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Post by Jooyoung on Oct 18, 2015 9:24:38 GMT
As I was reading Don Quixote, a thought came flashed into my head. All the insane unrealistic things that Don Quixote is doing might not have been so insane during era of romantic literatures (except is hallucinations). In this era, being courteous to women is considered as a must for a gentleman. Also, it may have not been so ridiculous for people to blurt out cheesy lines. For example, people used to use lines from Shakespeare's play in their daily conversation during Elizabethan era. However, we think that is weird today. Therefore, I believe the definition of sanity and insanity depends on time period, or more specifically the culture and society of that time period. What do you guys think?
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Post by juliaj on Oct 18, 2015 9:46:07 GMT
I agree! The definition relies on perspective. In Don Quioxte, to Don Quixote himself, he seems sane and normal, but to others watching him, he seems insane. I think being really insane though, is to have experienced some kind of affliction to the brain with a lasting effect that makes a person think or behave either differently or erratically. This can be physical things like falling and hitting your head or psychological things like traumatic events. The brain finds way to protect us from things that happen like those, and sometimes in order to cope or even just keep living without pain, delusion and a bit of insanity is necessary.
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Post by ETypeRegymon on Oct 18, 2015 11:14:40 GMT
There's no way to tell whether someone is sane or insane because we can't read minds. It's all too easy for someone to act oddly despite being sane (such as using it as a form of distraction) or for a psychopath to blend in until the time is right for them to act. But I guess I define being sane or insane similarly to julia, in that someone insane behaves erratically or differently. But, unless it's a physical deformity in the brain (part of the brain is missing or damaged), I can only call someone insane if they keep their odd behavior consistently.
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Post by lucia on Oct 18, 2015 12:27:58 GMT
I also think that it's hard to determine what differentiates sanity from insanity. I agree with julia that perception or perspective has something to do with this. In the story, Don Quixote might perceive his actions and beliefs as his own little reality but others don't. People describe Don Quixote as insane based on the series of accepted norms, but we don't know if majority opinion is always true. I don't think Don Quixote is completely insane in that we all have those moments where we are pretty sure we are right and everyone else is wrong.
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Post by sangjoon on Oct 18, 2015 12:37:27 GMT
In my personal opinion, sane and insane are defined by mental condition. I don't think sane and insane are defined depends on it's time period or culture. The reason why I think it's just depends on mental problem is that if one is sane, then that guy should be able to adapt in ner culture and understand the time period but just being insane because of different value. It might be somehow true that insane and sane are determined by it's time periods'culture but I think mental condition is more important because it's more like nature.
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Post by graceyichen on Oct 18, 2015 12:46:30 GMT
YES, I think the difference depends on the time period.
Woman who didn't believe marriage was necessary were probably considered insane before, but not anymore. People who truly believe we live in a matrix right now may be considered insane, but probably not in the future. The label of "sane" and "insane" really depends on the values of people in a certain time period, and reflects their fears. Most of the time, those who are called "insane" believe in things that society has not yet had evidence of, and considers dangerous.
It's kind of like bullying. Just because a bunch of people don't understand, someone is labeled as insane. I don't think Don Quixote was insane, if we weren't educated in the way we are now, focusing on the "hard stuff" like academics, evidence, "what's useful", none of us would think Don Quixote was weird.
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Post by Tharu on Oct 18, 2015 12:47:04 GMT
I agree with you, the main reason that we were thinking that Don Quixote is insane, is mainly because of the way he acted and the way he addressed others. This could be something that is totally okay, in the society those days, since we don't have this kind of behavior in our society, we believed that it is funny and also in the other hand weird. And also the way we define insanity and sanity might differ from person to person. For an example, if a person is wearing a bikini in the street i would probably think that person is insane, but what about that person's perspective wearing a bikini in the street? it could be totally different from mine.
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Post by mayurika98 on Oct 18, 2015 12:56:13 GMT
This post reminds me of something Mr. Berry said. We saw this dude on the street who was shouting at a wall or something. Mr. Berry, we're all thinking that he is crazy but what if it was the other way around. What if he was the sane person and that was the normal thing to do. I think we start calling someone insane when they do something that is not familiar to "normal" human behavior. Before judging whether a person is sane or not we need to define what is normal.
I personally don't think Don Quixote is insane. He was just brought up by the nature of the stories he read. In this case he thinks that acting like a knight and castles and dragons are normal in the world. It also depends on the time period and place as well, because they are places where knights and castles are a norm.
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Post by timmy on Oct 18, 2015 12:58:20 GMT
Like how the line between good and evil has changed over time, I believe that sanity and insanity is also. Sanity is not an absolutely established thing- it is more a rule that humans have made on themselves. Of course, we may go into the religious discussion of how God has made certain rules for humans to see the difference between sanity and insanity, but even taking this into account, the fact remains that there are still rules that humans made for themselves to differentiate the two. For instance, it was insane for someone to denounce Catholics back then- nowadays, most of us are not Catholic. I am not saying that not being a Catholic is wrong, but it is simply a different perspective.
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Post by Jessica (Yeeun) Kim on Oct 18, 2015 14:10:56 GMT
I agree that it is impossible to define sanity and insanity because everyone have different perspective. However, in my opinion, Don Quixote is completely insane because he always exaggerated and over dramatic about everything. No one truly believe the owner and old house as the king and castle. And the author of Don Quixote liked to satirize the reality of romantic literature. As the evidences, the story of Don Quixote contained many contents about romantic literature, such as, prince, castle, arms, and evils.
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toufiq
Junior Member
Posts: 86 
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Post by toufiq on Oct 18, 2015 14:56:03 GMT
who are we to define what is sanity and insanity? I don't think we are even near to sanity if we try to think about ourselves closely. Think for a second, we are bullying someone to some extent for sure without even knowing that fact. When we see a dog we say Hi but meeting a human, the very common first instinct is avoiding eye contact from the fear that a conversation may start. To those person we may seem insane but the thing is we don't know that because we don't care. So we are here now judging what is insanity and sanity.
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kevv
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by kevv on Oct 18, 2015 14:59:07 GMT
I think sane and insane differs by the people who tend to judge. Even if you believe in yourself that you are sane, when people look at you, you may be viewed as insane and so that shows that not just by the culture or the time difference, people are the ones who judge and make decisions whether you are insane or sane. As perspective is an important aspect in our lives, I think it is very important on how you act and show what kind of responses you show towards other people.
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Post by Emily on Oct 18, 2015 16:57:05 GMT
I agree with you that there can be no true definition of sanity or insanity. It all depends on who's perspective we are looking at, and also what time period. Back then, being polygamous was actually very common, with a husband having as many as 6-7 wives. However, nowadays having more than one wife is actually viewed extremely negatively now, and even the thought of having more than one wife is considered crazy and bizarre. Therefore, culture is a huge determinant of whether someone can be considered sane or insane.
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Post by andrewcho77 on Oct 24, 2015 13:29:53 GMT
I agree with everyone of you guys that there is no definition of sanity or insanity. We can't judge other people. Some people might believe that he or she is not insane and others might believe he or she is insane. The society made these ideas and plugged it into our brains. However, if we understand the ideas in different time periods we might be able to think they are not insane which is insane today. The traditions, culture, and the society plays a huge role to our brains and make us judge other people.
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Post by anniee on Oct 25, 2015 12:10:00 GMT
I agree that different time periods showed different values, traditions, and ways of thinking. Though Don Quixote was stared at for his manner of speaking and dress, the people weren't as awed as if we saw a person dressed up in armor today. They realized at once that he was a "knight" and responded to his words as if they were fellow knights.
However, I also think that, to a point, we share points of view. Being courteous to women was part of a knight's code of chivalry during the medieval era, but we also consider being courteous as being gentleman-like in the modern times. I also think our basis of sanity vs. insanity shares a common foundation of acting eccentric. Though what is considered weird is different between our cultures, we acknowledge insanity in someone who seems to be deranged in his/her mental state.
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