FRENCH 703 / Monsters Physical and Moral during the Ancien Régime or Reproduction Gone Wrong

3 unit(s)

J. Rush

The course would emphasize the study of monsters from earlier times to the 17th and 18th Centuries through various conflicting views of reproduction (the molecular view as opposed to the more traditional view of the humours, preformation as opposed to epigenesis) and how this is expressed in literature and various scientific texts of the Ancient Régime. The notion of monster is linked to the conception of nature: the debate between intelligent design versus materialism comes to the forefront in the Age of Enlightenment. The study of the physical monster canal so be linked to the moral monster-a by-product of its “organization” -and the role of education in curbing the moral failings of such a being.