Introduction Part I: The Dual Teleology of Madness Chapter 1: Hippocrates and the Magicians Chapter 2: The Suffocation of The Mother Chapter 3: Madness as Misuse and Defect Chapter 4: An Infinitely Wise Contrivance Part II: Madness and The Sound Mind Chapter 5: A Temporary Surrogate of Reason Chapter 6: The Mountebanks of The Mind Chapter 7: The Miracle of Sanity Chapter 8: Delusion as Castle and Refuge Chapter 9: A Salutary Effort of Nature Chapter 10: The Biologization of Kant Part III: Madness and The Goal of Evolution Chapter 11: The Strategies of Wish-Fulfillment Chapter 12: Madness as Creativity and Conquest Chapter 13: From Retreat to Resistance Chapter 14: Confronting the Wounded Animal Chapter 15: The Darwinization Of Madness

"This work will have immense appeal across fields, including philosophy of mind, psychiatry, the history of Western thought, the sociology of medicine, and mental health services." -- M. Uebel, CHOICE "I cannot remember the last time I read a book of philosophy that taught me something new and also took me on such a journey of images and soundsâa powerful reminder that, yes, rigorous philosophical ideas can be expressed in many forms, including excellent prose. Justin Garson's Madness reads like a novel but instructs like an encyclopaedia. I revelled in an engaging narrative filled with suspense and cliff-hangers, where I challenged myself to anticipate the next twist...This was a journey of self-transformation and, as such, it was an often uncomfortable read: I have always thought of myself as someone who accepts a largely medicalized view of madness but is vocal about madness having meaning and purpose. While reading the book and for a long time afterwards, however, I became seriously concerned that I could not be both; that I had to choose." -- Lisa Bortolotti, University of Birmingham, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Review of Books "I do not use 'brilliant' often, but no better word comes to mind for Garson's intriguing perspective-shifting exegetical journey through the highways and byways of historical writing about mental disorder. It has often been recognized that madness offered compensations, some of them cathartic, consoling, even healing. Now, suddenly, we find ourselves seeing those compensations not as haphazard if lucky side-effects, but as part of the order of things. And through this remarkable sleight of hand, Garson offers us what has long been sought by philosophers of psychiatry: a plausible place for disorder within our era's neo-Darwinism." -- Jennifer Radden, University of Massachusetts, Boston "The fundamental, yet original, insight of this book is that theories about mental illness are always, in one sense or another, theories about design; and that surveying the different stances on design developed through psychiatry's history can provide as fruitful a taxonomy for understanding the field as more traditional conceptual schemas, like 'mind' and 'body' or 'biological' and 'constructed.' Garson builds upon his impressive work in philosophy of biology to make a contribution that will make a big splash among philosophers of psychiatry, and among those working in the life sciences more broadly." -- Kathryn Tabb, Bard College "Garson's new book is a much-needed presentation of an alternative tradition in psychiatry DL a tradition that is invisible or marginalized in the history of psychiatry, that is, the tradition of considering mental disorders as functional. While most people in the field maintain that mental illness has always been conceptualized as some kind of dysfunction, Garson argues eloquently that this is a mischaracterization. By looking attentively at well-known (and sometimes, forgotten) theoreticians of madness as well as contemporary research programs, Garson offers a counter-narrative that will challenge prevalent views and will open theoretical possibilities." -- Luc Faucher, Université du Québec, Montréal "Is someone whose thoughts and feelings take a strange turn deranged and disordered? Or are they instituting some tactic, some way forward, on their quest to make do and find meaning? Is there a reason behind their madness? Is there perhaps some innate design? These are, quite literally, questions for the ages, and Garson tackles them all-and more-with a thoroughness, a calm and inclusive meticulousness, that impresses while it persuades." -- MadInAmerica.com "Justin Garson's Madness: A Philosophical Exploration offers a conception of madness that infuses hope to those whose lives are touched by it...By successfully marshalling the tools of philosophy, psychiatry, and history, Garson offers new conceptual resources for making sense of madness and loosens the grip of the madness-as-dysfunction model in contemporary psychiatry...Garson's analysis is rich, compelling, and even poetic." -- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Justin Garson is a professor of philosopher at Hunter College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York. In addition to Madness: A Philosophical Exploration (2022), he is also the author of The Biological Mind: Second Edition (2022), and the forthcoming The Madness Pill: The Quest to Create Insanity and One Doctor's Discovery that Transformed Psychiatry. He also writes for PsychologyToday.com, Aeon and MadInAmerica.com on changing paradigms of mental illness.

Selling point: Reframes philosophical debates about the nature of mental disorder Selling point: Offers an innovative reading of the history of madness Selling point: Develops alternative paradigm for thinking about what it means to be mad