Experiences of derealization A naive realist account

Derealization, a symptom of Derealization/Depersonalization Disorder, involves a sense of unreality about one's surroundings despite still perceiving them. This presents a challenge for naive realist theories of perception, which hold that real external objects centrally explain the phenomenology of perception. The author develops this into a new problem for naive realism: the problem of derealization. The naive realist can respond, the author argues, by proposing that perceptual experiences of derealization involve existentially degraded perceptual relations to external objects, where perception makes an object available without its existence. Such degradation occurs when perception is structured by background feelings of unreality.

Study at a glance

Abstract

A major symptom of “Derealization/Depersonalization Disorder” is derealization. People who experience derealization report a sense of unreality when it comes to their surroundings, yet they still perceive those surroundings. How can this possibly be accommodated by a naive realist theory of experience – a theory on which the real external world is central to explaining the phenomenology of perception? I develop this question into a new problem for naive realism: the problem of derealization. But I argue that the naive realist can respond to this by offering an account of perceptual experiences of derealization. On the account I propose, such experiences are constituted by perceptual relations to external objects, but involve existentially degraded relations. This involves perceiving an object in such a way that one’s perception makes the object available to one without its existence. Perception can become degraded in this way, I suggest, when it is structured by background feelings of unreality.