The Autism Spectrum That Breathes

Toward a multidimensional and phenomenological understanding of autism

Introduction

The concept of the autism spectrum is often presented as a linear continuum,
ranging from “mild” to “severe.” This representation suggests that individuals can be located along a single axis of variation.

However, both recent research and lived experience challenge this assumption.

The purpose of this reflection is twofold:
first, to outline how contemporary research reconceptualizes the spectrum as multidimensional;
and second, to explore how this shift opens for a deeper, phenomenological understanding of autism as a way of being in the world.

From linear scale to multidimensional model

Recent contributions in Scientific American argue that autism cannot be adequately represented as a single continuum. Instead, it should be understood as a constellation of multiple, relatively independent traits.

These include, but are not limited to:

sensory sensitivity
attentional focus
preference for structure
social communication
emotional intensity

Such a model replaces the notion of a fixed position on a scale with that of a profile across multiple dimensions.

This reconceptualization is significant. It acknowledges that individuals sharing the same diagnostic category may nevertheless exhibit markedly different experiential and behavioral patterns.

At the same time, it is necessary to recognize the epistemological limits of such models.

Vincent van Gogh once wrote:

“I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream.”

There is something in this that resonates deeply.

Not just seeing the world —

but experiencing it as something that moves, vibrates, almost overflows.

Even the most refined multidimensional framework remains a representation—a map constructed from an external, observational standpoint. As such, it cannot fully capture the qualitative, first-person experience of living within the spectrum.

And in a very different field, Albert Einstein reflected:

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and all science.”

Here, too, we find a recognition:

That perception is not always simple.

That understanding does not begin with certainty,

but with a kind of openness to complexity.

From description to meaning: A philosophical approach

To move beyond description toward understanding, it is useful to engage philosophical perspectives that address the nature of human experience, interpretation, and existence.

Friedrich Nietzsche: Perspectivism and the plurality of truth

Nietzsche’s critique of objective truth provides an important starting point.
He argues that what is commonly regarded as truth is in fact the result of dominant interpretative frameworks.

Applied to autism, this suggests that scientific models represent one perspective among many, rather than a definitive account.

The multidimensional model does not eliminate interpretation; it reorganizes it.
Lived experience, in turn, constitutes another perspective—one that cannot be reduced to external observation.

Martin Heidegger: Being-in-the-world

Heidegger’s concept of being-in-the-world shifts attention from categorization to existence.

Human beings are not detached objects to be analyzed from the outside; they are always already situated within a world of meaning, perception, and engagement.

From this standpoint, autism may be understood not merely as a collection of traits, but as a mode of disclosure—a particular way in which the world becomes present through sensory, cognitive, and affective structures.

This perspective does not posit a separate reality, but rather a different mode of access to the same world.

Søren Kierkegaard: The primacy of the individual

Kierkegaard emphasizes the irreducibility of the individual.

Truth, in his framework, is not only objective but also subjective, grounded in lived existence. The “single individual” cannot be subsumed under general categories without loss of meaning.

In relation to autism, this implies that no diagnostic or theoretical model—however sophisticated—can fully account for the lived reality of a person.

Each individual represents not an instance of a category, but a unique configuration of existence.

Discussion

The integration of scientific and philosophical perspectives highlights a central tension:

Science seeks generalizable knowledge through abstraction and modeling
Lived experience resists full abstraction, remaining context-bound and qualitative

Rather than viewing these approaches as mutually exclusive, it may be more productive to consider them as complementary.

Scientific models provide necessary structure and communicability.
Philosophical and experiential perspectives provide depth and meaning.

Together, they allow for a more comprehensive understanding of autism as both:

a pattern of variation
and a way of being in the world

Conclusion

The autism spectrum is not adequately described as a linear continuum.

It is more accurately understood as a multidimensional field of variation,
within which individuals move and experience the world in distinct ways.

At the same time, such models must be supplemented by perspectives that take seriously the lived, first-person dimension of experience.

Autism is not only something that can be measured.
It is something that is lived.

References

Scientific American. (2026). The autism spectrum isn’t a sliding scale—39 traits show the complexity. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-autism-spectrum-isnt-a-sliding-scale-39-traits-show-the-complexity/
Einstein, A. (1931). The world as I see it. Covici-Friede.
Friedrich Nietzsche. (1974). The gay science (W. Kaufmann, Trans.). Vintage Books. (Original work published 1882)
Martin Heidegger. (1962). Being and time (J. Macquarrie & E. Robinson, Trans.). Harper & Row. (Original work published 1927)
Søren Kierkegaard. (1985). Fear and trembling / Repetition (H. V. Hong & E. H. Hong, Trans.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1843)
Kierkegaard Søren. (1987). Either/Or (H. V. Hong & E. H. Hong, Trans.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1843)
Van Gogh, V. (2009). The letters of Vincent van Gogh (L. Jansen, H. Luijten, & N. Bakker, Eds.). Thames & Hudson.