Towards a Phenomenological Understanding of Disembodiment in Schizophrenia
Husserl Studies March 14, 2026 Vasile Visoțchi
Disembodiment—a diminished sense of body ownership—is often interpreted as a Cartesian mind-body split. This paper argues that such a dualist interpretation is phenomenologically untenable because experiencing alienation is itself an embodied process. Instead, it endorses a multisensory disintegration account, offering a Husserlian reading that distinguishes different senses of spatiality specific to distinct sense-fields. Each sense-field has its own centre of orientation, so a split between them leaves the subject with discordant points of orientation. The analysis focuses on vision extricated from touch and touch disengaged from vision, concluding with limitations and prospects for further research.