[FRIAM] The root of personality disorders

[Eric Charles]

Glen,
I'm not sure if Nick can do that. However, he is very good at clarifying
issues by telling me how I am wrong. With that in mind, I'll attempt a
summary, of which I am fairly confident:

Circular explanations occur when a description of the phenomenon in
question is offered as an explanation of said phenomenon. For example, when
asked "why are there only small peanuts in this jar?" it would be circular
to answer "because there are small peanuts in the jar." Note that "because
there are small peanuts in the jar" could be a valuable explanation for
many other questions, but not for that question, because in that context it
is simply restating the thing-to-be-explained.

There is a class of explanations - recursive explanations - that often get
mistaken for circular explanations. Such explanations use the description
offered in the original question as part of an explanation, but add
additional information that moves the path of inquiry forward. A filter
explanation is an example of a recursive explanation. For example, when
asked "why are there only small peanuts in this jar?" it would *not* be
circular to answer "because there jar was filled using
small-peanut-filter, which only allows small peanuts to fall through." (And
it is in exactly this way that, the Theory of Evolution by Means of Natural
Selection is *not* circular, as it is commonly accused of being, when it is
understood properly... which it frequently isn't, even by its prominent
proponents.)


Now, the shaky part, where I wonder why Nick thought it was relevant to
this conversation:

"Why does Trump appear to have Narcissistic Personality Disorder?"

Circular - "Because he has the symptoms of Narcissistic Personality
Disorder" (This takes us no where beyond that he has the symptoms, because
the thing-to-be-explained was the appearing-to-have-NPD.)

Not-circular - "Because he has a thing that causes those symptoms." (This
doesn't add much, but it does add something. It eliminates possibilities
such as his acting that way as a joke, or due to drugs, or that if we
viewed him in a larger light we wouldn't see the symptoms at all, etc.)




-----------
Eric P. Charles, Ph.D.
Supervisory Survey Statistician
U.S. Marine Corps
<echarles at american.edu>

On Fri, Jan 20, 2017 at 1:17 PM, glen ☣ <gepropella at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 01/18/2017 07:38 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:
> > Here is your assignment for tomorrow.
>
> I am a (proud) C student.  So, of course, I will never meet your
> deadlines. 8^)
>
> > https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281410347_
> Comparative_psychology_and_the_recursive_structure_of_filter_explanations
> >
> > There will be a quiz:  What is the difference between a circular
> explanation and a recursive one.  What is the key dimension that determines
> whether an explanation is viciously circular?   Is the virtuus dormitiva
> viciously circular? Why?  Why not?
>
> It would help if you would distill your argument, here, rather than
> muddying it up with the natural selection, adaptation example.  Would you
> mind doing that?
>
> --
> ☣ glen
>
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