Foucault, Madness and Civilization, Preface- 37

I enjoyed reading the Preface, although sometimes I found myself re-reading sentences and the beginning of Foucault’s work. It read more like a story than most of the philosophical works we are asked to read. It was a nice break, but with that being said Foucault with his Madness and Civilization used historical facts (which I liked) to make relevant points which is refreshing from Descartes and his because I said so readings. This reading is a profound description of the role of madness in Western society during the 17^th century and beyond. The historical facts about leprosy, which was actually very educational for me was very attention-grabbing. The Ship of Fools and its importance of the time were nicely described.  The imagery of the use of a ship to banish the men and the purifying image the water was important to the time, it showed the mind frame of the banishers and what they aimed to do with the “mad”.  I found the fascination this culture had with madness to be interesting. The various expressions of madness Foucault uses were especially interesting, as he describes the means by which madness was expressed. Such as: through romantic identification, vain presumption, just punishment of knowledge, just punishment and desperate passion.