Madeness and parasite in Diderot's thought -- on his several concepts of inhuman, typically represented in "Rameau's Nephew".

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24720160
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: European literature (English literature excluded)
• Research Institution: Kobe College
• Principal Investigator: OHASHI Kantaro 神戸女学院大学, 文学部, 准教授 (40459285)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 唯物論 / 啓蒙思想 / 怪物性 / 技芸＝芸術 / 寄生、貧困

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We can conclude the two chief achievements through this research project. One thing is that Diderot's materialism, above all his idea of continuity between materials and living things, can be applied to criticize modern catastrophic situation of human technology. We don't know how to manipulate high technological machine which may go beyond our control, as the nuclear power does. Diderot's thesis on arts (technology) reveals this monstrous possibility of human being, and it leads us to invent our moral control which is in itself contained in constitution of human being as material order. The second is that we can find a new key concept of Diderot's philosophy; the idea of poverty. Poverty serves, in his thought, as one of the limits against the material flows which constantly grows and develops, helped by the technological power of human agent.
Through the philosophical and historical analyses of Diderot's text, we can posit the importance of madness and poverty in Diderot.

Free Research Field

フランス思想