136-210 Minds and Madness

For Science third year, see 136-310 Minds&Madness (Science 3).

Usually 75 points of first year study across any discipline area.

This course examines changing ideas of mind and mental malady from the ancients up to the present, focusing on the diverse ways in which mental phenomena have been defined, studied, treated and explained. Minds and Madness explores how the human mind, traditionally considered the seat of the soul, has been brought within the purview of science. We chart the way in which mind has been reduced to matter, mind has been conflated with brain, and theology has given way to biological science. This course also considers how the experience and the meaning of insanity have been shaped by religion, the rise of science and the decline of magical beliefs. Specific lectures focus on insanity and the witch-craze; madness; stigma and the wise fool; the rise of mental materialism; phrenology; IQ testing and the measurement of the mind; the psychiatric response to shell-shock; and several lectures analyse the impact of new scientific paradigms upon our understanding of the mind: Cartesian physics during the Scientific Revolution, electrophysiology from the eighteenth century, Darwinism since the mid-1800s, and the considerable advances, in more recent times, in our understanding of neural circuitry and brain chemistry.

• develop an awareness of both the rootedness of ideas in the contexts of particular times and places and the subtle interplays between empirical observations and prevailing patterns of thought;

• learn to examine issues from multiple, complementary, perspectives;

• acquire experience in conducting independent research.

Written work totalling 4000 words comprising a tutorial assignment of 1500 words 35% (due mid-semester) and an essay of 2500 words 65% (due at the end of semester).

• R Porter, Madness: A Brief History. Oxford University Press 2003.