Why has the number of mental illnesses and nervous disorders grown in our time? Why do mass psychoses engulf entire nations? Why are there so many clearly expressed abnormalities—schizophrenic deviations—in politics, journalism, and culture? What is the symbolism of madness, and is there a hidden meaning in it?
Carl Gustav Jung and Michel Foucault, whose works are presented in this book, answer these questions in different ways. The outstanding Swiss scholar and psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung believed that the increase in the number of mental illnesses is caused by modern society forgetting the basic principles of human existence. In turn, the French structuralist philosopher Michel Foucault argued that madness is the price of progress that sets certain limits for subconscious processes of the human psyche.
This collection includes works by Jung and Foucault devoted to the causes and symbolism of madness in the modern world, as well as the history of madness in Western society.