Mental and Organic Medicine in the Young Foucault: Considerations on René Leriche
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36517/arf.v17i1.95836Keywords:
Michel Foucault. René Leriche. Philosophy of medicine. Mental illness. Medicine.Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between mental illness and organic disease according to the “young” Michel Foucault, the thinker who published his earliest writings in the 1950s. The focus of the article is especially his first book, Maladie Mentale et Personnalité (republished in 1962, with modifications, under the title Maladie Mentale et Psychologie), along with the new archival materials made available since 2013 at the National Library of France. This study reconstructs and assesses Foucault’s argument in the light of the reading notes he produced on René Leriche, one of the physicians cited in both editions of Maladie Mentale. To do so, after some introductory remarks, the first part of the paper revisits the Leriche’s writings that were relevant to the young Foucault. The second part turns to what Foucault wrote in his reading notes. The third part, finally, analyzes the arguments presented in the 1954 and 1962 versions of the book, contrasting them with the content of the notes on Leriche. For Foucault, somatic medicine serves as a reference point: the demonstration that organic pathology and mental pathology do not follow the same logic will be one of the key insights guiding his inquiries towards a history of madness.
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