Ken Gemes the Biology of Evil
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Biologistic Conceptions of Evil
Lecturer: Ken Gemes
Course Description
In enlightenment rhetoric, as developed by philosophers such as Descartes and Kant, evil is typically configured as a species of error, a failure or misapplication of the faculty of reason. As such, evil is treatable, indeed it may be ultimately eradicated, through the ever widening influence of education and the light of reason. In the 19th century a new medical/biological model of evil became prominent. On this model evil is seen as some kind of bodily infection which needs to be isolated or destroyed before it further infects the greater populace.
The first aim of this course is to trace the rise of this new model of evil and its embodiment in the 19th century discourse on degeneration. The second aim is to examine through case studies how elements of the discourse of degeneration were inflected in literature, philosophy and psychology.
Recommended Preliminary Reading
Daniel Pick, Faces of Degeneration: A European Disorder, C.1848-c.1918, Cambridge University Press, 1993
Bram Dijikstra, Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-De-Siecle Culture, Oxford University Press, 1998
Weekly Topics and Readings
Week 1. Survey of some pre-Nineteenth century conceptions of Women and Jews
Aim: To examine the existence of biological tropes in pre- Nineteenth century discourses on perceived inferior classes of humans
Required Readings:
Selections from Ian Mclean, The Renaissance Notion of
1 Women Selections from J. Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews
Week 2. The new Biologism
Aim: To look at some of the original 19th century scientific writings that paved the way for degeneration theory.
Required Readings:
Selections from C. Darwin, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex Selections from C. Vogt, Lectures on Man
Week 3. Degeneration I: Primary Sources
Aim: To examine some of the primary sources on degeneration and their aftermath.
Required Readings:
Selections from C. Lombroso & Ferrero, The Female Offender Selections from M. Nordau, Degeneration Selections from O. Weinninger, Sex and Character
Week 4: Degeneration II: Secondary Sources
Aim: To examine some of secondary literature on degeneration their aftermath.
Required Readings:
Selections from D. Pick, Faces of Degeneration: A European Disorder Selections from S.Gilman and J. E. Chamberlin, (eds.), Degeneration: the Dark side of Progress
Week 5: Science meets Literature
Aim: To examine Zola’s and Stoker’s attempts to fuse
2 science, literature and fantasy in exposing the alleged dangers of degeneration
Required Readings:
Selections from Zola’s Les Rougon- Macquart Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Week 6: Evil in Literature
Aim: to examine Baudelaire’s metaphoric of nature as inherently evil as supplying both an expression of and a counter-model to degeneration theory
Required Readings:
Selections from C. Baudelaire, Les Fleurs Du Mal
Week 7: Nietzsche
Aim: To examine Nietzsche’s use of the rhetoric of degeneration
Required Readings:
Selections from The Genealogy of Morals and Human, All Too Human
Week 8: Freud
Aim: To examine Freud’s use of the rhetoric of degeneration and his alleged repudiation of degeneration theory.
Required Readings:
Selections from Three Essays on The Theory of Sexuality, On Femininity, Some Psychical Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes.
Week 9: Freudian Applications
Aim: To examine degeneration theory and rhetoric in light of Freud’s theory of Projective Identification
3 Required Readings: Freud’s The Uncanny Selections from Kristeva’s Strangers to Ourselves
Week 10: Aftermath and Review
Aim: To examine the historical resonances of a literal reading of the metaphoric of denegation, and to consider the relation of degeneration theory to recent ideas about gendered moral psychology
Required Readings: Selections from A. Hitler, Mein Kampf Selections from ,C Gilligan, In a Different Voice
4