Los espacios de la locura en la Toscana del siglo XVIII: Estrategias y negociaciones para enfrentar la enfermedad mental

This study explores the different spaces where madness was recorded in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany during the eighteenth century. Drawing from interdiction procedures, criminal records, records of the police and hospital records, it proposes an approach to the history of madness based on a comprehensive analysis of the connections between the different spaces where people debated about the characteristics and consequences of madness and developed strategies to deal with it. This analytical strategy discloses that the mechanisms for dealing with madness were temporary and flexible responses that functioned as a network that could follow different courses. The study suggests that these itineraries, its agents and languages are essential to fully grasp how mental afflictions were conceived and managed in the eighteenth century. Particularly, it argues that the way they functioned gave origin to a social debate about the indicators and signs of madness that contributed to the systematization of psychiatric knowledge.Este trabajo estudia los diferentes espacios en que aparece registrada la locura en el Gran Ducado de Toscana durante el siglo XVIII. A partir de la revisión de expedientes de interdicción por incapacidad mental, archivos de justicia criminal, archivos de policía y registros hospitalarios, propone una aproximación a la historia de la locura basada en el análisis comprensivo de las vinculaciones entre las distintas instancias en que se debatió sobre sus características, se evaluaron sus consecuencias y se elaboraron estrategias para hacerle frente. Este enfoque revela que las alternativas existentes para sobrellevar la enfermedad mental funcionaban como respuestas temporales y flexibles que constituían una red de instancias que podían ser recorridas de distintas maneras. Sugiere que el estudio de estos itinerarios, sus actores y lenguajes resulta fundamental para comprender en toda su magnitud la forma en que fueron concebidas y enfrentadas las perturbaciones mentales en el siglo XVIII. En particular, sostiene que su funcionamiento dio pie a un debate social sobre los indicadores y significados de la locura que serviría de insumo para la sistematización del conocimiento psiquiátrico

On the uniqueness of the substance in chemistry

El problema de determinar en qué consiste la sustancia química ha sido ampliamente debatido en el campo de la filosofía de la química. Dado el desacuerdo respecto del significado de la expresión “sustancia química”, nos preguntamos si es posible hallar un único criterio para identificar cada sustancia química. Abordar este problema conduce a distinguir entre los distintos dominios de la química: macroscópico, molecular y cuántico. Esta distinción pone en evidencia que no es posible identificar unívocamente la sustancia química en todos los dominios; se evalúan entonces los problemas que surgen de esta imposibilidad.The problem of determining the nature of chemical substance has been widely discussed in philosophy of chemistry. Since there is no agreement about the meaning of the expression ‘chemical substance’, we consider if it is possible to reach a single criterion to identify each chemical substance. The analysis of this problem leads us to distinguish among three different domains in chemistry: macroscopic, molecular, and quantum. This distinction allows us to assert that it is not possible to identify univocally a chemical substance in every level; we evaluate, then, the problems derived from this impossibility.Fil: Córdoba, Mariana. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Labarca, Martín Gabriel. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Zambon, Alfio Ariel. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia; Argentin

Acerca de la unicidad de la sustancia en química

El problema de determinar en qué consiste la sustancia química ha sido ampliamentedebatido en el campo de la filosofía de la química. Dado el desacuerdo respecto delsignificado de la expresión “sustancia química”, nos preguntamos si es posible hallar unúnico criterio para identificar cada sustancia química. Abordar este problema conduce adistinguir entre los distintos dominios de la química: macroscópico, molecular y cuántico.Esta distinción pone en evidencia que no es posible identificar unívocamente lasustancia química en todos los dominios; se evalúan entonces los problemas que surgende esta imposibilidad

Multiplicidad ontológica y la sustancia en química

A partir de la propuesta de un modelo teórico consistente en planos energéticos -el plano macroquímico, el plano microquímico y el plano cuántico-, analizaremos si puede ser identificada, para una determinada sustancia química, la misma sustancia en los tres planos

Itineraries and languages of madness in the early modern world : family experience, legal practice, and medical knowledge in eighteenth-century Tuscany

Drawing on a wide range of sources including interdiction procedures, records of criminal justice, documentation from mental hospitals, and medical literature, this book provides a comprehensive study of the spaces in which madness was recorded in Tuscany during the eighteenth century. It proposes the notion of itineraries of madness, which, intended as an heuristic devise, enables us to examine records of madness across the different spaces where it was disclosed, casting light on the connections between how madness was understood and experienced, the language employed to describe it, and public and private responses devised to cope with it. Placing the emotional experience of the Tuscan families at the core of its analysis, this book stresses the central role of families in the shaping of new understandings of madness and how lay notions interacted with legal and medical knowledge. It argues that perceptions of madness in the eighteenth century were closely connected to new cultural concerns regarding family relationships and family roles, which resulted in a shift in the meanings of and attitudes to mental disturbances.-- Introduction 1. Interdiction procedures : a context for public intervention in family life 2. Mad spendthrift men : prodigality as a category of mental incapacity 3. Beyond financial mismanagement : interdictions by reason of demenza 4. Spaces and itineraries of madness 5. Experts and authorities on madness 6. Emotional disturbances and the circulation of the languages of madness -- ConclusionPublished version of EUI PhD thesis, 201

Itineraries and languages of madness : family experience, legal practice and medical knowledge in eighteenth century Tuscany

Defence date: 28 September 2015Examining Board: Professor Giulia Calvi, EUI and Università di Siena (Supervisor); Professor Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla, EUI and Universodad Pablo de Olavide; Professor Sandra Cavallo, Royal Holloway-University of London; Professor John Henderson, Birkbeck College, London.Scholarship on the history of early modern madness agrees on the fact that madness was largely a family matter during the period. Not only confinement was used as a last resort, but the range of public provisions to respond to mental afflictions were eminently temporary. Furthermore, although medical practitioners developed increasingly relevant contributions in the field of diagnosis and treatment of mental afflictions, during the eighteenth century madness was still primarily identified, experienced and managed by the families. Building on these arguments, this dissertation is concerned with how early modern understandings of and responses to madness were negotiated between families, medical and legal professionals, authorities and the communities. Intersecting the history of madness and medicine with legal history, the history of the family and gender and the history of emotions, the dissertation examines the spaces in which madness made an appearance in eighteenth-century Tuscany, paying particular attention to the circulation of languages, both across legal and institutional spaces, and between lay society, medical practitioners and magistrates. Through its study of the itineraries of madness, the dissertation suggests that litigants and witnesses adapted their notions of mental affliction and changed their language according to each space of appearance. The core of the discussion is based on interdiction procedures, the civil law inquiries into mental capacity handled by the Magistrato dei Pupilli et Adulti, which are examined against criminal procedures, hospital records, medical consultations, and records of the police. The dissertation argues that the Tuscan legal framework provided open and deliberately vague categories of madness and mental incapacity derived from a long legal tradition which remained mostly unchanged. However, while in terms of legal vocabulary long-term continuities seem to predominate, eighteenth-century records show a shift in the meanings of madness, opening to new social concerns and to new codifications of familial conflict. Initially bound primarily to patrimony and financial mismanagement, the understandings of madness became increasingly open to the emotional and relational dimensions of insanity, suggesting an interesting interplay between lay and medical notions of deviance

Los libros de medicina en el Chile del siglo XVIII: tipologías, propietarios y dinámicas de circulación

Este artículo pretende dar cuenta de las posibilidades analíticas del estudio de los libros de medicina que circularon en Chile durante el siglo XVIII. A partir del estudio de inventarios de bibliotecas privadas, inventarios comerciales y documentación de aduanas, se exploran los vínculos entre la disponibilidad de títulos y los gustos de los propietarios/lectores. Con este objetivo, se identifican las principales características de los libros de medicina que circularon en Chile, para luego examinar los perfiles de sus propietarios, los posibles usos de estos libros y su vinculación con las dinámicas del flujo comercial. El artículo da cuenta de la creciente visibilidad alcanzada por los libros de medicina, sugiriendo que la disponibilidad de títulos no estuvo supeditada únicamente al flujo comercial, sino que fue también determinada por los propietarios, que ejercieron un rol activo configurándose como público lector específico y creando vías de acceso alternativas. The objective of the article is to provide an account of the analytical possibilities deriving form the study of the medicine books that circulated in Chile during the 18th century. On the basis of the study of private library inventories, commercial inventories, and customs documents, it explores the links between the availability of titles and the tastes of owners/readers. To that effect, it identifies the main characteristics of the medicine books that circulated in Chile, and then goes on to examine the profiles of their owners, the possible uses of those books, and their connection to the dynamics of trade flows. The article shows the visibility acquired by medicine books, and suggests that the availability of titles was not merely subordinated to commercial flows, but was also determined by the owners, who played an active role in constituting themselves as a specific reading audience and creating alternative access routes. Este artigo tem como objetivo explicar as possibilidades analíticas do estudo de livros de medicina que circularam no Chile durante o século XVIII. A partir do estudo de inventários de bibliotecas privadas, inventários comerciais e documentação aduaneira, explora-se os vínculos entre a disponibilidade de títulos e os gostos dos proprietários/leitores. Com esse objetivo, são identificadas as principais características dos livros de medicina que circularam no Chile e, posteriormente, o perfil de seus proprietários, os possíveis usos desses livros e a sua ligação com a dinâmica do fluxo comercial foram examinados. O artigo relata a crescente visibilidade alcançada pelos livros de medicina, sugerindo que a disponibilidade de títulos, além de estar sujeita ao fluxo comercial, também foi determinada pelos proprietários, que exerceram um papel ativo, configurando-se como um público leitor específico e criando vias alternativas de acesso.

La melancolía de Francisca Paula de Azúa: Rastros de la biografía emocional de la esposa de un hombre privado del uso de la razón. Chile, 1774-1784

Francisca Paula de Azúa requested in 1780 the interdiction of her husband Ramón Cortés, claiming he was incapable of administering his patrimony on account of a madness caused by his constant drunkenness. At the same time, she turned to the ecclesiastical court to request divorce based on the same reasons. Both records constitute the documentation explored by this article to propose a biographical exercise that traces the experience of a woman from the Chilean creole elite society from the late colonial period marked by the melancholy and pain caused by the repeated abuse her husband inflicted on her. Her story is presented as a case of feminine agency in a context particularly adverse, that of cohabitation with a husband whose constant drunkenness and consequent violent conduct was understood by those surrounding him as a mental illness. This article aims at exploring the different layers of Francisca Paula’s story to search for the traces of her emotional biography: it examines what she might have felt, how she and the people surrounding her signified those feelings, and how these emotions were represented and instrumentalized in the judicial procedure. By resorting to the biographical lens, the article intends to rescue her individuality and subjectivity, but also to reflect on the feminine experience in the late colonial period

Emociones, locura y familia en el siglo XVIII: apuntes sobre un debate historiográfico en curso

This study explores the connexions that can be drawn between emotions, madness and the family through a discussion of relevant historiographical debates, aiming to propose a critical reflection on the possibilities of introducing emotions as a category of historical analysis. It examines the debate that placed the family and the domestic space at the centre of the analysis of the history of madness, a turn that resulted in the introduction of the dimension of experience. Building on this debate, the study suggests an approach to the history of madness that considers the critical role attributed and played by emotions in the interpretation, experience and responses to mental deviance, reflecting on the interconnections between the local and the transnational dimension. To approach the history of madness through the lens of emotions provides a valuable way to grasp the contextual and relational aspects behind the social configuration of the boundaries between sanity and insanity