Fools and idiots? is the first book devoted to the cultural history in the pre-modern period of people we now describe as having learning disabilities. Using an interdisciplinary approach, including historical semantics, medicine, natural philosophy and law, Irina Metzler considers a neglected field of social and medical history and makes an original contribution to the problem of a shifting concept such as 'idiocy'.

Medieval physicians, lawyers and the schoolmen of the emerging universities wrote the texts which shaped medieval definitions of intellectual ability and its counterpart, disability. In studying such texts, which form part of our contemporary scientific and cultural heritage, we gain a better understanding of which people were considered to be intellectually disabled, and how their participation and inclusion in society differed from the situation today. This book will be required reading for anyone studying or working in disability studies, history of medicine, social history and the history of ideas.

傻瓜和白痴？"是第一本致力于研究我们现在描述为有学习障碍的人在前现代时期的文化历史。伊琳娜-梅茨勒采用跨学科的方法，包括历史语义学、医学、自然哲学和法律，考虑了一个被忽视的社会和医学史领域，并对 "白痴 "这样一个不断变化的概念做出了原创性贡献。

中世纪的医生、律师和新兴大学的学者们撰写的文本形成了中世纪对智力及其对应的残疾的定义。通过研究这些构成我们当代科学和文化遗产一部分的文本，我们可以更好地了解哪些人被认为是智力残疾，以及他们参与和融入社会的情况与今天有什么不同。这本书将是任何学习或从事残疾研究、医学史、社会史和思想史的人的必读书。