Thomas Szasz

C.V. Haldipur is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University. He met Thomas Szasz, then already at Upstate, when he was a trainee in England in the 1960s, maintained correspondence with Szasz, and eventually joined the same faculty after completing his psychiatric training in Cambridge and Edinburgh. Haldipur has held various academic and administrative positions at Upstate, including Director of Medical Student Education in the Department of Psychiatry and Co-Director of the required Practice of Medicine (POM) course for all first and second-year medical students. He is a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.James L. Knoll IV, is Director of Forensic Psychiatry and Professor of Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University. He has worked as a forensic evaluator for state and federal courts, corrections, and the private sector. He is Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Psychiatric Times and a contributing editor for the Correctional Mental Health Report. He has authored over 150 publications in journals and book chapters. His afterword to David Kaczynski's memoir, Every Last Tie: The Story of the Unabomber and His Family, was published by Duke University Press in 2016. He has authored chapters in two well-received books from Oxford University Press: Stalking: Psychiatric Perspectives and Practical Approaches, edited by Debra A. Pinals (2007), and the Oxford Textbook of Correctional Psychiatry, edited by Robert L. Trestman et al. (2015). Knoll developed an academic friendship with Szasz in Upstate's Department of Psychiatry.Eric v.d. Luft earned his B.A. magna cum laude in philosophy and religion at Bowdoin College in 1974, his Ph.D. in philosophy at Bryn Mawr College in 1985, and his M.L.S. at Syracuse University in 1993. From 1987 to 2006 he was Curator of Historical Collections at SUNY Upstate Medical University. He has taught at Villanova University, Syracuse University, Upstate, and the College of Saint Rose. He is the author, editor, or translator of over 640 publications in philosophy, religion, librarianship, history, history of medicine, and nineteenth-century studies, including Hegel, Hinrichs, and Schleiermacher on Feeling and Reason in Religion: The Texts of Their 1821-22 Debate (1987), God, Evil, and Ethics: A Primer in the Philosophy of Religion (2004), A Socialist Manifesto (2007), Die at the Right Time: A Subjective Cultural History of the American Sixties (2009), Ruminations: Selected Philosophical, Historical, and Ideological Papers (vol. 1, 2010; vol. 2, 2013), and The Value of Suicide (2012).

why is it that Szasz continues to intrigue (as well as infuriate) so many? To paraphrase one contributor to this collection, "Szasz asked the right questions, even if he did not always have the right answers." His questions endure and provoke even more questions. This book includes excellent resources and offers equally enduring responses. Thomas Szasz: An Appraisal of his Legacy is highly recommended for practicing and academic and forensic psychiatrists and for philosophers.

• About the Editors About the Contributors C.V. Haldipur, James L. Knoll IV, and Eric v.d. Luft: Introduction Part I. Intellectual Roots of Szasz's Thought 1: Stephen Wilson: Study on the Szaszophone: Theme and Variations 2: Jan Pols: Leading Up to The Myth of Mental Illness 3: Eric v.d. Luft: Philosophical Influences on Thomas Szasz 4: John Z. Sadler: Conceptual Models of Normative Content in Mental Disorders Part II. The Concept of Mental Illness 5: George J. Annas: Szasz, Suicide, and Medical Ethics 6: Robert W. Daly: Agency, Mental Illness, and Psychiatry: A Response to Thomas Szasz 7: K.W.M. Fulford: Taking Szasz Seriously and his Critics Too: Thesis, Antithesis, and a Values-Based Synthesis 8: E. Fuller Torrey: Schizophrenia: Sacred Symbol or Achilles Heel 9: James L. Knoll IV: Suicide Prohibition: Shame, Blame, or Social Aim? 10: Jennifer Church: Myths, Projections, and Overextensions: The Conceptual Landscape of Thomas Szasz 11: Mantosh J. Dewan and Eugene A. Kaplan: The Clinical Wisdom of Thomas Szasz 12: Ronald W. Pies: Thomas Szasz and the Language of Mental Illness Part III. Szasz's Larger Impact 13: Allen Frances: The Myth and Reality of Mental Illness 14: Nancy Nyquist Potter: Reform and Revolution in the Context of Critical Psychiatry and Service-User / Survivor Movements 15: Neil Pickering: Thomas Szasz and the Insanity Defense 16: Marisola Xhelili Ciaccio: Bringing Psychopaths into the Moral Community: Reassessing Agency Cultivation and Social Participation 17: Mona Gupta: Mental Illness is Not a Myth: Epistemic Favoritism in Research Funding 18: Jennifer Radden: Rights, Responsibilities, and Mental Illnesses: A Chronology of the Szasz Decades 19: Thomas Schramme: Szasz's Legacy and Current Challenges in Psychiatry C.V. Haldipur: Epilogue Index