The history of the philosophies of psychiatry is yet to be written. Insight into material essential to this endeavour is provided by Classic Text No. 79 which translates an excerpt from the work of Prosper Despine (1812—92), one of the most distinguished alienist-philosophers of the second half of the 19th century. In his De la Folie …, Despine discusses, inter alia, issues concerning the referent, definition and aetiology of ‘madness’. His arguments are that putative brain lesions cannot act as a referent for ‘madness’ for they correlate poorly with mad behaviour; instead, the referent should be provided by a definition worked out by the science of psychology. Lest one commits a categorical fallacy, this association should not be taken as evidence that the brain lesions are the disease because they can be present without madness; and because the latter can develop without brain lesions. Despine seems to suggest that non-organic aetiologies such as psychogenicity should be taken into account.
Anonymous (1892) Dr. Prosper Despine. Annales Médico-Psychologiques, 50, 331-2.
2.
Berrios, G.E. ( 1992) Phenomenology, psychopathology and Jaspers: a conceptual history. History of Psychiatry, 3, 303-27.
3.
Berrios, G.E. ( 1996) ‘Die Gruppirung der psychischen Krankheiten’ by K. L. Kahlbaum (Classic Text No. 25). History of Psychiatry , 7, 167-81.
4.
Berrios, G.E. ( 1998) ‘On the Pathology of Convulsions’ by Sir J. R. Reynolds (Classic Text No. 36). History of Psychiatry , 9, 509-22.
5.
Berrios, G.E. ( 2002) ‘About the Limits of Psychiatric Knowledge’ by Robert Gaupp (Classic Text No. 51). History of Psychiatry , 13, 327-38.
6.
Berrios, G.E. ( 2005) Excerpts from Medicinische Psychologie oder Physiologie der Seele by Dr Rudolph Hermann Lotze (Classic Text No. 61). History of Psychiatry, 16, 117-27.
7.
Berrios, G.E. ( 2006) ‘Mind in General’ by Sir Alexander Crichton (Classic Text No. 68). History of Psychiatry, 17, 469-97.
8.
Cousin, V. ( 1854) Du Vrai, du beau et du bien, 2nd edn (Paris: Didier)
9.
Despine, P. ( 1868) La Psychologie naturelle …, 3 vols ( Paris: F. Savy).
10.
Despine, P. ( 1875) De la Folie au point de vue philosophique ou plus spécialement psychologique étudiée chez le maladie et chez l’homme en santé (Paris: F. Savy ).
Fouillée, A. ( 1896) Le Mouvement idéaliste et la reaction contre la science positive (Paris: Félix Alcan).
14.
Janet, P. ( 1879) La Philosophie française contemporaine ( Paris: Calmann Lévy).
15.
Janicaud, D. ( 1969) Une Généalogie du spiritualisme français. Aux sources du bergsonisme: Ravaisson et la métaphysique ( La Haye: Martinus Nijhoff).
16.
Lemoine, A. ( 1862) L’Aliéné devant la philosophie, la morale et la société (Paris: Didier). Saucerotte, C. (1863) L’Histoire et la philosophie dans leurs rapports avec la médecine ( Paris: Victor Masson).
17.
Verplaetse, J. ( 2002) Prosper Despine’s Psychologie naturelle and the discovery of the remorseless criminal in nineteenth-century France. History of Psychiatry, 13, 153-75.
