A Profession Without Reason: The Crisis of Contemporary Psychiatry--Untangled and Solved by Spinoza, Freethinking, and Radical Enlightenment

By Bruce E. Levine

Book Overview

There is today a crisis in psychiatry. Even the former director of the National Institute of Mental Health has said: "Whatever we've been doing for five decades, it ain't working." The field of psychiatry requires a completely fresh look, and Bruce E. Levine finds that needed perspective in the seventeenth-century works of Baruch Spinoza. Readers unfamiliar with Spinoza will be intrigued by his life and the modern relevance of his radical philosophical, psychological, and political ideas. With the help of Spinoza, freethinking, and radical enlightenment, A Profession Without Reason untangles and solves the crisis of contemporary psychiatry.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 184935460X
• ISBN13: 9781849354608
• Release Date: July 2022
• Publisher: AK Press
• Length: 270 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Radical

This book illuminated a new paradigm for me. It revealed many of the problems of modern-day psychiatry through reason (Spinoza) and evidence (cited many studies). This has helped me think more critically about mental health in general, how it is used as a means to support hierarchies, and the costs of this current conceptualization. I think this is an incredible read for anybody that is struggling with mental health or knows someone who is, especially if you enjoy a dash of philosophy.