Madness & Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, by Michel Foucault, is an examination of the ideas, practices, institutions, art & literature relating to madness in Western history. It's an abridged English edition of Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique, originally published in 1961 as Folie et déraison. Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique. A full translation, The History of Madness, was published by Routledge in 6/2006. This was his 1st major book, written while Director of the Maison de France in Sweden. This history begins in the Middle Ages, noting the social & physical exclusion of lepers. It argues that with the gradual disappearance of leprosy, madness came to occupy this excluded position. The ship of fools in the 15th century is a literary version of one such exclusionary practice, the practice of sending mad people away in boats. However, during the Renaissance, madness was regarded as a common phenomenon because humans couldn't attain Divine Reason. As Cervantes' Don Quixote, all humans are weak to desires & dissimulation. Therefore, the insane, understood as those who had come too close to God's Reason, were accepted in the middle of society. It isn't before the 17th century, in a movement famously called the Great Confinement, that unreasonable people systematically were institutionalized. In the 18th century, the mad came to be seen as having lost what made them human & become animalistic & treated as such. It isn't before 19th century that madness was regarded as an illness to be cured. Foucault wasn't talking about medical institutions designed specifically for the insane but about the creation of houses of confinement for social outsiders, including not only the insane but also vagrants, the poor & orphans, & what effect those houses of confinement had on the insane & perceptions of madness in the West. He demonstrates that while confinement of social outcastes was a generally European phenomenon, it had a unique development in France & distinct developments in other countries such as Germany & England. Foucault also argues that madness during the Renaissance had the power to signify the limits of social order & to point to a deeper truth. This was silenced by Enlightened Reason. He also examines the rise of modern scientific & humanitarian treatment of the insane, notably at the hands of Philippe Pinel & Samuel Tuke. He claims these modern treatments were no less controlling than previous methods. Tuke's country retreat for the mad consisted of punishing them until they gave up their commitment to madness. Similarly, Pinel's treatment of the mad amounted to an extended aversion therapy, including such treatments as cold showers & straitjackets. This treatment amounted to repeated brutality until the pattern of judgment & punishment was internalized by the patient.

本书旨在论述关于现代灵魂与一种新的审判权力之间相互关系的历史，论述现行的科学—法律综合体的系谱。在这种综合体中，惩罚权力获得了自身的基础、证明和规则，扩大了自己的效应，并且用这种综合体掩饰自己超常的独特性。……如果这意味着写一部关于现在的历史，那才是我的兴趣所在。在我这一代对我们的时代进行诊断的哲学家圈子里，福柯是对时代精神影响最持久的。

雨果在小说中塑造了旺代叛军首领朗德纳克侯爵及其侄孙、镇压叛乱的共和军司令郭万，以及郭万的家庭教师、公安委员会特派员西穆尔丹这三个中心人物，围绕他们展开了错综复杂的情节，描绘了资产阶级和封建势力在一七九三年进行殊死搏斗的历史场面。小说结尾：朗德纳克因良心发现，返回大火焚烧中的城堡救出三个孩子，郭万为叔祖的人道精神所感动，情愿用自己的头颅换取朗德纳克的生命，西穆尔丹则在郭万人头落地的同时开枪自杀。

你每打一次手枪，地球上就会有另一个男人死亡，从即刻起，打手枪是违法的。”短片以此荒诞不禁的假设为前提，上演了一幕令人捧腹的爆笑喜剧。两个好哥们在被政府此等灭绝人性的禁令逼迫下，展开灭杀全球男人的疯狂行动，他们占领全球女人的野心计划能够得逞吗？ 短片以搞笑、幽默的方式打破人们长期以来对性话题谈论的心理壁垒，以瓦解法律、政治、新闻的严肃、不可抗拒性，增强喜剧效果。法国人对政治的嘲解与漫不经心，对性得天独厚的开放，总之，法式幽默在这部短片得到了极致发挥。 短片由法国青年导演Raphael Descraques自导自演，导演一贯擅长驾驭这种恶搞轻松题材。

《旧制度与大革命》是法国历史学家托克维尔的著作，探讨的是法国大革命期间，原有的封建制度由于腐败和不得人心而崩溃，但社会动荡却并未带来革命党预期的结果，无论是统治者还是民众，最后都被相互间的怒火所吞噬。托克维尔企图解释那些构成时代主要环节的重大事件的原因、性质、意义，而不是单纯地叙述史实。力求不带任何偏见，力求把“事实和思想、历史哲学和历史本身结合起来”。以事实判断作为价值判断的前提。“为后世留下自己的痕迹”。尽管他也参政议政，但他自信“立言”比“立功”更适合自己的性格。 在托克维尔的著作中，人们发现，革命何以发生，何时发生，有何后果，对于那些仍然坚持专制制度的国家来说，依然是无法预料的事情。革命的发生并非因民不聊生，希望往往蕴含着更大的危险。它颠覆了所有人对革命的“常识”。 中国正处于另一个十字路口，人们对于变革的渴望日益浓烈。对变局和改革不能没有思想准备和危机意识，“改革”中如何避免“革命”，民主和平等都需要自由来支撑。