Edit to add - This is a LONG post even by my standards.
Good question well asked.
^ This is the general outline but it does need more explanation (
also thanks for filling in for me while I was not able to get infront of a computer @ChurchOfGodBear).
As stated above Phil is like a lot of autists and people who have low IQ's in general, as that He values information and thinks that he is able to understand the information he isn't able to possess it but can memorise and try and assemble some knowledge from data points that doesn't make sense to anyone who understands it or is just generally more intelligent than Phil.
But Phil has a problem with the conceptualisation of ideas that he isn't able to understand or fit into his mental framework that is now long established and can be easily navigated if your able to pop the hood and take a little time to work out the mess, so he can't understand a lot of metaphysical concepts that most people take for granted and he struggles with the following -
D
ifferential reasoning, this is something we all do daily without reasoning to decide what Shirt we want to wear today / what pasta sauce we are going to make for dinner (
before you ask I'm doing carbonara tonight) and the big issues we all face, Phil can do this to an extent but he's nearly incapable of making his own decisions using this meathod without HEAVY reassurance or he ends up doubting himself or second guessing himself and he doesnt like that as it makes him question himself more than he is comfortable with, but once he has chosen a decision path it is nearly impossble to get him to move off it especially if he has recived asspats for it from multiple sources.
Over-Estimation in own ability, As I said above Phil really is attracted to data but it's not data he can understand but he is able to memorise it and misunderstand it, this is the one that makes him look the most stupid (look at the hippy Jesus video for the prime example) and also the one that causes him the most self-doubt and stress. He thinks that if he makes the effort to telegraph his interests to all in sundry and is able to recite a groups rhetoric they will accept him an for a while that's true but he always takes himself several levels deeper than he should that often times is because he's designed his own understanding that is diametrically opposed to the groups understanding often in radical and baffling ways.
When he get's called out on this, he tries every dirty trick in the book to muddy the waters of the situation he is getting called out on, but he doesn't ever engage in introspection at least in a way we would recognise, and about the only way to get him to even consider dropping an idea or subject is to ridicule him for it, beating him in a game of whits or with a good argument isn't enough.
The duality of the Human condition, Phil is only really able to understand things in a single way he is very much a Cast Iron thinker, but also a selective reader/reasoner. I will give you a statement as an example of a statement Phil would really struggle to understand without assistance.
"I believe that Taxation is Theft, however, I do agree that some Taxation is a necessary evil to pay for services that society needs"
Now that statement to Phil causes a lot of problems, on one hand, I disagree but on the other hand I agree in his mind this is impossible to do and people who do it are either liars, dumb or lately nazi's (
he has a really wobbly grasp of history, more so than most people despite having a fetish for them for a while).
However if your able to read between the lines you would get the message that I disagree with the current level of taxation and the way that is collected, but I agree that some level is necessary to support the infrastructure of the state and provide essential services like Police, Legal system, Larger Transport network, national defense, and where needed civil infrastructure etc. It is just a poorly worded statement, but it is worded well enough that you can understand it without much if any thought.
Even when Phil is given this interpretation he is unable to conceptualise it himself because that way of thinking is alien to him, not just hard but utterly alien to him but he is also able to experience it himself but not understand it and when he does it makes him
really deeply conflicted, his Anime phase was only dropped when he was mocked and enough people tried calling him out for "Cultural appropriation" and had enough time to try an explain it to him, he got embarresed enough to publicly drop it, but still maintain a private intrest.
Now if you combine this with the rise of the SJW and there wider concepts like "total acceptance" and "listen and believe" etc, it's what has allowed to get him to this point, but he is not able to realise how toxic it has been for him personally (
forget society as a whole to have an impact on him it HAS to be personal). This has lead to a lot of Phils lies becoming really apparent, but when he get's caught out on them he doubles down on them to avoid his own embarrassment.
Now what does all this have to do with Phil realising his own idiocy?
Well Phil's own problems combined with certain social movements have led to a lot of self doubt on Phils part, increasingly so but it's only when he's called out on them that it becomes a source of pain for him, but you have to fit that criticism into a very narrow gap and word it in such a way that it's able to be a square peg in a corkscrew-shaped hole, or say it often enough that it sinks through his short-term memory into his hindbrain.
Phil is in a constant state of self-doubt but also confusion, the world to him is a near constant source of choices he is ill-informed to make but he is also unable to process anything but the surface meaning and this bugs the hell out of him and he doesn't like it when his thoughts or though processed are challenged because he has convinced himself that he is really smart because to admit otherwise makes him like lesser beings like CWC or his Own brother and his own ego wont allow for that and he can't accept that he may not have an opinion on any given subject.
In short he does realise he is an idiot deep down, but he is unable to accept it for his egos self-preservation and if he ever does accept it the fallout will be phenomenal and catastrophic to his own identity.
Also for those wondering about my pasta reference far above (sorry but you know I long post) -
https://youtube.com/watch?v=3AAdKl1UYZs
With two modifications, I am adding Mushrooms (baby portobellos) and I am replacing the pecorino in the mix with manchego as I think it tastes a little better.
