150 years of “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”: some considerations about the Cheshire cat and neuropsychiatric phenomena

Resumo

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, pseudonym
of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is a psychedelic dream tale apparently made for amusement. But, many speculations may be raised about its characters and phenomena created by a devout, learned and imaginative mathematician/logistician. Some issues based on the Cheshire cat due to its vanishing apparitions and its clever arguments are considered. The interpretation of the visual perception may include the “binding problem” issue. Regarding the cat's thought about inquiry, fundamental for researchers, this represents similar reasoning to that of Claude Bernard. Secondarily, some neurological and psychopathological speculations are also focused.