The paper models “narcissist” as one word distributed across four strata:
1. clinical psychiatry: categorical NPD diagnosis; 2. trait research: continuous narcissism dimensions; 3. psychoanalytic theory: character organization; 4. vernacular-algorithmic discourse: a moral type assigned to an absent other.
Its provenance audit separates terms drawn from:
The paper distinguishes:
Diagnostic seigniorage names the gain produced when the face value of clinical authority remains high while the cost of issuing the label falls toward zero.
The second seigniorage describes a paired issuance:
The paper’s Gresham’s-law hypothesis argues that high-volume performative issuance may devalue genuine testimony because composition systems cannot price sincerity.