The History of Reason in the Age of Madness: Foucault’s Enlightenment and a Radical Critique of Psychiatry

Author:   John Iliopoulos (Consultant Psychiatrist)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:  

9781474257756


Pages:   224
Publication Date:   27 July 2017
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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The History of Reason in the Age of Madness: Foucault’s Enlightenment and a Radical Critique of Psychiatry


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Overview

The History of Reason in the Age of Madness revolves around three axes: the Foucauldian critical-historical method, its relationship with enlightenment critique, and the way this critique is implemented in Foucault’s seminal work, History of Madness. Foucault’s exploration of the origins of psychiatry applies his own theories of power, truth and reason and draws on Kant’s philosophy, shedding new light on the way we perceive the birth and development of psychiatric practice. Following Foucault’s adoption of ‘limit attitude’, which investigates the limits of our thinking as points of disruption and renewal of established frames of reference, this book dispels the widely accepted belief that psychiatry represents the triumph of rationalism by somehow conquering madness and turning it into an object of neutral, scientific perception. It examines the birth of psychiatry in its full complexity: in the late eighteenth century, doctors were not simply rationalists but also alienists, philosophers of finitude who recognized madness as an experience at the limits of reason, introducing a discourse which conditioned the formation of psychiatry as a type of medical activity. Since that event, the same type of recognition, the same anthropological confrontation with madness has persisted beneath the calm development of psychiatric rationality, undermining the supposed linearity, absolute authority and steady progress of psychiatric positivism. Iliopoulos argues that Foucault’s critique foregrounds this anthropological problematic as indispensable for psychiatry, encouraging psychiatrists to become aware of the epistemological limitations of their practice, and also to review the ethical and political issues which madness introduces into the apparent neutrality of current psychiatric discourse.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Iliopoulos (Consultant Psychiatrist)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Weight:   0.484kg
ISBN:  

9781474257756


ISBN 10:   1474257755
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   27 July 2017
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. What is Enlightenment? 2. The Historical Critique of Phenomenology 3. Foucault's Epistemology: Sujectivity, Truth, Reason, and the History of Madness 4. Is Foucault and Anti-Psychiatrist? 5. Hysteria at the Limits of Medical Rationality 6. Foucault and Psychoanalysis: Traversing the Enlightenment Conclusion Bibliography Index

Reviews

Grounded in a deep knowledge of Foucault's oeuvre, The History of Reason in the Age of Madness establishes remarkable continuity from his early under discussed Introduction to Kant's Anthropology to his final articles on the Enlightenment. In addition to seriously advancing our comprehension of major works such as the History of Madness John Iliopoulos' clear and lucid prose sheds new light on reason, rationalism and madness as well as on anthropology and psychiatry. A highly valuable undertaking. -- Sverre Raffnsoe, Editor-in-chief of Foucault Studies and Professor of Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark


Author Information

John Iliopoulos is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Researcher at the Centre for Philosophy and Psychiatry, University of Athens, Greece.

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