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University Daily Kansan
Friday, Feb. 26, 1965
N.Y. Doctor Defines Ethics as Psychiatry
By Jacke Thayer
Dr. Thomas Szasz, visiting lecturer from the State University of New York, spoke on "Morality and Philosophy" last night to a standing-room-only crowd. His lecture was the fifth in the Philosophy department's series on ethics and society.
Dr. Szasz covered three major areas in his lecture: (1) The means by which ethical conduct may be redefined as psychiatric malady, (2) the role of psychiatry as a covert system of ethics in American system and (3) the "mental health ethic."
"WEBSTER'S dictionary." Dr. Szasz said, "defines ethics as the principles of conduct in a society. Ethics are a distinct human affair, because only persons 'conduct' themselves."
"In all such conduct, considerations of right and wrong play a role," he continued.
With psychiatry partially defined by Webster as "treatment of mental and emotional disorders," Dr. Szasz concluded, "Ethics is psychiatry, considering the dictionary definitions of the two."
"The ethicist is concerned with normal behavior. The psychiatrist is concerned with abnormal behavior. But who can decide what is abnormal behavior?" Dr. Szasz questioned.
ETHICS ARE meaningful only in the context of a more or less free societal group, according to Dr. Szasz, and psychiatry must operate within the society of which it is a part.
Psychiatry's role is determined by the individualistic or collectivist ethic of its society, said Dr. Szasz. He illustrated the nature of the collectivist ethic by citing a Russian court case dealing with a "psychiatric" patient. A 24-year-old poet was tried in early 1964 on
grounds that he was not producively working for the society. At his first hearing, the judge ordered an official psychiatric examination for the poet to see if his "mental illness would prevent him from being sent to a distant locality for forced labor."
At the second hearing—after the examination—the judge concluded that the poet had psychiatric defects, but that he was capable of work. He then sentenced him to five years of forced labor. In the eyes of the state, Dr. Szasz said, this sentence was therapeutic because (1) the poet had disregarded his own personal well-being by not working, and (2) the community would no longer be hampered by this "parasite."
another evidence of his abnormality."
"THE NATURE of this collectivist ethic is indistinguishable from that of contemporary American society," Dr. Szasz maintained. "The individual is denied any distinction from the group. In America the deviant is forced to have a psychiatric examination. If he resists, his resistance is considered
"Mental health is now big business in every modern society." Dr. Szasz said. "In the United States and Great Britain, 98 per cent of all mental health care is financed by federal, state and county governments. In the U.S.S.R., of course, the government finances it 100 per cent."
The problem, according to Dr. Szasz, is that the aim of mental health care in government-supported institutions is not to transform the mentally ill to the mentally healthy.
"The aim is to promote certain values and performances, and to suppress others. . . In the American mental hospital, meaningful and productive work is discouraged or prevented by force," Dr. Szasz said.
"We HAVE a subtle economic stake in encouraging further mental health patients." Dr. Szasz cited the Russia-U.S. ratio of psychiatric doctors to bed spaces as "approximately the same." In the U.S.S.R.,
however, only 11 per cent of all hospital beds are allotted to the mentally ill. In the U.S., he said, the figure is 46 per cent.
"The Russian cure for mental illness is enforced work, because they are faced with a chronic labor shortage," Dr. Szasz said. "In America, our cure is enforced idleness, because we are faced with a chronic labor surplus."
This concern for "community psychiatry" is universal in the profession, according to Dr. Szasz. The problem of mental illness is considered so complex as to require intervention of the federal government, yet its success is dependent upon individual responsibility.
"Proletarianism has been rejected by America politically as fascist or communist. But in the area of mental health, proletarianism is embraced. Where fascism and communism have failed to collectize America, the mental health ethic may succeed in doing so." Dr. Szasz said.
CORE Will Repair Southern Church
The rebuilding of a burned church in Jonesboro, Louisiana will be the project of 20 volunteer students during spring vacation, Richard L. Burke, assistant professor of human relations and CORE chairman, announced Wednesday.
Burke said that a CORE field worker from Jonesboro will hold a week-end training session before the trip.
Jonesboro is a town of about 3,000 in northern Louisiana. Approximately one half of the community is Negro.
"There has been a lot of tension there for many years," Burke said. "Only in the past two or three years has any militant resistance taken place."
The Lawrence party will be housed with Negro families and may be joined by other groups from Tulane and other southern colleges, he said.
The group will be co-ed and inter-racial. Burke said that all students under 21 will need the written permission of their parents.
"Actual cost is unclear at this time." Burke said "Transportation will either be by chartered bus or caravan.
"Given the state of tension," he said, "a car caravan would be met by an escort of Jonesboro Negroes"
However, Burke does not expect any trouble. "Students from
Burke said, "The Negro community is sufficiently mobilized to provide a high degree of protection. However, no guarantees of safety will be made."
other colleges have gone down to clear the rubble," he said, "and ran into no trouble."
He said a group called the Jones- boro Deacons for Justice would patrol the streets carrying weapons for defense only.
"At this point, plans are tentative," Burke said. "We are in constant contact with the CORE southern office."
He also said the volunteers would maintain a non-violent discipline.
Miss Mildred Dickeman, assistant professor of anthropology and secretary of CORE, said the trip's objective is three-fold.
"The first," she said, "is to rebuild the church." The second, is to show that people in the north really care about what happens to the southern Negro. The third, is the learning process of exactly what Negro life is in that part of the country."
Miss Dickeman also stated that students would not be accepted in the white community at all.
More applicants are expected than there are places for them, Miss Dickeman said.
She said the students will be doing hard work under rough social conditions.
Movieland Mourns Death of Stan Laurel
Comedian Dick Van Dyke, 39, was to deliver the eulogy. The rubber-faced Laurel was a star before Van Dyke was even born. In 1927, two years after Van Dyke's birth, Laurel teamed with fat Oliver (Babe) Hardy to form the most successful movie comedy team in history.
HOLLYWOOD—(UPI)—Hollywood bids a sad farewell today to Stan Laurel, a comic genius who helped make it the movie capital of the world.
Laurel, 74, died last Tuesday of a heart attack in his nearby Santa Monica home. His widow, Ida, was with him when he succumbed.
THE SERVICES in Forest Lawn's Church of the Hills in Hollywood Hills were scheduled for 3 p.m. PST with inurnment to follow.
Broken-hearted by the death of Hardy in 1957, Laurel never again appeared in public.
THE THIN man and the fat man had been partners in some 300 films, mostly two and three-reelers. Their movies included "Babes in Toyland," "The Devil's Brother," "Way Out West," "Our Relations," "Blockheads," and "Bonnie Scotland." Their last picture was "Atoll K," filmed in France in 1949.
Although their films made millions of dollars in theaters and on television throughout the world, neither man retained an interest in the television royalties.
Thus, in their declining years, both men lived modestly—Hardy in Hollywood and Laurel in a bungalow overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Turk Says People Rule Rulers
Democratic nations often remove existing governments when they cease to represent the feelings of the people, Orkun Akpinar, editor of the foreign news department, Anatolian News Agency, Ankara, Turkey, said.
He was referring to the Justice Party's overthrow of Gen. Ismet Inonu's administration.
Akpinar is visiting the United States for the first time by invitation of the Council on Leaders and Specialists, a branch of the Experiment in International Living. He will be participating in the Foreign Specialists Program, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the State Department.
AKPINAR'S PURPOSE in coming to the United States is mainly to study the press and its functions. He was on campus yesterday to visit the William Allen White School of Journalism.
"Inonu became unpopular when he
started promoting a very independent foreign policy," Akpinar said. "The final showdown came when he tried to push his 1965 National Budget.
The people respect him because he has been very close to Altatturk, Turkey's national hero, Akpinar pointed out.
"He has been removed from power many times and so the recent development is of no great concern to the people," he said.
Suat Urguplu, the new prime minister, is an independent in the Justice Party. Akpinar said only time will show the new party's chances for victory in the October election.
"THE ISSUE of NATO is of no connection with this political change-over. We are a NATO country and we will always be one," Akpinar said.
"Our government exercises its control only when it feels that the publication of a particular news item
KU has been associated with USAF for the past three years and during that time 1,113 students have borrowed nearly $750,000 from the fund, Billings noted.
Aid Officers to Study NDEA Loan Changes
Financial aid officers from Kansas' state-supported schools will meet Monday in the Kansas Union to discuss possible effects of the recently amended National Defense Education Act.
United Student Aid Fund (USAF) procedures could also be affected, Billings said. The USAF is a private non-profit organization which endorses low-cost loans made by hometown banks to college students, and works through the student's college aid office.
"SO YOU CAN see it is a significant part of our financial program." Billings added.
Robert Billings, director of aids and awards, said the amendments could possibly affect the student loan, work/study, and federal scholarship programs.
At the meeting the group will also work toward coordinating the financial aid programs of all the state schools.
A luncheon in the English Room will open the meeting. Representatives from Kansas State University, Kansas State Teachers College at Pittsburg, Kansas State Teachers College at Emporia, Fort Hays Kansas State College, Wichita State University, Washburn University (by special invitation), and KU will attend the meeting.
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will go against the national interest." he said.
Akpinar's complaint about the American press is that it gives very little editorial importance to international news. "The only international news we find is Viet Nam," he said.
"Although we have had a long history with Russia, we have now learned to ignore them," Akpinar said. Russia borders Turkey for 600 miles.
"Of course, a lot of subversive propaganda comes through the radio, particularly from East Germany," he added. "The subversive elements in Turkey get their directives through these channels. But we cannot do anything about it."
THE CYPRUS issue, Akpinar said, does not seem to have a solution in the near future. "Makarios has been the cause of the whole trouble and the United Nations has not done anything so far," he continued. "We have to side-step Makarios and deal directly with the Greek government."
"The visit to America," he said, "has been a great education to me. But I certainly don't like the snow here. I arrived here (Lawrence) after being on the warm west coast, and it is terrible."
Anatolian News Agency operates as a distributor of news to the Turkish press and radio and works in close alliance with the United States Information Service, Ankara.
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