%A Gallagher,Shaun %D 2014 %J Frontiers in Psychology %C %F %G English %K Solitary confinement,Cruelty,intersubjectivity,induced autism,self %Q %R 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00585 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2014-June-12 %9 Hypothesis and Theory %+ Prof Shaun Gallagher,Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis,Memphis, TN, USA,s.gallagher@memphis.edu %+ Prof Shaun Gallagher,Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, University of Wollongong,Wollongong, NSW, Australia,s.gallagher@memphis.edu %+ Prof Shaun Gallagher,School of Humanities, University of Hertfordshire Hatfield,Hertfordshire, UK,s.gallagher@memphis.edu %# %! Cruel and unusual phenomenology %* %< %T The cruel and unusual phenomenology of solitary confinement %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00585 %V 5 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1664-1078 %X What happens when subjects are deprived of intersubjective contact? This paper looks closely at the phenomenology and psychology of one example of that deprivation: solitary confinement. It also puts the phenomenology and psychology of solitary confinement to use in the legal context. Not only is there no consensus on whether solitary confinement is a “cruel and unusual punishment,” there is no consensus on the definition of the term “cruel” in the use of that legal phrase. I argue that we can find a moral consensus on the meaning of “cruelty” by looking specifically at the phenomenology and psychology of solitary confinement.