Where “the dark angel of madness has no means of entry.” An Essay on the Origin of the Idea of Culpable Insanity, as seen in the Context of 19th Century Poetry and Prose

Bartłomiej DOBROCZYŃSKI

Zakład Psychologii Ogólnej, Instytut Psychologii, Wydział Filozoficzny, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, ul. Ingardena 6, 30-060 Cracow, Poland , Poland

Mira MARCINÓW

Instytut Psychologii, Wydział Filozoficzny, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, ul. Ingardena 6, 30-060 Cracow, Poland , Poland

Abstract

Since ancient times, the concept of culpable insanity has persisted in culture, based on the belief that the mentally ill are responsible for the onset of their illness. Among the factors that decisively influenced this idea were: ontological dualism, the main disputes in the 19th century psychiatry (e.g. the Somatiker versus Psychiker debate), the so-called moral treatment which appeared with the advent of romantic medicine, as well as some characteristics of the development of Western societies, discussed by Michel Foucault and René Girard. Simultaneously a few crucial events that took place in the development of science in the 19th and 20th centuries significantly contributed to the slow disappearance of the idea of the culpability of mental illness. These included: the theory of evolution, the growing popularity of monism and naturalism, the discovery of the unconscious and the emergence of psychoanalysis, as well as getting a better understanding of the role of environmental and emotional factors in the development of the human mind.

Keywords:

history of ideas, psychopathology, culpable insanity