98. Madness and Western Civilization, Today

What is the relationship between madness, mental illness and the clash of civilizations today?

The metaphor of a world gone mad is fitting for a world crisis, which affects society, culture, politics and competing civilizations. It is a charge some world leaders make about the West, and some intellectuals use to criticise the West as a decadent culture. But history shows that sometimes big historical turning points can change our ideas of madness or mental illness itself. Big changes in the world impact our inner mental world too.

In this episode I discuss:

- Michel Foucault, History of Madness (1961), abridged as Madness and Civilization (1965), and its profound legacy for politics and history today

- the outline of Foucault's history of madness and how big historical turning points can change our ideas of madness or mental illness itself

- my reflections on whether changes of the last 60 years are leading to another big shift in our ideas about madness or mental illness and its relationship to culture, civilization and political order.

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Please also buy my book, From the Burning Archive that includes essays on madness, mental illness, history and Foucault.