De la Excitabilidad al Afecto: la Emoción como Objeto Clínico en la Medicina Mental Ilustrada (1750–1795)

• Rubén Darío Jiménez Rosado ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad Veracruzana

     Universidad Veracruzana

     México

     
• Localización: Revista de historia de la psicología, ISSN-e 2445-0928, ISSN 0211-0040, Vol. 46, Nº 4, 2025, págs. 21-29
• Idioma: español
• Títulos paralelos:
  • From Excitability to Affect: Emotion as a Clinical Object in Enlightenment Mental Medicine (1750–1795)
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen
  • español

    Este artículo examina la constitución de la emoción como objeto clínico en la medicina mental británica entre 1750 y 1795. A partir de una lectura genealógica de la querella Battie–Monro y de la fisiología emocional de William Pargeter, se propone el concepto de “régimen clínico de la afectividad” para describir cómo ciertas racionalidades médicas transformaron el sentir en anomalía observable y tratable. Mediante análisis histórico-epistemológico, se muestra que, antes del surgimiento disciplinar de la psicología, ya operaban dispositivos de observación, técnicas de control y estilos de causalidad que reorganizaban la emoción como signo clínico y blanco terapéutico. El estudio concluye que esta reorganización anticipó formas modernas de gobierno afectivo, donde la sensibilidad fue medicalizada sin requerir aún una psicología explícita, configurando así una racionalidad clínica ilustrada sobre el cuerpo sensible

  • English

    This article examines the constitution of emotion as a clinical object in British mental medicine between 1750 and 1795. Drawing on a genealogical reading of the Battie–Monro controversy and William Pargeter’s emotional physiology, it introduces the concept of a “clinical regime of affectivity” to describe how certain medical rationalities transformed feeling into an observable and treatable anomaly. Through historical-epistemological analysis, it shows that even before the disciplinary emergence of psychology, observational devices, techniques of control, and styles of causality were already operating to reorganize emotion as a clinical sign and therapeutic target. The study concludes that this reconfiguration anticipated modern forms of affective governance, in which sensitivity was medicalized without requiring an explicit psychology, thus configuring an Enlightenment clinical rationality centered on the sensible body.

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