Michel Foucault's history of madness during the classical age - the
16th, 17th, and 18th centuries - is far too esoteric for the
general reader. Foucault, cutting himself off entirely from the
structure of modern psychiatry, recreates the theories, the
treatment, and the vocabulary of folly, unreason, and insanity as
they existed in Europe throughout the Middle Ages until the Age of
Reason. He considers two events as milestones: the creation of the
Hospital General in 1657, and the great confinement of the poor of
1794, the former indicative of a body of thought which considered
man's dispute with madness a significant confrontation with secret
powers, the latter presaging our modern attitudes involving
isolation and refusal to communicate. Monsieur Foucault concludes:
"The world that thought to measure and justify madness through
psychology must justify itself by the excess of works like those of
Nietzsche, of Van Gogh, of Artaud. And nothing in itself,
especially no what it can know of madness, assures the world that
such works of madness justify it." Madness & Civilization is to
psychiatry what Mimesis is to literature. (Kirkus Reviews)
In this classic account of madness, Michel Foucault shows why he is
one of the most distinguished European philosophers since the end
of World War II. His influence dominates contemporary thinking.
"Madness and Civilization" is Foucault's first book. His other
books expand on themes established here: power and imprisonment are
at the very heart of this study. "Madness and Civilization" could
change the way in which you think about society. Evoking shock,
pity and fascination, it might also make you question the way you
think about yourself.
General
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