(It's "Restaurant at the End of the Universe", not Galaxy.) |
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| − | [[Image:BoschShipOfFools.jpg|thumb|right|250px| |
+ | [[Image:BoschShipOfFools.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Hieronymous Bosch painting "Ship of fools".]] |
| − | '''The ship of fools''' was once (spuriously) thought to have been a peculiar custom of solving the local mental health problem in medieval European towns by gathering the local [[lunatic]]s and unemployables, putting them in a cart, and obliging them to "hit the road" to beg a living. It is the title of a |
+ | '''The ship of fools''' was once (spuriously) thought to have been a peculiar custom of solving the local mental health problem in medieval European towns by gathering the local [[lunatic]]s and unemployables, putting them in a cart, and obliging them to "hit the road" to beg a living. It is the title of a Hieronymous Bosch painting, and was additionally immortalized in [[Michel Foucault]]'s "[[Madness and Civilization]]". |
This information has since been disproved. It was discovered that the [[Hieronymus Bosch|Bosch]] painting was misinterpreted by [[Foucault]], in his book "Madness and Civilization", as being a medieval solution to the growing incidence of psychological disorders. The painting was actually intended to be a poetic religious reference, and [[Foucault]]'s claim is still unsubstantiated historically. There is some irony in the fact that concepts promulgated concerning the origins of the ""Ship of Fools"" were themselves the product of a particular form of foolishness (misinterpretation of the work of Bosch by one who went on to publish expansively on the subject). |
This information has since been disproved. It was discovered that the [[Hieronymus Bosch|Bosch]] painting was misinterpreted by [[Foucault]], in his book "Madness and Civilization", as being a medieval solution to the growing incidence of psychological disorders. The painting was actually intended to be a poetic religious reference, and [[Foucault]]'s claim is still unsubstantiated historically. There is some irony in the fact that concepts promulgated concerning the origins of the ""Ship of Fools"" were themselves the product of a particular form of foolishness (misinterpretation of the work of Bosch by one who went on to publish expansively on the subject). |
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| − | [[Douglas Adams]] parodied this fictitious custom in his novel ''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe''. In this novel, a planet Golgafrincham exiled fifteen million "telephone sanitizers", "hairdressers" and other "middlemen" by luring them on a one-way trip on the spaceship of fools. |
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| − | <p><span style="font-family: serif;">The ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' has this to say about the planet of Golgafrincham: ''...the most mysterious figures of all were without doubt those of the Great Circling poets of Arium.... All this lay in the planet's remote past. It was, however, a descendant of one of these eccentric poets who invented the spurious tales of impending doom which enabled the people of Golgafrincham to rid themselves of an entire useless third of their population. The other two-thirds stayed firmly at home and lived full, rich and happy lives until they were all suddenly wiped out by a virulent disease contracted from a dirty telephone.''</span></p> |
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| − | <p>— Chapter 25, ''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe''</p> </blockquote> |
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| − | {{Socio-stub}} |
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Hieronymous Bosch painting "Ship of fools".
The ship of fools was once (spuriously) thought to have been a peculiar custom of solving the local mental health problem in medieval European towns by gathering the local lunatics and unemployables, putting them in a cart, and obliging them to "hit the road" to beg a living. It is the title of a Hieronymous Bosch painting, and was additionally immortalized in Michel Foucault's "Madness and Civilization".
This information has since been disproved. It was discovered that the Bosch painting was misinterpreted by Foucault, in his book "Madness and Civilization", as being a medieval solution to the growing incidence of psychological disorders. The painting was actually intended to be a poetic religious reference, and Foucault's claim is still unsubstantiated historically. There is some irony in the fact that concepts promulgated concerning the origins of the ""Ship of Fools"" were themselves the product of a particular form of foolishness (misinterpretation of the work of Bosch by one who went on to publish expansively on the subject).
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