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At the borders of the average man: Adolphe Quêtelet on mental, moral, and criminal monstrosities
Author(s) -
Sposini Filippo Maria
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/jhbs.22019
Subject(s) - alienation , deviance (statistics) , immorality , sociology , civilization , criminology , seriousness , anomie , ideology , phrenology , psychoanalysis , politics , social science , law , philosophy , psychology , epistemology , political science , anthropology , morality , medicine , statistics , alternative medicine , mathematics , pathology
Abstract This study examines Adolphe Quêtelet's conception of deviance. It investigates how he identified social marginalities and what actions he recommended governments to undertake. To get a close understanding of his views, this paper examines three cases of “monstrosities,” namely mental alienation, drunkenness, and criminality. My main thesis is that Quêtelet provided scientific authority to a conception of deviance as sickness, immorality, and cost thus encouraging legislators to use statistics for containing social marginalities. The case of alienation shows that Quêtelet viewed insanity as a pathology of civilization to be understood through phrenology. The case of drunkenness demonstrates how Quêtelet conflated the notion of statistical mean with moral decency. The case of criminality illustrates Quêtelet's major concern with the cost of criminals for the state. While advocating for the perfectibility of mankind, Quêtelet urged governments to take actions against what he considered the monstrosities of society.