The Dao of Madness: Mental Illness and Self-Cultivation in Early Chinese Philosophy and Medicine

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Alexus McLeod (Professor of Philosophy and Asian/Asian-American Studies, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Asian/Asian-American Studies, University of Connecticut)

The Dao of Madness

Mental Illness and Self-Cultivation in Early Chinese Philosophy and Medicine

Alexus McLeod (Professor of Philosophy and Asian/Asian-American Studies, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Asian/Asian-American Studies, University of Connecticut)

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
23 December 2021

Non-Western philosophy; Philosophy of mind; Philosophy of science

"Mental illness complicates views of agency and moral responsibility in ethics. Particularly for traditions and theories focused on self-cultivation, such as Aristotelian virtue ethics and many systems of ethics in early Chinese philosophy, mental illness offers powerful challenges. Can the mentally ill person cultivate herself and achieve a level of virtue, character, or thriving similar to the mentally healthy? Does mental illness result from failures in self-cultivation, failure in social institutions or rulership, or other features of human activity? Can a life complicated by struggles with mental illness be a good one? The Dao of Madness investigates the role of mental illness, specifically ""madness"" (kuang), in discussions of self-cultivation and ideal personhood in early Chinese philosophical and medical thought, and the ways in which early Chinese thinkers probed difficult questions surrounding mental health. Alexus McLeod explores three central accounts: the early ""traditional"" views of those, including Confucians, taking madness to be the result of character flaw; the challenge from Zhuangists celebrating madness as a freedom from standard norms connected to knowledge; and the ""medicalization"" of madness within the naturalistic shift of Han Dynasty thought. Understanding views on madness in the ancient world helps reveal key features of Chinese thinkers' conceptions of personhood and agency, as well as their accounts of ideal activity. Further, it exposes the motivations behind the origins of the medical tradition, and of the key links between philosophy and medicine in early Chinese thought. The early Chinese medical tradition has crucial and understudied connections to early philosophy, connections which this volume works to uncover."

By: Alexus McLeod (Professor of Philosophy and Asian/Asian-American Studies Associate Professor of Philosophy and Asian/Asian-American Studies University of Connecticut)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 246mm, Width: 168mm, Spine: 31mm
Weight: 567g
ISBN: 9780197505915
ISBN 10: 0197505910
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 23 December 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction: In the Shadows of the Chinese Tradition Chapter 1. Self, Mind and Body, Agency Chapter 2. What is Mental Illness? Contemporary and Ancient Views Chapter 3. Madness of Last Resort: Feigned Madness, Ambivalence, and Doubt Chapter 4. The Wilds, Untamed, and Spontaneity: Zhuangist Views of Madness Chapter 5. Synthesis and Medicalization in Early Han Views of Mental Illness Conclusion: Madness and Self-Cultivation: Ways Forward

Alexus McLeod is Professor of Philosophy and Asian/Asian-American Studies at the University of Connecticut. He works primarily in Global and Comparative Philosophy, particularly early Chinese (Han and Pre-Han) and Mesoamerican Philosophy.

Reviews for The Dao of Madness: Mental Illness and Self-Cultivation in Early Chinese Philosophy and Medicine

"""This lucid, accessible account of madness in ancient China demonstrates, contra Foucault, that peoples of all cultures make distinctions between the sane and insane, healthy and mentally ill. They do so, however, in vastly different ways - ways that help us think productively about current philosophical issues concerning self, personhood, and agency. Anyone who wants to understand mental illness from a scintillating, cross-cultural and comparative framework should read McLeod's book."" -- Erica Brindley, Professor of Asian Studies, History and Philosophy, Penn State University ""The Dao of Madness is a fascinating work of comparative philosophy. By reorganizing the narrative of early Chinese thought around debates about what counts as madness and sanity, McLeod raises many intriguing ideas to a new level of prominence. Especially noteworthy is the way he brings together discussions from the early medical texts with the philosophical literature. ÂReaders interested in moral psychology, comparative ethics, and different conceptions of human subjectivity will be eager to engage with the diverse early Chinese accounts presented here."" -- Aaron Stalnaker, Professor of Religious Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington"