The Coherence of Delirium. Félix Ravaisson and the Spiritualist Reception of the Psychiatric Debate on Mental Alienation

This essay examines the concept of “madness” in Ravaisson’s philosophy, especially in his Rapport sur la philosophie en France au XIXe siècle (1867). The aim of this analysis is to highlight the influence of mid-nineteenth century French Psychiatry, particularly Alienism, on Ravaisson’s conception of lunacy. While earlier spiritualist accounts described the lunatic as a being without rationality and an automaton without consciousness, Ravaisson instead tries to thematize the role of reason and rationality in the various morbid states of the soul (such as delirium, hallucination, alterations of sensibility, etc.).