Thomas Szasz

Thomas S. Szasz (1920-2012)

By Robert Higgs | Tuesday September 11, 2012

With great sadness, I note the passing on September 8 of the man I have long described as the greatest living libertarian. Thomas Szasz was, among other things, a powerful influence on the movement to release people who were being held in prisons on “psychiatric” grounds, even though they had not been convicted of any crime. Virtually single-handedly, he waged a half-century war against the use of psychiatric excuses to punish innocent people or to relieve people who had committed crimes of responsibility for their actions. He exposed in countless ways the unholy alliance of the state and the psychiatric profession, and he laid bare the bogus foundation on which this alliance rests. He was one of the greatest humanitarians of the twentieth century, a man of incisive mind, unflagging determination, and tremendous energy. He died at 92, only a year after the publication of the latest of his many books. His curriculum vitae is a stunning testament of his intellectual breadth and depth and of his unyielding devotion to human freedom.
Mais