The French Revolution as Moral Shock : On the Political Dimension of the Research and Therapy of the Human Mind, ca.1792-1806

Abstract

The paper describes how, in the context of the development of the French human sciences (sciences de l'homme) around 1800, the reference to the Reign of Terror was constitutive for the formulation and legitimation of aprocedure, which was based on what Jean-Étienne Esquirol called "moral shocks" (sécousse morale). The psychiatric and pedagogical discussion of non-physical effects on the spirit (esprit) of human subjects and patients essentially dealt with the question: could people have been liberated by the shocking surge of the Revolution from the demeaning and dependent habits of the Old Regime (ancien régime), or could this violent revolution have had apathological effect? This article shows that, after 1800, the latter interpretation became accepted. Aprofessional self-image of psychiatric and pedagogical expertise formed in the relationship between physician and patient or teacher and student. This expertise justified employing shocks in professionally controlled settings, while the healing power of the revolutionary was negated. This article thereby distinguishes between four different perspectives on the pathological or healing effect of what was perceived as a"revolutionary shock": firstly, apositive perspective that interprets the shock of the Revolution as healthy, stimulating the vital forces of the people languishing in inactivity; secondly, acautious perspective that emphasizes the necessity of curbing and controlling the passions of the people; thirdly, aperspective that recognizes in the outburst of passions an aberration from the natural state, and fourthly, atherapeutic perspective that recommends the use of passions by experts in very controlled spaces. Based on published texts and material from the Archives nationales as well as the Institut national de jeunes sourds, this article provides apolitical history of the development of moral shocks and argues that the development of epistemological and therapeutic technologies in the human sciences were essentially the result of ademarcation from revolutionary violence as well as the desire in the human sciences for astable government.