In the psychological sphere the abnormal man is he who begs and appeals
Evidence
- I should like to think that I am not going to be brought to trial for this sentence. Skeptics always have a fine time asking, “What do you mean by normal?” For the moment, it is beyond the scope of this book to answer the question. In order to pacify the more insistent, let me refer them to the extremely instructive work by Georges Canguilhem, Essai sur quelques problèmes concernant le normal et le pathologique (Paris, Société d’Editions, 1950), even though its sole orientation is biological. And let me add only that in the psychological sphere the abnormal man is he who demands, who appeals, who begs. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 971
Categorization
- DEFINE: Fanon’s striking redefinition of psychological abnormality in terms of dependency and supplication.
- XREF: Bears on the reader’s analysis of colonial subjects’ psychological posture toward authority figures.