Since antiquity the western world’s understanding of mental illness has continued to evolve. This course will examine the trajectory of that evolution, looking at the medical theories that have influenced assumptions about the causes and treatments of mental illness from the early modern era through the twenty-first century. Examples of questions we will investigate include: How we have defined the normal and the pathological in human mental behavior over time? How do we explain the centuries-old correlation that medicine has made between creativity and mental illness? Which past and present psychiatric treatments have been beneficial and which harmful? How did Darwin’s theory of evolution affect theories of mental illness (and how does it continue to do so with the advent of evolutionary psychology)? How have changing philosophies of science affected the research and practice of psychology? How and why do the sciences of the mind–psychiatry, psychoanalysis, clinical psychology, psychopharmacology, the cognitive neurosciences–claim so much scientific authority and exert influence over our lives today? As a frame work for this inquiry, the class will use the concept of paradigm shifts as Thomas Kuhn defines in his classic work, the Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Prereq: Passing letter grade in a 100 level first year seminar in USFS, FSNA, FSCC, FSSO, FSSY or FSCS. Prereq or Coreq: FSTS 100.