tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post6797674902656270191..comments2024-03-28T17:08:15.784-07:00Comments on Social Democracy for the 21st Century: A Realist Alternative to the Modern Left: Foucault on the History of Madness: A CritiqueLord Keyneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-15870398940375744692018-05-17T08:49:28.430-07:002018-05-17T08:49:28.430-07:00Once again, Foucault is like the Bible - anyone ca...Once again, Foucault is like the Bible - anyone can read what they like into it. BA undergrads use Foucault and a careful viewing of One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest to imagine themselves as experts of psychiatry and that psychiatry is all rubbish. Their professors in turn disparage the entire medical profession at whim, mocking doctors in the lefty lecture theatres only to call 911 should any illness actually develop. As the big MF did himself once AIDS was manifesting. <br />Their motive is envy. Science works. Science explains humanities, and humanities don’t like it. Science has predictive value re humanities, and humanities do not let their lack of predictive value vis a vis science to stop them preening themselves that they explain science ....Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05370073874734801996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-7688897398085028032016-11-25T04:48:14.488-08:002016-11-25T04:48:14.488-08:00"a well-documented turn away from psychiatric..."a well-documented turn away from psychiatric treatment towards merely custodial care of the insane – contradicting Foucault’s theory." What?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02990897399892131611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-36836769116263773462016-05-02T11:10:06.285-07:002016-05-02T11:10:06.285-07:00It's been a long time since I read this book, ...It's been a long time since I read this book, and it's probably Foucault's worst, but I have a couple comments:<br /><br />"a well-documented turn away from psychiatric treatment towards merely custodial care of the insane – contradicting Foucault’s theory."<br /><br />The book is basically just about how the idea of madness changed over time. He talks about tendencies he's noticed over this time, but this example hardly 'contradicts' what he claims to be a tendency (as a result of changing views on what madness is). This strikes me as similar to arguing his idea about epistemes (Order of Things) isn't true because there were some theorists during a certain era would don't fall into the episteme (like people who believe in pseudo-science today, but it doesn't refute the notion that we're a such-and-such era w/ respect to how we think about certain scientific issues). Maybe there's a more specific contradiction here that I can't remember.<br /><br />"...or that it has no strong claim to coming closer and closer to objective truth about disease."<br /><br />I'm not sure Foucault ever made this claim. He emphasized that we often take it for granted that we're always making steady progress on these types of issues, but it's a notion that takes more work to demonstrate than most people assume to think because of the huge changes in scientific thinking (paradigm shifts/epistemes).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-62442056259791904692015-10-15T22:21:05.668-07:002015-10-15T22:21:05.668-07:00Thanks a lot for compiling all these critiques, wo...Thanks a lot for compiling all these critiques, wonder how MF can continue to be regarded so highly still!sacredHomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16370347946859357254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-44999481015848356292015-04-19T13:59:41.340-07:002015-04-19T13:59:41.340-07:00Excellent post again LK. Excellent post again LK. Ken Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08207803092348071005noreply@blogger.com