Frankenstein and Philosophy: The Shocking TruthNicolas Michaud Ever since it was first unleashed in 1818 the story of Victor Frankenstein and his reanimated, stitched-together corpse has inspired intense debate. Can organic life be reanimated using electricity or genetic manipulation? If so, could Frankenstein’s monster really teach itself to read and speak as Mary Shelley imagined? Do monsters have rights, or responsibilities to those who would as soon kill them? What is it about music that so affects Frankenstein’s monster, or any of us? What does Mel Brook’s Frau Blucher say to contemporary eco-feminism? Why are some Frankenstein’s flops and others historic successes? Is there a true Frankenstein? Why are children, but not adults, drawn to Shelley’s monster? And what is a “monster,” anyway? Frankenstein and Philosophy calls 25 philosophers to stitch together these and other questions as they apply to history’s greatest horror franchise. Some chapters treat the Frankenstein films, others the original novel, and yet others the many comic books, novels, and modern adaptations. Together they pay tribute to perhaps the most enduring pop culture icon and the fundamental fears, hopes, and puzzles it raises. |
Contents
Embracing the CorpsePeople | 25 |
Dr Frankensteins Treatment Notes | 47 |
Frankensteins Failure | 59 |
Is the Monster Free? | 93 |
How to Raise a Monster | 105 |
When Creations Go | 117 |
Dr Frankensteins Monster Identification | 135 |
What Love Means to a Creature | 165 |
Come Back Dr Frankenstein All Is Forgiven | 187 |
Adopting Frankensteins Creature | 207 |
The Human and the Monstrous | 227 |
You Can Learn from My Mistakes | 247 |
Why Bad Things Happen to Good Monsters | 273 |
The Mad Creators | 291 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ability Adam alien amnesia android animals attempt become biomedical enhancements body brain Clerval Craig Venter create creation Creature’s cyborg daemon dead death Derrida Descartes’s desire destroy emotional enhancement evil exist experiment external fact feel film Frankenfood Frankenstein’s creature Frankenstein’s monster Frankenweenie freewill friends genetically modified food genetically modified organisms happiness harm Henry Frankenstein horror human idea identity imagine Ingolstadt intelligent kill knowledge Koontz’s Lacey family live look Marx Mary Shelley’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein means metaphor mind Modern Prometheus monstrous movie murder nature never Nietzsche ourselves Percy Shelley person Philosophy physical problem psychological realize reason rejection robots Rousseau scientific scientist seems sense Shelley Shelley’s novel social society someone species ster story substance dualists suffering there’s things thought tion treated trying ture Übermensch understand Victor Frankenstein Walton What’s words wrong Zarathustra