Reconciling scientific and religious discourse about madness during the age of reason: Lessons for today?

Weeks, N. P.; Weeks, Nigel

Abstract

This paper argues that the secularization of madness, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, occurred as a consequence of cultural change that accompanied the social upheavals of the age. In examining the reconciliation of competing explanations for madness, from theological and empirical viewpoints, it is suggested that these paradigms were never totally separated and argued that developments during this period were a consequence of continual interaction and dialogue between these contrasting views. Furthermore, it is suggested that an understanding of these changing times can illuminate present debates surrounding mental illness. © 1996 Blackwell Science Ltd.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 1996
• Journal: Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
• Print ISSN: 1351-0126
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-2850
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 95-101
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.1996.tb00069.x
• Keywords: age of reason, belief systems, history, madness, religion, science
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1106328
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.1996.tb00069.x