Law and the modern mind : consciousness and responsibility in American legal culture /

"In postrevolutionary America, the autonomous individual was both the linchpin of a young nation and a threat to the founders' vision of ordered liberty. Conceiving of self-government as a psychological as well as a political project, jurists built a republic of laws upon the Enlightenment...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Blumenthal, Susanna L., 1967-
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, [2016]
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

MARC

LEADER 00000cam a2200000 i 4500
001 906121515
003 OCoLC
005 20190307115130.0
008 150331s2016 mau b 001 0 eng
010 |a 2015012785 
020 |a 9780674048935 
020 |a 0674048938 
040 |a DLC  |b eng  |e rda  |c DLC  |d YDX  |d YDXCP  |d BTCTA  |d BDX  |d OCLCF  |d HLS  |d CDX  |d CLU  |d GUB  |d LRP  |d UX0  |d OCLCQ  |d CSJ  |d L2U  |d OCLCQ  |d CCH  |d OCLCQ  |d CEF  |d TKN  |d CNO  |d FQG  |d FML  |d CPS  |d CUY  |d OCLCQ  |d UKMGB  |d NLM  |d OCLCO  |d OCLCA 
042 |a pcc 
043 |a n-us--- 
049 |a VLAM 
050 0 0 |a KF9242  |b .B58 2016 
100 1 |a Blumenthal, Susanna L.,  |d 1967- 
245 1 0 |a Law and the modern mind :  |b consciousness and responsibility in American legal culture /  |c Susanna L. Blumenthal 
260 |a Cambridge, Massachusetts :  |b Harvard University Press,  |c [2016] 
300 |a 385 pages ;  |c 25 cm 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references and index 
505 0 |a Common sense and common law -- The medical jurisprudence of insanity -- Unnatural dispositions -- The eccentricity of the will -- Speculative mania in the age of contract -- The consideration of love -- The responsible originator 
520 |a "In postrevolutionary America, the autonomous individual was both the linchpin of a young nation and a threat to the founders' vision of ordered liberty. Conceiving of self-government as a psychological as well as a political project, jurists built a republic of laws upon the Enlightenment science of the mind with the aim of producing a responsible citizenry. Susanna Blumenthal probes the assumptions and consequences of this undertaking, revealing how ideas about consciousness, agency, and accountability have shaped American jurisprudence. Focusing on everyday adjudication, Blumenthal shows that mental soundness was routinely disputed in civil as well as criminal cases. Litigants presented conflicting religious, philosophical, and medical understandings of the self, intensifying fears of a populace maddened by too much liberty. Judges struggled to reconcile common sense notions of rationality with novel scientific concepts that suggested deviant behavior might result from disease rather than conscious choice. Determining the threshold of competence was especially vexing in litigation among family members that raised profound questions about the interconnections between love and consent. This body of law coalesced into a jurisprudence of insanity, which also illuminates the position of those to whom the insane were compared, particularly children, married women, and slaves. Over time, the liberties of the eccentric expanded as jurists came to recognize the diversity of beliefs held by otherwise reasonable persons."--Jacket 
650 0 |a Insanity (Law)  |z United States 
650 0 |a Mental health laws  |z United States 
650 0 |a Liability (Law)  |z United States 
650 0 |a Common law  |z United States 
650 0 |a Common sense 
907 |a .b2281624 
998 |a third 
999 |c 122060 
852 |a Law Library  |b Third Floor  |h KF9242 .B58 2016  |p 33940004375612