Paul Näcke

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Paul Näcke

Paul Adolf Näcke (born 23 January 1851 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire – died 18 August 1913 Colditz) was a German psychiatrist and criminologist. Näcke is known for his writings on homosexuality, and coining the term narcissism in 1899 to describe someone who treated his body as a sexual object.[1][2]

Career[edit]

He received his doctorate in 1873 in Würzburg, titled (English title translated): "About intestinal perforation and typhoid abdominalis". He worked in various Parisian hospitals; later he took an interest in psychiatry. In 1912 he became the director of the psychiatric hospital at Colditz Castle.[3] Näcke, along with Hans Gross, a professor of criminology, founded the archive of criminal anthropology and criminology in Dresden in 1898.[4] In 1884 Näcke wrote the first monograph on women's crime in Germany. He suggested a "sensible emancipation of women", which was groundbreaking for the time, but did not mean equal rights. Näcke is considered a strong opponent of positive criminology, that was founded by Cesare Lombroso. Näcke described Lombroso's work as marked by "arbitrariness, exaggerations, [and] jumping to conclusions" [5] According to Näcke, criminals are the product of external influences,[6] and not only biological influences as thought by Lombroso. This does not mean that Näcke disapproved of a biological basis for crime altogether. His argument is that every human being is a "latent criminal". Näcke was one of the first advocates of the sterilization of "degenerate criminals" and "degenerates" in general.[7] He saw it as a public duty to make "degenerates" infertile. By 1900, he published a work entitled The castration of certain classes of degenerates as an effective way of social protection (title translated)[8] Näcke wrote on the subject of a Jewish character, which was described only in vague and general features, and considered that character as a reason for crimes committed by Jews.[9] Näcke stated his position in 1899: "the State has the holy duty to intervene... and to prevent through legislation the increase of the degenerated elements. Such an intervention would aim at the removal of a big cancer in our national body". He asserted that only castration could guarantee that this task was fulfilled both effectively and in the "easiest, cheapest way".[10] In 1912, Näcke wrote against the then common diagnosis of "moral insanity". He developed the idea that homosexuality should not be regarded as a mental illness, but as an innate natural property. He described male menstruation as clear evidence of a continuum between male and female sexuality.[11][12]

Personal life[edit]

Paul Näcke was born in 1851, the son of a German father and a French mother. Näcke is said to have mastered seven languages. Näcke was married since 1886 and had several children. Throughout his life he suffered from a neurasthenia, also known as Effort syndrome. Näcke died on 18 August 1913 of heart failure due to atherosclerosis.[4]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Crime and madness in the woman, 1894
  • On Criminal Psychology, 1896
  • Literature report. Criminal anthropology and prison science / journal for criminal science, 1897
  • Criminal Anthropology / Annual Report for Neurology and Psychiatry, 1898
  • Castration in Certain Classes of Degenerates as an Effective Social Protection / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology, 1900
  • The accommodation of mentally ill criminals, 1902
  • About so-called "Moral Insanity", 1902
  • Émile Zola. His relationship to crime anthropology and sociology / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology, 1903
  • Are the signs of degeneration really worthless? Quarterly Journal of Judicial Medicine and Public Sanitation, 1905
  • On the alleged degeneration of Romanesque peoples, 1906
  • About family murder by mental patients, 1908
  • Classification of Homosexuals / General Journal of Psychiatry, 1908
  • About Homosexuality in Albania, 1908
  • The brain surface of paralytic, 1909
  • The Diagnosis of Homosexuality, 1909
  • On the Shakespeare Bacon Question, 1910
  • Warning about the sudden adoption of sadism and masochism / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology, 1911
  • Auto-Sadism and Suicide / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology 1911

References[edit]

  1. ^ On Narcissism, p. 74
  2. ^ "psychologytoday.com".
  3. ^ Isidor Fischer (1932/33). Biographical Encyclopedia of the Excellent Physicians of the Last Fifty Years, Volume 2 (p. 1097). Berlin and Vienna: Urban & Fischer
  4. ^ a b Galassi, Silviana (2004). Criminology in the German Empire. History of a Broken Verschafissenschaftlichung (p. 164), Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner-Verlag
  5. ^ Näcke, Paul (1893). On the methodology of a scientific criminal anthropology. Central Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry, 16 , p. 458
  6. ^ Baumann, Imanuel (2006). On the trail of crime. A History of Criminology and Criminal Policy in Germany, 1880 to 1980 (p. 51). Göttingen: Wallstein
  7. ^ Weingart, Peter, Kroll, Jürgen Bayertz, Kurt (1998). Race, blood and genes. History of Eugenics and Racial Hygiene in Germany (p. 284). Frankfurt a. Main: Suhrkamp
  8. ^ Kesper-Biermann, Sylvia & Overath, Petra (2007). The Internationalization of Criminal Justice and Criminal Policy (1870-1930): Comparing Germany (p. 139), Berlin BWV
  9. ^ Vyleta, Daniel (2005). Jewish Crimes and Misdemeanours: In Search of Jewish Criminality (Germany and Austria, 1890-1914) European History Quarterly, 35, p. 306
  10. ^ Bryant, T (2012). "ncbi.nlm.nih.gov". Med Hist. 56 (2): 237–54. doi:10.1017/mdh.2011.35. PMC 3381532. PMID 23002295.
  11. ^ Broich, Ulrich, Linder, Joachim & Schonert, Joerg (1981). Literature and Crime: The social experience of crime and prosecution as the subject of narration. Germany, England and France 1850-1880 (p. 15). Tübingen: Niemeyer
  12. ^ Näcke, Paul (1899). The sexual perversities in the asylum. Vienna Clinical Review , No. 27-30.
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