Cláudio Alexandre S. Carvalho – “Mandeville on the troubles of the Hippocondriac and the Hysterical” (Draft). Eutopia seated in the Brain, FLUC (27.11.2013). 1 Mandeville on the troubles of the Hippocondriac and the Hysterical Cláudio Alexandre S. Carvalho * I. Introduction This co mmunication tries to understand and frame Mandeville’s conception and treatment of Hypochondria and Hysteria, modern variants of melancholy. With such intent, I’ll rely mostly on his Treatise of the Hypochondriack and Hysterick Passions, first edited in 1711, which incorporates a rich understanding of the organic, psychic and social dimension of such diseases and their treatments. In this I will try to relate some of his views to its larger project. I follow E. Hundert’s suggestion that this literary return to Physics is a necessary moment in Mandeville’s project of a Science of Man, obscured by the polemic installed around The Fable of the Bees. Such project should understand society’s formation and functioning proceeding through “anatomizing the invisible Part of Man” 1 , going beyond moral assumptions discredited with the emergence of a commercial society. In this venture concerning illness and its management, he will assume himself as an “empyrick” who observes and critiques the multiple appearances of the “idol of Reason”, itself a result of pride 2 , correcting his previous conceptions along the way. At the same time, his “dramatization” of medical observation is accompanied by an acute evaluation of the current state of the art of medical theories and therapeutic practices. In the edition of 1730, Mandeville still presents an analysis of the distortions of a practice due to pursue of profit, glory or the imposition of one’s own idols over others, that clearly benefits from his work * Doctor of Philosophy. Fellow researcher from LIF – Language Interpretation and Philosophy, University of Coimbra. Email: kraftcasc@gmail.com. 1 Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees or Private Vices, Publick Benefits, 2 vols [1732]. With a Commentary Critical, Historical, and Explanatory by F.B. Kaye (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1988), I, p. 136. 2 Bernard de Mandeville, A Treatise of the Hypochondriack and Hysterick Passions vulgarly call’d the hypo in men and vapours in women… in three dialogues (London: Dryden Leach and W. Taylor, 1711 / Facsimiles from Gale ECCO Print Editions), p. 53.