Article
| Title: | Addressing the age-old question of human perfectibility in Daniel Defoe's Mere Nature Delineated: or, a Body without a Soul |
| Author: | |
| Source document: | Brno studies in English. 2013, vol. 39, iss. 1, pp. [199]-209 |
| Extent: | [199]-209 |
| ISSN: | 0524-6881 (print); 1805-0867 (online) |
| DOI: | 10.5817/BSE2013-1-11 |
| Type: | Article (English) |
| Stable URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/129159 |
PDF
Abstract(s):
This article discusses the concern with the improvement or perfectibility of human nature in eighteenth-century English society and the necessity of its encouragement considering the prevalence of human degeneration at different levels: intellectual, moral, social, political or cultural. After a brief presentation of the philosophical and literary background of the perfectibility debates, we look into Daniel Defoe's literary representation of human improvement and degeneration in his Mere Nature Delineated: or, a Body without a Soul (1726). Defoe's pamphlet had its roots in a real case of human imperfection or degradation, namely in Peter the Wild Boy's story, which gave him the opportunity to criticize his contemporaries' vices and failures.
Keywords:
feral child; noble savage; the fool; perfectibility; improvement; culture; nature; political satire
References:
[1] Arbuthnot, John and Jonathan Swift (1726) The Most Wonderful Wonder that Ever Appeared to the Wonder of the British Nation, available at http://www.archive.org/stream/lifeworksofjohna00aitk#page/474/mode/2up, accessed May 1, 2012.
[2] Defoe, Daniel (1726) Mere Nature Delineated: or, a Body without a Soul. Being Observations upon the Young Forester Lately Brought to Town from Germany. With Suitable Applications. Also, a Brief Dissertation upon the Usefulness and Necessity of Fools, whether Political or Natural. Printed for T. Warner, at the Black Boy, available at http://archive.org/details/merenaturedeline-00defo, accessed April 2, 2012.
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