The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #133745   Message #3037370
Posted By: Bee-dubya-ell
21-Nov-10 - 11:38 AM
Thread Name: BS: The Delusion delusion.
Subject: RE: BS: The Delusion delusion.
Ah yes, another installment in the never-ending delusion series! Face it, delusion is a subject which lends itself to interminable discussion only because no two people agree on what it means. If we could all agree on one narrow definition, then the subject would exhaust itself in short order.

In order to be labeled delusional, an idea or belief must be capable of being proven false. That it cannot be proven to be true does not make it a delusion. Nobody has yet been able to definitively confirm the validity of belief in God, astrology, UFOs, or psychokinesis. But failure to prove validity does not prove invalidity. Therefore, such beliefs are not delusional.

Belief that one's mother is a cockroach is delusional. It can be proven to be false. Belief that one's mother is a reincarnation of an entity which was a cockroach in a previous life is not delusional. It can't be proven to be true, but it can't be proven to be false either.

Any discussion which ignores that distinction is not about delusion. It's about prejudice.