Le complexe neuro-psychologique

The Neuro-Psychological Complex; Bringing together, and splitting up, the mixed science of the Victorian asylum

Mike Finn (University of Leeds) 

Thursday 30th January

College of Medical and Dental Sciences

School of Health and Population Sciences

HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH RESEARCH SEMINAR SPRING TERM 2014

The second seminar of the 2014 Spring Term will take place in room WF38 on the first floor of the Medical School, at 5.30pm

In the 19th century, British asylum doctors were 'philosophical practitioners', balancing metaphysical questions of mental phenomena with the pragmatic medical issues of diagnosing and treating mental diseases. They dealt, as a matter of routine, with the problematic relationship between mind and brain. Indeed, whilst on first inspection

- and in much of the historical literature since - asylums appear to be unpromising sites for the development of philosophical or scientific studies, they did in fact provide the location for a wealth of original research in the Victorian period. In this paper, I will be examining one particular institution - the West Riding Lunatic Asylum - to show how it not only became home to one of the most important research schools in the world, but how it had a lasting impact on our approach to the mind-brain problem.

ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND

Details of future seminars are available from: Dr Vanessa Heggie, History of Medicine Unit, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT.

Email: v.heggie@bham.ac.uk Tel: 0121 415 8184