Author

Richard von Krafft-Ebing

1840-1902 · Austro-German psychiatrist and forensic expert, an early writer on sexology

About Richard von Krafft-Ebing

Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) was an Austro-German psychiatrist, forensic expert, and professor whose Psychopathia Sexualis became one of the most influential and controversial texts in early sexology. He worked within degeneration theory and medico-legal psychiatry. His terminology shaped later debates about sexuality, pathology, criminal responsibility, and identity.

Notable works

On this site

Psychopathia Sexualis

Richard von Krafft-Ebing

1886 (Rebman English adaptation 1906) · 19th Century · History

Psychopathia Sexualis is a medico-forensic taxonomy of sexual behavior written for physicians and lawyers. Krafft-Ebing organizes case histories under categories such as hyperaesthesia, anaesthesia, paraesthesia, sadism, masochism, fetishism, and contrary sexual feeling, using the language of degeneration, neuropathic heredity, and criminal responsibility.

high medical relevanceMadness / MindIllness / BodyJustice Law