Editing Sanity

{{Short description|Soundness, rationality and healthiness of the mind}}
{{Other uses}}
{{redirect|Sound mind|the phrase "sound mind in a sound body"|Mens sana in corpore sano{{!}}''Mens sana in corpore sano''}}

'''Sanity''' (from {{langx|la|sānitās}}) refers to the soundness, [[rationality]], and [[Mental health|health of the human mind]], as opposed to [[insanity]]. A person is sane if they are rational. In [[modern society]], the term has become exclusively [[synonym]]ous with '''''compos mentis''''' ({{langx|la|compos|4=having mastery of|links=no}} and {{langx|la|mentis|4=mind|links=no}}). The contrast is ''[[non compos mentis]]'', or [[insanity]]. According to the writer [[G. K. Chesterton]],<ref>Chesterton, G. K. 2002. ''The Outline of Sanity''. IHS Press</ref> sanity involves wholeness, whereas insanity implies narrowness and brokenness.

A sane mind is nowadays considered healthy both in its analytical (once called ''rational'') and emotional aspects.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Anderson|first=Steven W.|author2=Antoine Bechara|author3=Hanna Damasio|author4=Daniel Tranel|author5=Antonio R. Damasio|title=Impairment of social and moral behavior related to early damage in human prefrontal cortex|journal=Nature Neuroscience|date=1999|volume=2|issue=11|pages=1032–7|doi=10.1038/14833|pmid=10526345|s2cid=204990285|url=http://saki.caltech.edu/biCNS217/PDFs/Anderson1999.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140518134726/http://saki.caltech.edu/biCNS217/PDFs/Anderson1999.pdf|archive-date=2014-05-18}}</ref>

==Psychiatry and psychology==
[[Alfred Korzybski]] proposed a theory of sanity in his [[general 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 a [[Map/territory relation|map-territory analogy]]: "A [[map]] ''is not'' the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a 'similar structure' to the territory, which accounts for its [[usefulness]]."<ref>[http://www.doyletics.com/art/sciencea.htm Science and Sanity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230091326/http://www.doyletics.com/art/sciencea.htm |date=2010-12-30 }} by Alfred Korzybski</ref> 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-mathematical [[scientific method|methods of science]]." He also stressed that sanity requires the awareness that "whatever you say a thing is, it is not"<ref>Korzybski, A. 2010. ''Selections from Science and Sanity''. The New Non-Aristotelian Library, p. VIII.</ref> 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.

Psychiatrist [[Philip S. Graven]] suggested the term "un-sane" to describe a condition that is not exactly ''insane'', but not quite ''sane'' either.<ref>[http://www.neurosemantics.com/nlp-critiques/when-ecology-does-not-count When Ecology Does Not Count: Checking the Ecology of The Ecology Check] by L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.</ref>

In ''The Sane Society'', [[1955 in literature|published in 1955]], psychologist [[Erich 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":<ref>[http://www.vault-co.com/index.php?p=826_consensual_validation Consensual validation] at vault-co.com {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
<blockquote>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 a ''[[folie à deux]]'' there is a ''folie à millions''. The fact that millions of people share the same [[vice]]s 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.<ref>Fromm, Erich. ''The Sane Society'', Routledge, 1955, pp.14–15.</ref></blockquote>

== Law ==
In [[criminal law|criminal]] and [[mental health law]], sanity is a [[legal term]] denoting that an individual is of sound mind and therefore can bear legal [[Moral responsibility|responsibility]] for their [[Action (philosophy)|actions]]. The official legal term is ''compos mentis''. It is generally defined in terms of the [[wikt:lack|absence]] of insanity (''[[non compos mentis]]'').  It is not a [[medical term]], although the opinions of [[Expert witness|medical expert]]s are often important in making a legal [[Case law|decision]] as to whether someone is sane or insane. It is also not the same concept as [[mental illness]].  One can be acting under profound mental illness and yet be sane, and one can also be [[Court order|ruled]] insane without an underlying mental illness.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38179345 |title=West's encyclopedia of American law. Volume 9, S to substance abuse. |date=1998 |publisher=West Group |others=West Publishing Company |isbn=0-314-20166-1 |location=Minneapolis/St. Paul |oclc=38179345}}</ref>

Legal definitions of sanity have been little explored by science and medicine, as the concentration has been on illness.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Math |first1=Suresh Bada |last2=Kumar |first2=Channaveerachari Naveen |last3=Moirangthem |first3=Sydney |title=Insanity Defense: Past, Present, and Future |journal=Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine |date=2015 |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=381–387 |doi=10.4103/0253-7176.168559 |pmid=26702167 |quote=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.|pmc=4676201 |doi-access=free }}</ref> It remains entirely impossible to prove sanity. Furthermore, as Korzybski<ref>Korzybski, A. 2010. ''Selections from Science and Sanity''. The New Non-Aristotelian Library.</ref> 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<ref>Fromm, Erich. 1955/1990. ''The Sane Society''.</ref> referred to the "pathology of normalcy," while [[David Cooper (psychiatrist)|David Cooper]] proposed that normality was opposed to both madness and sanity.<ref>D Cooper, ''The Death of the Family'' (Penguin 1971) p. 12</ref>

For a last will and testament to be valid, the testator must have [[testamentary capacity]]. This is often expressed using the phrase "being of sound mind and memory".

==See also==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wiktionary|sane|sanity}}
* [[George Eman Vaillant]]
* [[Insanity defense]]
* [[Rationalism]]
* [[Sanism]]
* [[Self-actualisation]]

==References==
{{More citations needed|date=December 2010}}
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Mental health law]]
[[Category:General semantics]]