power and philosophy

The theories on lunacy put out by Michael Foucault are those that concentrate on societal changes like shifts in economic beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions of labor. The society has become passionate about reason, which makes it possible to equate it with insanity. The connection between insanity and dreams was important for gaining a traditional knowledge of the progression of mental illnesses (Canguilhem, 1992). Increased involvement in activities like research on the most cutting-edge methods of treating ailments has been spurred on by the rise of civilisation. There has been an alteration of human relations and sentiments due to madness in the society. The perspective of Foucault presents shifts that have taken place in the nineteenth century in terms of confinement which represented a state of economic error as a humanitarian issue. The model of family constituted madness and towards the end of the 19th century, madness was a major factor that resulted into moral degeneracy. These perceptions of Foucault are perceived to be attributed to the impact of the views of Canguilhem in describing the distinction between normal and the pathological in the sciences of life. According to Canguilhem (1996), philosophy still has an important work to do despite having lost its sovereignty and autonomy. He provides the epistemologist the opportunity to learn the progress in understanding facts which are associated with scientific findings. This paper examines the illustration of madness according to Foucault and its relationship to the perceptions of Canguilhem in creating a distinction between normal and pathological sciences.
The Treatment of a mad man in the Society
According to Foucault (1992), mad men or people with particular sicknesses are regarded as less desirable in the society and they may be expelled or excluded from other members of the community. For instance, leprosy disappeared from the Western Society in the end of the Middle Ages because most people were either expelled, excluded, or enclosed in a manner that they were not able to interact with others until they die. Nevertheless, Foucault argues that the existence of a mad man in the society does not only represent a biological dysfunction of the mental capability, but also his ability to speak the truth about the challenges affecting his or her community since such a person is more likely to speak openly regarding an issue affecting the society. Furthermore, there are a number of human activities taking place in the 21st century that enable the equation of humans with a mad man (Foucault, 1992). For instance, many image and literature are linked with madness in the context of the obsession of the authors to emphasize particular information for the purpose of achieving financial objectives. There is continuous publication of images that are slowly separated from word that revolve around its own world of madness. Man's dark hidden nature is revealed by the fascination of the images such as animals' images. The deviation from the normal conduct to such fascinations with images is what contributes to the conclusion that there is madness in the modern civilization. Madman acts as a symbol which illustrates the information that reveals end of the world and triumph of madness. These perceptions of madness in the modern civilization have been motivated greatly by the views of Canguilhem in relation to the distinction between normal and sciences that measure the occurrence of diseases. According to Canguilhem, pathological sciences may argue that a mad person is someone who lacks the mental functionalities that enables making of reasonable judgments such as the failure of the organs which transmit impulses. He argues that this is not a reasonable understanding of normality in the society because there are pathos, ethos, and norms which are ignored in understanding the extent of normality.
The Great Confinement
Madness was associated with prisoners, the insane, the poor, and the unemployed. According to Canguilhem, such classification of madness does not provide an accurate understanding of normality ion the society. Foucault used this argument of Canguilhem to suggest that madness existed, not in the physical characteristics of the people, but on the manner in which the society was managed (Foucault, 2003). The founding of the Hopital Generali in Paris represents a case of such madness in which it had an absolute control over the people and there were no appeals against its policies. Such kind of absolutism where the subjects are not provided with the opportunity to express their voices in the society is what both Foucault and Canguilhem refer to as madness. Rather than the use of lepers as the people who represent madness in the society, Foucault chose a particular group of people. These included a focus on a new perceptions towards economic challenges of unemployment and idleness, the emergence of new ethics at work places, and new perceptions regarding the moral functions and civil laws in cities which were under the constraint of the authority (Foucault, 2000). Canguilhem's argument supports this description of madness by stating that normalcy is not only understood in terms of the health of the people, but by the norms, ethics, and laws exercised in relation to the well-being of people in the society. The Renaissance society was more concerned with getting rid of beggars and idlers as a means of resolving the labor problems in order to achieve economic development. Confinement was regarded as one of the solutions to address the needs of the vagabonds, the idle, and the unemployed people. As Canguilhem suggests, the society lacked normalcy in terms of ethical techniques of addressing the labor needs of the unemployed by confining them in locations where they contributed indirectly to the labor needs of the economic institutions. According to the people in the Renaissance period, idleness was regarded as a major sin since an idle man does not consider work to be important. Madness was described in the context of the sacredness of labor. An aspect of the city that was new as presented by Foucault is the view that men were confined to the city and moral laws were implemented in physical manner (Macherey, 1998). There were many incidences where normalcy was not observed in the society such as when the house of confinement was regarded as the civil equivalent of religion for the achievement of a more improved city, contrary to the fact that the prisoners' needs could be addressed in more suitable manner such as providing them with areas of residence to improve their well-being. Buildings have been used as the symbols of achievement of the objectives of madness the confinement of people with leprosy in 'Hopital General'. The confinement of people was not done on the basis of addressing the abnormalities that affected them, but because it was necessary for the power of state to control them (Canguilhem, 1996). The objective of doing so is to separate them from the 'normal' society as perceived by the authorities. The description of the madness in the society has similar attributes as the perspectives of Canguilhem who suggests that normality does not only involve focusing on the pathological characteristics of a person, but also the ability of the society to implement the scientific findings for the purpose of improving the norms and ethics in the manner in which the needs of the people are addressed. Madness occurs when the society is unable to comply with these norms and ethics.
The Insane
Foucault explains the concept of the confinement as a means of promoting secrecy. It was necessary to hide away all forms of unreason that were associated with evil. The only incident where secrecy was not observed was the public display of the madmen which took place in lunatic hospitals such as Bethlehem in London. Madmen were regarded as having similar characteristics as beats and were treated as such (Badiou, 2012). As illustrated by Foucault, abnormal people were lazy, tramps, beaters of their wives, workaholics, and the mad. The society considered these people as being abnormal contrary to the perception that they might not have such characteristics inherently. The evils committed by libertines such as Marquis de Sade were not exposed in order to protect the society. Nevertheless, madness was revealed with the objective of separating it from other forms of evils. By confining the insane people, those who wanted to see them could pay before doing so while their identities were excluded from the society. There is a similarity in the idea of insanity as illustrated by Foucault and the views of Canguilhem who states that, while science provides truth, philosophy conducts an analysis of the plurality of these truths, their historical evolution and provisionally, while providing an affirmation of their normativity. It does not only provide a list of final outcomes and this assumption constitutes the cornerstone of reason that is recommended by Canguilhem.
Philosophy provided a detailed understanding of the evolutions of sciences over the centuries which is not examined in science. Foucault uses this principle to not only examine the physical characteristics of the insane, but also the manner in which the society treats them and the perspectives developed from the experiences they undergo (Canguilhem, 1992). For example, rather than considering humans as having more developed qualities compared with animals, the society in the Renaissance period considers them as having similar qualities. By eliminating humanity, human is made dangerously free with the inability to be affected by laws, thus has to undergo confinement. In a similar manner, Canguilhem suggests that science divides people into object s which are secondary in a sense but not derivative. Philosophy provides a more effective understanding of the contestable truth as if it were real experience.
There is confusion in relation to the manner in which Foucault perceives animality as being against nature. Animals are part of nature because the order of nature involves rationality. Confinement is justified by this perception in relation to madness, due to its focus on hiding away lack of rationality. The association between madness and lack of reason is illustrated by Foucault in terms of why madness is regarded as varied from a deviant behavior which is under confinement (Foucault, 1992). He illustrates this in terms of changes in religious practices, adding another perspective of economic and moral aspects of unreason. According to the argument of Foucault, the decline in religious enthusiasm was accompanied by the emergence of madness. It was necessary for the church to develop a structure that contributes to the replacement of something that was lost. The illustration of the concern of the church in relation to kindness does not make sense to Foucault, but the variations in demand for particular figures, and roles such as the role of a madman. These arguments of Foucault have similar characteristics as normative branch of philosophy as described by Canguilhem which provides an assessment of facts in relation to the norms, but it is subordinate to the person who creates the norms (Foucault, 2003). In this sense, the person who creates the norm has the capacity to establish the level of normativity. If man does not feel to be in good health, it is his personal perception or bias of health in relation to normal life. The ill person undergoes an experience which is beyond his capacity to tolerate. It is not similar to a medical judgment which is based on particular statistical observations on a patient.
Doctors and Patients
Foucault describes that the society identified madness as a challenge and needed to ensure treatment was provided to those who were affected by the condition. Previously, it was perceived that madness was an illness that could be treated using regular techniques of treating illnesses. However, Foucault suggests that his recommended treatment is not that which involves the use of a medical cure, it was in terms of improving morality in the society and creating a link between the body and soul as a result of the theory of passion. Canguilhem's perception of the relationship between pathological health and the normative health had great impact on this strategy of treatment of madness (Foucault, 2000). He suggested that previously, medical perception was that ill health is a situation where there is deviation from a fixed norm which is considered to be constant. In medical practice, there is greater focus on the establishment whether a patient's health has strayed from the fixed norms in order to return the patient's health to normal status. According to Canguilhem (1992), normativity begins with the living person, which contributes to diversity. Life cannot be understood in terms of fixed natural laws which are factors of survival as the basis of understanding normality. However, life involves actions, mobilities, and sequence of events which are only partially associated with death. Consequently, Foucault did not only focus on the treatment of the recommended functional characteristics of mad people as a solution to madness, but the incorporation of other solutions such as improvement of the moral characteristics of the society (Canguilhem, 1996).
Previously, the cures used to treat madness included purification, immersion, and regulated movements. These are practices restoration of the body functions of a patient to normal levels. Canguilhem opposes this approach of achieving normality by stating that it is important to implement philosophical solutions that contribute to the improvement of morality, ethics, and pathos. After the nineteenth century, however, there was greater focus on improvement of morality as a technique of achieving a normal behavior. Previously, Foucault illustrated madness as a punishment caused by immoral characteristics; however, he states that morality should be punished by focusing on the immoral characteristic resulting from madness. The implementation of punishment and guilt as means of treating a madman is a more sophisticated method of punishment. When the madman's guilt is put into consideration, a particular ideal of sanity and good conduct in accordance with standards of conscience are observed. Foucault attributes treatments of madness in the nineteenth century to punishments that focus on the regulation of behaviors caused by diseases that are located in specific parts of the body rather than the focus on the patient's body and soul (Macherey, 1998). Canguilhem criticizes this form of treatment in his philosophical perception that normality cannot only be achieved by ensuring the b9ody does not deviate from the normal functions, but there should be a focus on improvement of normality of the soul of an individual. Psychology examined by Foucault focuses more on morality rather than science in the same manner as the philosophy of Canguilhem about the relationship between pathological health and normality in the society. The achievement of the objectives of psychology is only possible if there is a link between morality and madness. The act of talking between a physician and a patient contribute to the treatment of the mind but it does not constitute a psychological approach (Badiou, 2012). Reasoning is not an approach of achieving a complete solution to madness, but there must be moral judgment that uses guilt as a treatment similar to psychological methods. The specific methods analyzed by Foucault are those that integrate the idea of delirium- a process of restoring the mind of a patient to a correct path of reasoning. The use of 'awakening' procedure ensures the patient is restored to a normal reasoning by motivating him to reason at the same time with the physician.
Passion and Delirium
The analysis of madness by Foucault puts emphasis on the intellectual and cultural impacts of passion in motivating the occurrence of madness. Passions are feelings and emotions that promote the likelihood of a person to act. Passions can be in the forms of anger, envy, and lust. The mind has an impact on the occurrence of passion, but there is a physical impact such as causing bodily movement. The association between passion and the body is that they begin in the mind and result into bodily responses. Foucault states that passion motivates the likelihood of madness, which has an impact on body and soul (Badiou, 2012). He assumes that madness has an impact on body despite the existence of few theories explaining madness in these contexts. The classical analysis by Foucault in the association between passion and madness focuses on the impacts of the former on the latter. However, his major area of interest is the impacts on the mind; delirium and hallucinations. He describes the insane mind by making a contrast of madness with imagination and dreaming. In either case, there are unreal images that are similar to the experiences and observations of madmen. However, Foucault states that the major distinction between madness and unreal images is the truth. He states that when a person is mad, truth is distorted while the mad person undergoes the experiences. There is a relationship between logic and madness. While delirium represents a particular kind of mental illness, Foucault states that their discourse is a different form of delirium (Canguilhem, 1992). Delirious discourse results from language and belief, but it has an impact on the mind and body. Foucault's arguments were motivated by Canguilhem who stated that the understanding of the health involves the ability to understand discourses in the society which are in accordance with norms and ethos. It is also established in terms of the ability to understand the truth in the society. Due to the characteristics of madness such as dementia, deliria, and hallucinations, they contribute to the distortion of truth which has an impact on contributing to madness in the society.
There is a relationship between blindness and madness. Blindness affects the ability to observe the happenings in the society, which is a measure of the level or lack of normality as recommended by Canguilhem. The same reason is seen by the madman and the sane man, but using different perspectives (Foucault, 1992). In the analysis of Descartes, Foucault argues that the fact that he has the ability to doubt his experiences, he does not have the qualities of being referred to as mad or insane. If he is able to prove his experiences, he does not deserve to be called mad. According to Foucault, madness has been expressed by creating art works which show themes of tragedy as an outer limit of reason, and through tragedy the madman's tragic characteristics confront each other with either limit coming together (Foucault, 2003). There is a shift at the end of the cycle in which the classical madness takes away humanity from the madman, to the idea of non-being taking away both the animal characteristics and the humanity characteristics are taken away.
The New Division
Foucault's description of the new division as a concept of madness is motivated by Canguilhem's distinction between normal and pathological sciences of life in various ways. There was a division regarding the treatment of criminals and madmen in order to promote morality in the society. Foucault explains that madman was considered to require more sympathy compared with the criminals. However, in the process of confinement of madmen, they transformed into something different (Foucault, 2000). Confinement was used in order to silence the madmen. However, these changes were subject to two factors: a change in the perception of madness, and economic transformations. It was recommended that madmen and the sane criminals should not be mixed together. The mad people were separated from those who were attributed to possess other social ills. In 'Madness and Civilization', Foucault illustrates the structure created for confinement in the seventeenth century that resulted into a change in the attitude towards labor. There was a significant dependence of the role of confinement on the economic impact. If there was no resulting economic value, it disappeared and its profile underwent change. In order to promote the economic importance of the poor people, they were assigned roles as workers. Those who were mad were set free because it was perceived that it was of no value to confine them. The act of freeing the madmen illustrates Canguilhem's perspective regarding the distinction between normal and pathological sciences because it focuses on promoting morals and ethics in the manner in which the paupers in the society are enabled to overcome the challenges facing them (Canguilhem, 1996). Furthermore, revolutionary efforts focused on separation of madmen from those who violated political laws. The processes through which confinement was achieved incorporated compliance with the laws and criminals could be confined in prisons while those who were mad could be treated. Such practices are based on Canguilhem's perspective that normality should not only focus on addressing the physical health, but also implementing socially accepted norms in order to promote the well-being of all people. The perceptions regarding madness were uncertain and the objectives of reforms were to provide treatment of the mad, but there were inadequate facilities to achieve this objective (Macherey, 1998). Nevertheless, Foucault was cynical about the approaches used to achieve revolutionary objectives since most reform decrees were focused on restructuring the society, and not the implementation of humanitarian efforts towards setting people free as would be recommended by Canguilhem. There were social uncertainties caused by confinement and madness, due to the change in the role of madman as the society underwent changes.
Conclusion
Foucault provides an analysis of the modern experiences of lack of reason based on the ideas of Canguilhem in the description of the distinction between pathological health and normality in the society. In the context of philosophical argument, normalcy does not only involve the ability of a person to possess physical body functions such as the absence of infectious conditions, but also the ability to live according to the norms, values, and ethics in the society. Foucault describes experiences in the nineteenth century where madness has been managed by confinement in order to separate the madmen from the normal men. He criticizes the argument the views of other artists regarding their expression of madness by stating that such views counteract the psychological and medical techniques of managing madness. Foucault makes an observation that in there has been a shift in the manner in which madness was addressed in the society because the practices in the twentieth century emphasized on ensuring the madmen were separated from those who had committed crimes since the former is not a crime to warrant imprisonment. The act of confining madmen for economic benefits in some countries is also criticized by Foucault who states that normality requires that the society should not exploit the confined people, but provides them with the means of achieving individual well-being. In the context of the roles of doctors in treating madness, Foucault believes that normality requires that treating madness should not only involve the provision of medication. He suggests that there should be improved moral approaches of addressing their needs while limiting the passion of mistreating them. Canguilhem suggests that normativity results from the ability of a person to act in a manner that is not determined by the physical laws as a method of resolving madness, but improving the manner in which morality is implemented to resolve the issues affecting people in the society. In the description of passion and delirium, Foucault states that the likelihood of a person to develop hallucinations and imaginations of dreaming contribute to passion and lack of logic or compliance with ethical methods of conduct. Due to delirious characteristics, a person loses rationality in the functions of the mind and body. The act of having delirious characteristics contributes to inability to be truthful or provide true expressions of a healthy society. According to the views of Foucault, madness can result into creation of art which do not promote healthy practices in the society. Madness constitutes a state of lack of work of art. Foucault views art as a technique used by madmen to fight back against the world that does not put normality and ethics into consideration. The measurement of madness is done against a moral scale used in psychiatry and psychology, but art focuses on establishing solutions to disturbing questions. Since the society does not use psychiatric and psychological techniques of improving morals towards madness, their approach towards the achievement of normality as recommended by Canguilhem is inadequate in the attempt to achieve a balance between madness and civilization.

References
Badiou, A., (2012) The Adventure of French Philosophy. London: Verso.
Canguilhem, G., (1992) 'New Reflections on the Normal and the Pathological', in The Normal and the Pathological.
Canguilhem, G., (1996) 'Report from Mr. Canguilhem on the Manuscript Filed by Mr. Michel Foucault, Director of the Institut Francais of Hamburg, in Order to Obtain Permission to Print His Principal Thesis for the Doctor of Letters', 'On Histoire de la folie as an Event', 'Introduction to Penser la folie: Essais sur Michel Foucault'. In: Arnold Davidson (ed) (1996) Foucault and His Interlocutors. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Foucault, M., (1992) 'Introduction'. In: The Normal and the Pathological.
Foucault, M., (2000) 'Life: Experience and Science'. In: Aesthetics: The Essential Works of Michel Foucault, Volume Two. London: Penguin.
Foucault, M., (2003) Abnormal: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1974-1975. London: Verso.
Macherey, P., (1998) 'From Canguilhem to Canguilhem by Way of Foucault'. In: In a Materialist Way. London: Verso.

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