Bibliography

  • "The Myth of Mental Illness", Thomas Szasz, 1961.
  • "The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement", Thomas Szasz, 1970.
  • "Schizophrenia: The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry", Thomas Szasz, 1976.
  • "Anti-Freud - Karl Kraus' Criticisms of Psychiatry", Thomas Szasz, 1976.
  • "The Theology of Medicine", Thomas Szasz, 1977.
  • "The Myth of Psychotherapy", Thomas Szasz, 1978.
  • "Insanity - the Idea and its Consequences", Thomas Szasz, 1987.
  • "Our Right to Drugs: The Case for a Free Market", Thomas Szasz, 1992.
  • "The Meaning of Mind: Language, Morality and Neuroscience", Thomas Szasz, 1996.
  • "Fatal Freedom: The Ethics and Politics of Suicide", Thomas Szasz, 1999.
  • "Faith in Freedom", Thomas Szasz, 2004
  • "The Medicalisation of Everyday Life", Essays by Thomas Szasz, 2007.
  • "Coercion as Cure: A Critical History of Psychiatry", Thomas Szasz, 2007.
  • "Psychiatry: the Science of Lies", Thomas Szasz, 2008.
  • "Antipsychiatry: Quackery Squared", Thomas Szasz, 2009.
  • "Suicide Prohibition: The Shame of Medicine", Thomas Szasz, 2011.
  • "Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good", James Davies, 2013.

"Mental Illness" is a CATEGORY ERROR

The English philosopher Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) introduced the concept of the CATEGORY ERROR.

[Category Error:

He was what is known as an ordinary language philosopher, and an example of twentieth century philosophy's emphasis on language.

A "category error" as according to Ryle is a semantic or ontological error in which things belonging to a particular category are presented as if they belong to a different category.

I believe that the whole concept of "mental illness" is quite simply just such a CATEGORY ERROR, as described by Ryle.

An illness simply cannot be included in - or combined with - the category "mental". It does not and cannot belong in this category. An illness can only be included in the category "physical". It's inclusion in the category "mental" can only  be metaphorical and not actual or literal. It is as simple as that. An illness cannot be mental - it can only be physical.

From this category error oceans of suffering, folly and deceit have been engendered.

Given that humans are rational and capable of behaving reasonably - it is to be hoped that this error can be rectified and its terrible results corrected.




About Me

My photo
I am an amateur FILOSOFER. (I am not really a sofa). I dropped out of Cambridge University though I got an "S" grade in the entrance examination. I eventually received a 1st class Bachelors degree elsewhere. I received A.H.R.B. funding to pursue postgraduate study, but did not do so. Please enjoy my blogs. To parafrase Orwell, I am trying to make political blogging into an art. My intellectual heroes are Kenan Malik, Thomas Szasz and Noam Chomsky. I have made some mistakes in my life - and I would like to apologize wholeheartedly and from the depths of my cushions for any problems I may have caused and may be causing for anyone anywhere.