This is a study of paranoia, not as a psychological malady, but as a way of seeing, or worldview. The author begins by distinguishing the paranoid vision from paranoia in the clinical sense, and from what the historian Richard Hofstadter called "the paranoid style." He then argues that there is a particular type of malevolent behavior that occurs in certain organizations, which is due to the members of those organizations falling under the sway of the paranoid vision. In Part I of the dissertation, the author examines the narratives of the paranoid vision. These include conspiracy theories and apocalyptic fantasies. He argues that the purpose of these narratives is twofold. They seek to explain the world, in the philosophical sense, such that it is rendered intelligible. Secondly, they seek to justify human suffering such that it is rendered meaningful. Part II of this dissertation consists of four case examples. Three are of organizations that became infused by the paranoid vision: Freud's inner circle, Bhagwan Rajneesh's commune, the Khmer Rouge, and one of a fanatical ideology, radical Islam, embraced by a number of organizations that have fallen under the sway of the paranoid vision. Part III, "Beyond the Paranoid Vision," consists of two chapters, the first of which is entitled, "Paranoia in a New Key." In this chapter, the author considers whether it may be the case that the usual sort of conspiracy theories, apocalyptic fantasies, and delusions of grandeur may be inadequate representations of fundamental truths about life. The author considers whether, for example, there is an "inner apocalypse" and a "cosmic conspiracy" that are being distorted by the usual paranoid narratives. Then, in a chapter entitled, "From Paranoid Vision to Comic Vision," the author contends that the paranoid vision is the antithesis of the comic vision, and explores what it would require for the members of an organization to shift from the one to the other way of seeing.
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