In his first major work, “Madness and Civilization,” published in 1961, the postmodernist philosopher Michael Foucault examines the humane treatment of individuals considered insane by so-called “enlightened” clinician reformers from the 18th century, including Samuel Tuke and Philippe Pinel. Tuke was a Quaker who institutionalized moral therapy in England. Pinel, considered the father of modern psychiatry, was a French physician who developed moral therapy.
Premodern thinking understood insanity as demonic possession. But Tuke and Pinel sought to normalize and legitimize insanity as a mental illness, reforming the brutal and ignorant treatment of the insane. However, Foucault argues that what appeared to be a neutral, scientific approach was actually a way to force mentally ill people to conform to middle-class moral standards.
Pinel’s asylum established societal middle-class sensibilities as the ethical standard for its inmates. Nonconformity to this middle-class moral standard was defined as insanity. Not surprisingly, insanity appeared prevalent among economic ower-class populations.
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE: AT GOOD FAITH MEDIA
