Sanity (from Latin sānitās 'health; sanity') refers to the soundness,rationality, andhealth of the human mind, as opposed toinsanity. A person is sane if they are rational. Inmodern society, the term has become exclusivelysynonymous withcompos mentis (Latin for 'having mastery, control, or power of mind'). The contrast isnon compos mentis, orinsanity. According to the writerG. K. Chesterton,[1] sanity involves wholeness, whereas insanity implies narrowness and brokenness.
A sane mind is nowadays considered healthy both in its analytical (once calledrational) and emotional aspects.[2]
Alfred Korzybski proposed a theory of sanity in hisgeneral semantics. He believed sanity was tied to the logical reasoning about and comprehension of what is going on in the world. He imposed this notion in amap-territory analogy: "Amapis not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a 'similar structure' to the territory, which accounts for itsusefulness."[3] Given that science continually seeks to adjust its theories structurally to fit the facts, i.e., improves its maps to fit the territory, and thus advances more rapidly than any other field, he believed that the key to understanding sanity would be found in the study of the methods of science (and the study of structure as revealed by science). The adoption of a scientific outlook and attitude of continual adjustment by the individual toward their assumptions was the way, so he claimed. In other words, there were "factors of sanity to be found in the physico-mathematicalmethods of science." He also stressed that sanity requires the awareness that "whatever you say a thing is, it is not"[4] because anything expressed through language is not the reality it refers to: language is like a map, and the map is not the territory. The territory, or reality, remains unnamable, unspeakable, and mysterious. Hence, the widespread assumption that we can grasp reality through language involves a degree of insanity.
PsychiatristPhilip S. Graven suggested the term "un-sane" to describe a condition that is not exactlyinsane, but not quitesane either.[5]
InThe Sane Society,published in 1955, psychologistErich Fromm proposed that not just individuals, but entire societies "may be lacking in sanity." Fromm argued that one of the most deceptive features of social life involves "consensual validation":[6]
It is naively assumed that the fact that the majority of people share certain ideas or feelings proves the validity of these ideas and feelings. Nothing is further from the truth... Just as there is afolie à deux there is afolie à millions. The fact that millions of people share the samevices does not make these vices virtues, the fact that they share so many errors does not make the errors to be truths, and the fact that millions of people share the same form of mental pathology does not make these people sane.[7]
Incriminal andmental health law, sanity is alegal term denoting that an individual is of sound mind and therefore can bear legalresponsibility for theiractions. The official legal term iscompos mentis. It is generally defined in terms of theabsence of insanity (non compos mentis). It is not amedical term, although the opinions ofmedical experts are often important in making a legaldecision as to whether someone is sane or insane. It is also not the same concept asmental illness. One can be acting under profound mental illness and yet be sane, and one can also beruled insane without an underlying mental illness.[8]
Legal definitions of sanity have been little explored by science and medicine, as the concentration has been on illness.[9] It remains entirely impossible to prove sanity. Furthermore, as Korzybski[10] has pointed out repeatedly, insanity to various degrees is widespread in the general population, which includes many people that are considered mentally fit in medical and legal terms. In this connection, Erich Fromm[11] referred to the "pathology of normalcy," whileDavid Cooper proposed that normality was opposed to both madness and sanity.[12]
For a last will and testament to be valid, the testator must havetestamentary capacity. This is often expressed using the phrase "being of sound mind and memory".
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)Very little research has been done on this topic [legal insanity] in India, however, there are few studies on exploring the clinical picture of the patients in prison.