Where Does Sanity End and Insanity Begin?
It is often not evidence but trust that determines what we believe.
Perhaps the headline for this article is too extreme, but really there is no way around it because it’s difficult to conceptualize, much less to describe, insanity and sanity as a spectrum, and so we cling to some definitive distinction, likely cause this dividing line is so central to the reliability of our own perceived reality. Yet, exempting various forms of hallucination — the direct, confirmable non-existence of something perceived — the line becomes quite blurry.
If we’re to say a person suffers from paranoid delusion because they think the CIA is watching their every move, we have to concede they’re only crazy if they’re wrong. What if the CIA had, on the basis of an error, monitored them once — monitoring people is, after all, something the CIA does. What if they saw technical glitches in some electronic device that are reminiscent of those that might accompany an attempt to hack into it? What amount of possible evidence justifies holding such a suspicion?
What of the political conspiracy theorists? It seems every day I encounter someone, in real life or on social media, that believes that Muslims or marxists or satanists are on their way to take over the world. I’ve heard from friends of friends that COVID-19 was made up to subjugate us. I’ve heard from members of my own family that the protests that followed George Floyd‘s death weren’t held by concerned citizens or racial justice activists, but rather by paid provocateurs and international socialists. It sounds crazy to me, and it’s backed up by evidence so scant I hesitate to call it “evidence.” Yet, I don’t think it quite meets the threshold for insanity.
I’ll use this final example to make my point: I’ve had conversations with a friend who believes the Earth is flat. Immediately, I felt it was a preposterous position to take, and while I don’t think I’ll ever be shaken in my belief of the Earth’s globular form, I did begin to question why I believe it. And I’ve realized that it’s not an overwhelming disparity in evidence between my friend and me that led us to believe the world we inhabit holds one shape or the other. It’s a difference in trust. This friend of mine can listen to the same scientists, be…
