MADNESS & CIVILIZATION by Michel Foucault

(Translated from the French by Richard Howard) First published 1964

Subtitled ‘A history of insanity in the age of reason’, this densely argued and fascinating book shows how madness as a spectacle and disability has fascinated and haunted the history of mankind since the 15th century.

In this meticulously researched, controversial study Foucault observes how “fear of madness grew at the same time as fear of unreason”. This was represented in Goya’s famous etching ‘The Sleep of reason produces monsters‘. Hieronymus Bosch was another artist who depicted madness to symbolise the fall of man.

This book begins at the end of the Middle Ages after a cure for leprosy had been found. Foucault shows how the role of the leper in society was replaced by the poor, the criminals and the insane.

Madness represents the direct opposite of strength, purpose and reason so is associated with weakness, dreams and illusions. Continue reading →