Romano Carlin: “In Godel and Cantor; Madness as Accessory to Genius” The Chronicle of Higher Education 47. 2 (Sep 8, 2000): “GENIUS INTIMIDATES, and absolute genius intimidates absolutely. But does genius intimidate more than it might because, often, it also intimidates the way paradox does-by challenging us with a time-honored, blunt incongruity? By being paradoxical? “The question arises from one of Western cultures hoariest notions, Senecas observation in ‘On Tranquillity of the Mind’ that ‘There is no great genius without some touch of madness.’ As a footnote in Bartletts Familiar Quotations points out, the thought was already a commonplace in ancient times, with the Roman philosopher crediting the notion to Aristotles Problemata: ‘No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.’ ... “‘When he was around eight years old,’ says Godels older brother, Rudolf, ‘my brother had a bad case of rheumatism of the joints with a high fever; since then he became a hypochondriac and imagined he had a heart defect, which was never medically established.’ “After Godel married, his wife, Adele, ‘served as a `taster of his food when his paranoia convinced him that someone was trying to poison him. In those periods, Adele fed him spoonful by spoonful, until she was able to bring his weight up from 106 pounds to a more respectable 140 pounds.’ “In the 1950s, Casti and DePauli report, ‘Godels health steadily deteriorated. His self-diagnoses became increasingly strident, his attacks of paranoia more intense.’ In his later years, Godel turned to occultism, transmigration of the soul, and issues of Gods existence. Colleagues at the institute found that Godel would insist on talking with them on the telephone, even when they were down the hall. “ACZELs PORTRAIT of Cantor is only a bit less blase in limning the ‘emaciated and weary man’ who ‘died of heart failure at the Halle Nervenklinik, a university mental clinic in the German industrial city of Halle.’... “In 1884, Cantor was immobilized by depression for months and ‘could not work or interact with others.’ As further visits to the clinic ensued, the minister of culture granted him long sick leaves and appropriated standby money for a substitute professor. ‘It has been suggested that Cantors illness might have been a bipolar disorder: manic depression,’ writes Aczel. ‘Some psychologists have even seen in his behavior hints of a persecution complex.’ “...” tinyurl/qx2xqmq
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 18:58:03 +0000
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