Mar 28, 2024  
College Catalog 2021-2022 
    
College Catalog 2021-2022 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

FREN 446 - The Animal and the Human in the French Enlightenment


A diverse array of contemporary thinkers from Jacques Derrida to Peter Singer has sought to reevaluate the animal/human distinction and related topics including animal rights, but the relation between the animal and the human also gave rise to crucial and controversial debates during the French Enlightenment.  This course will consider the ethical, political, and aesthetic significance attributed to the relation in literary and philosophical texts by authors including Descartes, Rousseau, Diderot, and Sade.  Themes to be discussed include nature and “sauvagerie,” language, reason and the passions, sex and bestiality, cruelty and vivisection, and vegetarianism. Taught in French. Prerequisite(s): FREN 306  . Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)