136-310 Minds&Madness (Science 3)

Only available at Science third year, for other levels, see 136-210 Minds and Madness. Students who have completed 136-210 are not eligible to enrol in this subject. This subject is based on 136-210 but involves additional work.

Two second year HPS subjects.

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 6000 words comprising a tutorial assignment of 1500 words 25% (due mid-semester), an essay of 3000 words 50% (due at the end of semester) and a 1500 word project on an advanced topic related to the subject but not covered in classroom teaching 25% (due at the end of semester).

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