Philosophy MA Defence: Anthony J. Gavin, Schizophrenic Bodies: Towards a Radical Biopolitical Ontology of Schizophrenia

Abstract:

What is schizophrenia? Schizophrenia manifests differently in different cultures, according to different modes of understanding. Modern scientific understandings of the disease categorize it as a neurological disorder, primarily biological or genetic in nature, with the experience of the disease manifesting in the ‘split mind(s)’ (schizo- phrēne) of patients. But there is mounting empirical evidence to suggest that biogenetic and neurologically reductive approaches are limited with respect to their treatment outcomes, and – as I argue – specifically alienating to patients. Patients are faced both with social alienation, and a sense of alienation from self – I argue that this is primarily by the disease’s interaction with its cultural and political situatedness, rather than by the manifestation of disease itself. Leaning on Marx and Foucault, I seek to readdress the question of schizophrenic ontology in this essay, motivating for a model that will attenuate the experience of alienation thought symptomatic of schizophrenia by approaching it as dialectical co-production of both biogenetic, and sociocultural factors. The result is to argue for the irreducibility of the experience of vulnerability in future research seeking to open up treatment options for patients with schizophrenia.