On Gaslighting

A philosopher examines the complicated phenomenon of gaslighting

-Gaslighting- is suddenly in everyone-s vocabulary. It-s written about, talked about, tweeted about, even sung about (in -Gaslighting,- by the Chicks). It-s become shorthand for being manipulated by someone who insists that up is down, hot is cold, dark is light-someone who isn-t just lying about such things, but trying to drive you crazy. The term has its origins in a 1944 film in which a husband does exactly that to his wife, his crazy-making efforts symbolized by the rise and fall of the gaslights in their home. In this timely and provocative book, Kate Abramson examines gaslighting from a philosophical perspective, investigating it as a distinctive moral phenomenon.

Gaslighting, Abramson writes, is best understood as a form of interpersonal interaction, a particular way of fundamentally undermining someone. The gaslighter, Abramson argues, aims to make his target experience herself as incapable