Conception of Insanity during the Middle Ages

The Great Confinement of the ‘Mad’

Medicalization of Madness in the Enlightenment

Rebirth of Asylums and the Myth of Mental Illness

The Age of Positivism and the Fall of Reason

Psychoanalysis and the Shift in Perceptions of Madness

Madness in Contemporary Society

Reflections on Insanity, Culture, and Civilization

Madness and Civilization is a profound and challenging exploration by Michel Foucault of the changing perceptions towards and treatments of the 'mad' in Western society. It traces the evolution from the earliest forms of brutal confinement and inhumane treatment, to the birth of the asylum and the emergence of modern psychiatry. The book offers a deep analysis of the social and philosophical understandings of madness in the period of enlightenment.

Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason