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Date: | Fri, 8 Aug 1997 14:16:58 +0200 |
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Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) and his disciple Enrico Ferri founded the
modern science of criminology. Lombroso was initially a teacher of public
hygiene in Italy who turned his interest towards psychiatry and
anthropology. Both of them were positivists : they thought appropriate
hygiene would solve most if not all problems associated with crimes,
alienation, retardation...Applied to a high enough number of generations,
and taking for granted the beneficial effects which a corrected diet would
have on how new generations of parents perceive the unappropriateness of
the principles in which they have been educated, their reasoning was not
incorrect, but their theories attracted only people who had long term
visions and political thinking, and who were not reluctant to treat the
problem by the root.... If you read the article on Lombroso in the
Britannica, you may found yourself with little will to pursue your
investigation in this direction..., without knowing the real reason. Indeed
Lombroso's post mortem image is tainted by Ferri's political carreer as a
fascist in Mussolini's Italy. The famous "Long term view", hmmm.
Respecting natural laws has never been a favorite amongst anarchists and
leftists (there are exceptions, though), since their prognosis and cure
of human alienation rests entirely on economical grounds.
If you read italian you will easily find a copy of "L'Uomo Delinquente",
his most famous work written in 1875. If not you may read "Crimes: its
causes and remedies " in reprint edition in english. In these two books you
will find other references to work conducted in France and elsewhere at the
same time. If you can't find any copy let me know. I will try to find
second hand copies for you thru bookdealers' networks ...
Cheers
Denis
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