Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
Michel Foucault examines the archeology of madness in the West from 1500 to 1800 – from the late Middle Ages, when insanity was still considered part of everyday life and fools and lunatics walked the streets freely, to the time when such people began to be considered a threat, asylums were first built, and walls were erected between the “insane” and the rest of humanity.
It is said that Foucault enjoyed being whipped.
A last question remains: In the name of what can this fundamental language be regarded as a delirium? Granting that it is the truth of madness, what makes it true madness and the originating form of insanity? Why should it be in this discourse, whose forms we have seen to be so faithful to the rules of reason, that we find all those signs which will most manifestly declare the very absence of reason?A central question, but one to which the classical age has not formulated a direct answer. We
This brilliant book, which traces the shifting European "discourse systems" about madness from the late Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century, describes the process by which measures dealing with the insane shifted from exposure (as on the "ship of fools," if such things actually existed, or by wandering the countryside) to confinement (alongside the idle poor in "hospitals" and "charity wards") to paternalistic "medical" care (by doctors who, upon realizing that there were no curative
This book is full of interesting ideas buried in some of the densest, most obtuse prose I have ever encountered. Foucault writes about the history of the treatment of the insane, particularly in Europe, and how mental illness has been viewed in culture. Drawing heavily on French history, he makes the case that mental illness was viewed as shameful and a sign of moral degradation, so mentally ill people were no longer considered human, but were punished for being "mad". He goes into a fairly
It took me almost two months to finish this behemoth, but it was worth it. Two months ago, I was reading an article in the New York Times on modern Catholicism that mentioned Foucault, and from there I read a brief overview on Wikipedia. There I found a reference to the History of Madness, Foucault's doctoral thesis, and since I'm interested in insanity, asylums and so forth, I checked this one out of the library.I'm not going to lie, this is a dense tome. I read it in 5-20 page increments,
UPDATE:I realize now (as I read Dreyfus and Rabinow) that I completely misread this book. I read it too quickly, and the book is maddeningly eccentric and so difficult to comprehend. Further, I read it without sufficient context either of this book itself, or of Foucault's corpus, or of the philosophical background in which or against which MF is operating. The problem is intensified by the fact that Foucault is one of those thinkers who changed his mind extensively from first to last on
Michel Foucault
Paperback | Pages: 320 pages Rating: 4.1 | 10031 Users | 393 Reviews
Particularize Regarding Books Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
Title | : | Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason |
Author | : | Michel Foucault |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Abridged Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 320 pages |
Published | : | November 28th 1988 by Vintage (first published 1961) |
Categories | : | Philosophy. History. Nonfiction. Psychology. Sociology. Theory. Cultural. France |
Chronicle During Books Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
Librarian note: an alternate cover for this edition can be found here.Michel Foucault examines the archeology of madness in the West from 1500 to 1800 – from the late Middle Ages, when insanity was still considered part of everyday life and fools and lunatics walked the streets freely, to the time when such people began to be considered a threat, asylums were first built, and walls were erected between the “insane” and the rest of humanity.
Mention Books Concering Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
Original Title: | Folie et déraison. Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique |
ISBN: | 067972110X (ISBN13: 9780679721109) |
Edition Language: | English URL http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/55031/madness-and-civilization-by-michel-foucault/ |
Rating Regarding Books Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
Ratings: 4.1 From 10031 Users | 393 ReviewsPiece Regarding Books Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
Folie et Déraison: Histoire de la Folie à l'âge Classique = Madness and Civilization, Michel FoucaultWhen it was first published in France in 1961 as Folie et Déraison: Histoire de la Folie à l'âge Classique, few had heard of a thirty-four year old philosopher by the name of Michel Foucault. By the time an abridged English edition was published in 1967 as Madness and Civilization, Michel Foucault had shaken the intellectual world. Foucault's first major book, Madness and Civilization is anIt is said that Foucault enjoyed being whipped.
A last question remains: In the name of what can this fundamental language be regarded as a delirium? Granting that it is the truth of madness, what makes it true madness and the originating form of insanity? Why should it be in this discourse, whose forms we have seen to be so faithful to the rules of reason, that we find all those signs which will most manifestly declare the very absence of reason?A central question, but one to which the classical age has not formulated a direct answer. We
This brilliant book, which traces the shifting European "discourse systems" about madness from the late Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century, describes the process by which measures dealing with the insane shifted from exposure (as on the "ship of fools," if such things actually existed, or by wandering the countryside) to confinement (alongside the idle poor in "hospitals" and "charity wards") to paternalistic "medical" care (by doctors who, upon realizing that there were no curative
This book is full of interesting ideas buried in some of the densest, most obtuse prose I have ever encountered. Foucault writes about the history of the treatment of the insane, particularly in Europe, and how mental illness has been viewed in culture. Drawing heavily on French history, he makes the case that mental illness was viewed as shameful and a sign of moral degradation, so mentally ill people were no longer considered human, but were punished for being "mad". He goes into a fairly
It took me almost two months to finish this behemoth, but it was worth it. Two months ago, I was reading an article in the New York Times on modern Catholicism that mentioned Foucault, and from there I read a brief overview on Wikipedia. There I found a reference to the History of Madness, Foucault's doctoral thesis, and since I'm interested in insanity, asylums and so forth, I checked this one out of the library.I'm not going to lie, this is a dense tome. I read it in 5-20 page increments,
UPDATE:I realize now (as I read Dreyfus and Rabinow) that I completely misread this book. I read it too quickly, and the book is maddeningly eccentric and so difficult to comprehend. Further, I read it without sufficient context either of this book itself, or of Foucault's corpus, or of the philosophical background in which or against which MF is operating. The problem is intensified by the fact that Foucault is one of those thinkers who changed his mind extensively from first to last on
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