements of a thought, in many cases as individualized personal and possibly ethnocentric experience packets in the mind that have some significance to us. Finding significance in something, or associative significance (...) between things, can lead to some interesting and poetic creative forms of expression, for authors such as August Strindberg or Peter Watts. New ideas form in the mind from some origin. Apophenia, patternicity and synchronicity pose some interesting models for how the mind might process information not originating through the senses alone. Integrating the terms apophenia and ‘noetics’, this article will seek to define apophenoetics as the process and study of the way that patterns form and are processed and decoded in the mind from the sea of random content, virtual imagery and history (past/present/future), without the immediate influence of external stimuli, and could serve as a model for creativity, spiritual transcendence and connecting emotionally with others. (shrink)