<p> Biologistic Conceptions of Evil </p><p>Lecturer: Ken Gemes</p><p>Course Description</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>Recommended Preliminary Reading</p><p>Daniel Pick, Faces of Degeneration: A European Disorder, C.1848-c.1918, Cambridge University Press, 1993</p><p>Bram Dijikstra, Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-De-Siecle Culture, Oxford University Press, 1998 </p><p>Weekly Topics and Readings</p><p>Week 1. Survey of some pre-Nineteenth century conceptions of Women and Jews</p><p>Aim: To examine the existence of biological tropes in pre- Nineteenth century discourses on perceived inferior classes of humans</p><p>Required Readings: </p><p>Selections from Ian Mclean, The Renaissance Notion of </p><p>1 Women Selections from J. Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews</p><p>Week 2. The new Biologism</p><p>Aim: To look at some of the original 19th century scientific writings that paved the way for degeneration theory.</p><p>Required Readings: </p><p>Selections from C. Darwin, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex Selections from C. Vogt, Lectures on Man</p><p>Week 3. Degeneration I: Primary Sources</p><p>Aim: To examine some of the primary sources on degeneration and their aftermath.</p><p>Required Readings: </p><p>Selections from C. Lombroso & Ferrero, The Female Offender Selections from M. Nordau, Degeneration Selections from O. Weinninger, Sex and Character</p><p>Week 4: Degeneration II: Secondary Sources</p><p>Aim: To examine some of secondary literature on degeneration their aftermath.</p><p>Required Readings: </p><p>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</p><p>Week 5: Science meets Literature</p><p>Aim: To examine Zola’s and Stoker’s attempts to fuse </p><p>2 science, literature and fantasy in exposing the alleged dangers of degeneration</p><p>Required Readings: </p><p>Selections from Zola’s Les Rougon- Macquart Bram Stoker’s Dracula</p><p>Week 6: Evil in Literature</p><p>Aim: to examine Baudelaire’s metaphoric of nature as inherently evil as supplying both an expression of and a counter-model to degeneration theory</p><p>Required Readings: </p><p>Selections from C. Baudelaire, Les Fleurs Du Mal</p><p>Week 7: Nietzsche</p><p>Aim: To examine Nietzsche’s use of the rhetoric of degeneration</p><p>Required Readings: </p><p>Selections from The Genealogy of Morals and Human, All Too Human</p><p>Week 8: Freud</p><p>Aim: To examine Freud’s use of the rhetoric of degeneration and his alleged repudiation of degeneration theory.</p><p>Required Readings: </p><p>Selections from Three Essays on The Theory of Sexuality, On Femininity, Some Psychical Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes. </p><p>Week 9: Freudian Applications</p><p>Aim: To examine degeneration theory and rhetoric in light of Freud’s theory of Projective Identification</p><p>3 Required Readings: Freud’s The Uncanny Selections from Kristeva’s Strangers to Ourselves</p><p>Week 10: Aftermath and Review</p><p>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</p><p>Required Readings: Selections from A. Hitler, Mein Kampf Selections from ,C Gilligan, In a Different Voice</p><p>4</p>