Conflicting representations of Jan Wier (1515-1588)

Research into the life of the Dutch physician Jan Wier (1515-1588) clarifies conflicting representations of his life achievements and his impact on societal criticism. Wier is known an early opponent of the witch persecution, a founding father of modern psychiatry, and a champion of human rights avant la lettre. Not surprisingly, his numerous admirers included thinkers as Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. Critics of Wier believe that he enhanced the witch prosecution, advocated a harsh treatment of certain types of criminals, and wrongly counts as a figure-head of psychiatry or even influenced the discipline in an undesirable direction. In the second half of the twentieth century, anti-psychiatrist Thomas Szasz described Wier as the founder of a health care system that confined and silenced troublesome individuals. Hoorens will show how she applied insights from experimental and social psychology both to identify Wier’s basic motives and to understand how the contradictory views on his legacy came about. She will demonstrate how her approach surprisingly brought to light that Wier’s aim was neither to protest against the witch prosecution, nor to describe witches as mentally ill or to advocate a human treatment of suspects, but to criticize the Catholic church and to advance his personal career. She will further demonstrate how a failure to apply basic psychological principles has contributed to problematic and conflicting representations of Wier’s life and legacy.status: publishe