WITTGENSTEIN AND ASPERGER SYNDROME: II. WITTGENSTEIN'S COGNITIVE STYLES

Accession number;03A0539885
Title;WITTGENSTEIN AND ASPERGER SYNDROME: II. WITTGENSTEIN'S COGNITIVE STYLES
Author;ISHISAKA YOSHIKI(Kyotokatsurabyoin Seishinka)   
Journal Title;Japanese Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Journal Code:Z0387B
ISSN:0289-0968
VOL.44;NO.3;PAGE.252-275(2003)
Figure&Table&Reference;REF.69
Pub. Country;Japan
Language;Japanese
Abstract;In a previous report, the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome was made for Ludvig Wittgenstein, the eminent German philosopher. He was considered to have had Asperger syndrome based on an examination of biographies and memoirs written by acquaintances. Features of his cognitive skills identifiable in his main writings were investigated. Those found were 1. His form of thinking was analytical and fragmentary, no attention being paid to the integration of his thought. Moreover, he was indifferent to reader's views. 2. In his studies of the function of language, the ostensive elements were treated as more important than the implicit ones. 3. Consideration was given persistently to psychological verbs such as "think" and "believe". In his considerations he particularly emphasized negativity of psychological verbs; their inability to show mental states directly and contradictions in sentences containing such verbs (e. g., Moore's paradox). The function of those verbs seemed consistently to puzzle Wittgenstein. 4. Peculiar cognitive styles, such as meaning-and aspect-blindness, were important aspects of his philosophical investigations. 5. Pictorial thinking tended to be a major cognitive skill in the way he thought. Wittgenstein's cognitive style was considered in terms of the cognitive dysfunctions seen in autism. A deficit in recognizing affairs as having stratified components was speculated to be important, and pictorial thinking was inferred to have been developed in order to surmount that dysfunction. The symptoms of autism vary with the individual. We suggest that these differences reflect both the degree of deficit of various disorders, such as aspect-and meaning-blindness, as well as the degree of facilitation of compensatory cognitive functions, such as pictorial thinking. (author abst.)