Phrenitis and the Pathology of the Mind in Western Medical Thought

Phrenitis and the Pathology of the Mind in Western Medical Thought

(Fifth Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE)

Chiara Thumiger

Phrenitis is ubiquitous in ancient medicine and philosophy. Galen mentions the disease innumerable times, patristic authors take it as a favourite allegory of human flaws, and no ancient doctor fails to diagnose it and attempt its cure. Yet the nature of this once famous disease has not been understood properly by scholars. This book provides the first full history of phrenitis. In doing so, it surveys ancient ideas about the interactions between body and soul, both in health and in disease. It also addresses ancient ideas about bodily health, mental soundness and moral 'goodness', and their heritage in contemporary psychiatric ideas. Readers will encounter an exciting narrative about health, illness and care as embedded in ancient 'life', but will also be forced to reflect critically on our contemporary ideas of what it means to be 'insane'. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Psychiatry

Antiquity and Its Legacy

Jessica Wright

Is psychiatry a distinctively modern approach to mental difference and distress, or is it a continuation of ancient Greek ideas – in the realm not only of medicine (consider 'melancholia'), but also of philosophy (source of the idea of 'therapeutics of the soul') and tragic drama (inspiration for, among other concepts, the 'Oedipus complex')? This volume examines how psychiatry, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy have been shaped by classical antiquity (and ideas about antiquity), and it explores the stories told about what this relationship between the psy disciplines and ancient Greece might mean. Taking as a starting point the debate about what exactly mental illnesses might be, Jessica Wright explores how contemporary tensions and debates reflect efforts to smooth over inconsistencies and discontinuities between ancient and modern ideas about illnesses affecting the mind. The volume goes on to investigate key concepts that bridge classical antiquity and modern psychiatry, showing how these ideas have been adapted and repurposed for new circumstances, analysing how they are deployed to negotiate the legitimacy of current theories, and demonstrating how the roles they play in psychiatry reshape our understandings of antiquity itself. What emerges above all is how the process of examining the connections between modern psychiatry and classical antiquity, whether historical, constructed or imagined, can illuminate modern ideas about mental illness, approaches to treating it, and its place in contemporary society and culture.

Caelius Aurelianus and His Work

Medical Practices, Intellectual History, Textual Transmission

Unknown author

The aim of this book is to take stock of the state of the art in scholarship on Caelius Aurelianus as well as offer new perspectives on this important figure; while doing that, to insert him and his work within current historiographies of medicine and ancient world studies. Thirty years after the last extensive publication devoted to Caelius, the contributions in this volume bring attention back to this important author, and offer new perspectives on his work, contributing to the presently flourishing literature on medicine and science (and their transmission) in the late antique period and beyond.

Two Millennia of Psychiatry in West and East

Selected Papers from the International Symposium「英文版・東西精神医学の二千年国際シンポジウムより」

Toshihiko Hamanaka, German E. Berrios

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Information and the History of Philosophy

Chris Meyns

In recent years the philosophy of information has emerged as an important area of research in philosophy. However, until now information’s philosophical history has been largely overlooked. Information and the History of Philosophy is the first comprehensive investigation of the history of philosophical questions around information, including work from before the Common Era to the twenty-first century. It covers scientific and technology-centred notions of information, views of human information processing, as well as socio-political topics such as the control and use of information in societies. Organised into five parts, 19 chapters by an international team of contributors cover the following topics and more: Information before 500 CE, including ancient Chinese, Greek and Roman approaches to information; Early theories of information processing, sources of information and cognition; Information and computation in Leibniz, visualised scientific information, copyright and social reform; The nineteenth century, including biological information, knowledge economies and information’s role in empire and eugenics; Recent and contemporary philosophy of information, including racialised information, Shannon information and the very idea of an information revolution. Information and the History of Philosophy is a landmark publication in this emerging field. As such, it is essential reading for students and researchers in the history of philosophy, philosophy of science and technology, and library and information studies. It is also a valuable resource for those working in subjects such as the history of science, media and communication studies and intellectual history.

Collected Writings of Charles Brockden Brown

The Monthly Magazine and Other Writings, 1789–1800

Mark L. Kamrath, Philip Barnard

Presents authoritative, annotated versions of major stories and essays from three late eighteenth-century American magazines Charles Brockden Brown wrote for and edited during the most prolific phase of his literary career