Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by micheleseverson
Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason by Michel Foucault
4.0
Foucault outlines the evolution of society's definition, views, and treatments of madness from the middle ages to the 18th century. This sounds super interesting, but I found it took me a long time to get through all the specific names and cases Foucault uses and often had to puzzle out the "bigger picture" for myself to keep myself engaged with the text.
As Deleuze points out, the major fault of Foucault's work is that it doesn't bridge to the 20th and 21st century very easily. I was hoping to find the journey of madness through the history of human kind to the present day, but nope. I guess that will be some other philosopher or psychologist's job.
Still, I found it worthwhile to learn how the idea of madness has shifted throughout time, even if I didn't get to read about madnesses's manifestation in the 20th century. The emergence of psychology in relation to madness was also an interesting historical development that Foucault includes.
As Deleuze points out, the major fault of Foucault's work is that it doesn't bridge to the 20th and 21st century very easily. I was hoping to find the journey of madness through the history of human kind to the present day, but nope. I guess that will be some other philosopher or psychologist's job.
Still, I found it worthwhile to learn how the idea of madness has shifted throughout time, even if I didn't get to read about madnesses's manifestation in the 20th century. The emergence of psychology in relation to madness was also an interesting historical development that Foucault includes.