Game Theory, self interest, and praxeology

[MMMark]

Sun. 12/08/12 21:44 EDT
.post #235
[url=Game Theory, self interest, and praxeology - #35 by zefreak]

@zefreak

[/url]Tell me this, does he believe in ‘free will’ …? Your earlier quotes from him implied that he does, although now I’m not sure.

I would say that Szasz’s preference is to regard persons as having free will. I don’t know what “contra-causal” will is.

Thomas Szasz on Freedom and Psychotherapy

@Thomas Szasz

That’s because they are not familiar with the history of psychiatry, don’t really understand what a metaphor is, and don’t want to see how and why psychiatric diagnoses are attached to people. Ted Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber, was diagnosed as schizophrenic by government psychiatrists. If people want to believe that a “genetic defect” causes a person to commit such a series of brilliantly conceived crimes — but that when a person composes a great symphony, that’s due to his talent and free will — so be it.

The idea Szasz is trying to impart here is that if people have free will, then they have it whether we approve or disapprove of their behavior. Suggesting that free will “disappears” when we disapprove of someone’s behavior is silly and inconsistent - yet, this is essentially what psychiatrists suggest, at least implicitly.

@zefreak

To me, saying someone has a ‘mental disorder’ is the same as saying someone has a brain abnormality that effects the functioning of those processes that are attributed to mental agents (thinking, acting, deciding).

See here.

@zefreak

Is he simply disagreeing on ground of terminology?

Are you saying that “behavioral abnormality” (“mental disorder”) is associated with “brain abnormality,” or identical to “brain abnormality”? I can’t opine on whether Szasz (dis)agrees with you until I understand what you are saying.

Also, what is a “brain abnormality”?
Do you mean brain damage, or “something else”?
If the latter, how is this defined? How is it measured? By whom?

Edit:

As an example, ingesting LSD might result in what could reasonably be called a “brain abnormality” (albeit a temporary one), and the ensuing behavioral changes could reasonably be described as a “behavioral abnormality.”

Would you call an acid trip a “mental disorder”?