LA FABRIQUE DE L’HUMAIN. SENSIBILITÉ ET ÉPISTÉMOLOGIE DE L’HUMAIN DANS DEUX ROMANS FRANÇAIS DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE
The eighteenth century is not only the Age of Reason but also a great age of feeling, in which sensations, emotions, feelings and affects redefine both the relationship between the human and the natural environment and the relationship between the self and the social, or the self and itself. If the...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
| Published: |
Cluj University Press
2023-09-01
|
| Series: | Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai. Philologia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.studia.ubbcluj.ro/download/pdf/philologia/2023_3/09.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827779616094289920 |
|---|---|
| author | Andreea BUGIAC |
| author_facet | Andreea BUGIAC |
| author_sort | Andreea BUGIAC |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The eighteenth century is not only the Age of Reason but also a great age of feeling, in which sensations, emotions, feelings and affects redefine both the relationship between the human and the natural environment and the relationship between the self and the social, or the self and itself. If the “sensitive soul” shapes a new moral ideal, it also points out the importance of a human faculty which does not oppose reason, but complements it. In this paper I wish to explore the questions posed by the “rise of feeling” in the eighteenth-century French novel and the way in which it impacts upon a general understanding of the “human machine” and human nature. In this respect, I intend to propose a re-reading of two famous novels of the time, i.e. Montesquieu’s Lettres persanes and Choderlos de Laclos’s Liaisons dangereuses. Based upon recent research on the history of sensibility and emotions, our study examines the way in which sensibility promotes new fictional forms and norms of emotional behavior intended to open a debate on human nature. The conclusion that I will draw is that the French novelists of the time, even those who seemed less “sentimental” (such as Montesquieu) or less “philosophical” (such as Prévost or Laclos), did not ignore the then contemporary philosophical debates on sensibility and human nature, but tackled them from a more experimental angle by imagining fictional characters whose disturbed sensibility served to question the limits between the human, the non-human and the inhuman. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T14:51:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-739a50d4bd2a49f4b943fd54ae92b9bc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1220-0484 2065-9652 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T14:51:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Cluj University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai. Philologia |
| spelling | doaj.art-739a50d4bd2a49f4b943fd54ae92b9bc2023-10-30T09:15:22ZdeuCluj University PressStudia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai. Philologia1220-04842065-96522023-09-0168No. 3149168https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2023.3.09LA FABRIQUE DE L’HUMAIN. SENSIBILITÉ ET ÉPISTÉMOLOGIE DE L’HUMAIN DANS DEUX ROMANS FRANÇAIS DU XVIIIe SIÈCLEAndreea BUGIAC0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0217-9556Faculté des Lettres, Université Babeş-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, Roumanie. Email: andreea.bugiac@ubbcluj.roThe eighteenth century is not only the Age of Reason but also a great age of feeling, in which sensations, emotions, feelings and affects redefine both the relationship between the human and the natural environment and the relationship between the self and the social, or the self and itself. If the “sensitive soul” shapes a new moral ideal, it also points out the importance of a human faculty which does not oppose reason, but complements it. In this paper I wish to explore the questions posed by the “rise of feeling” in the eighteenth-century French novel and the way in which it impacts upon a general understanding of the “human machine” and human nature. In this respect, I intend to propose a re-reading of two famous novels of the time, i.e. Montesquieu’s Lettres persanes and Choderlos de Laclos’s Liaisons dangereuses. Based upon recent research on the history of sensibility and emotions, our study examines the way in which sensibility promotes new fictional forms and norms of emotional behavior intended to open a debate on human nature. The conclusion that I will draw is that the French novelists of the time, even those who seemed less “sentimental” (such as Montesquieu) or less “philosophical” (such as Prévost or Laclos), did not ignore the then contemporary philosophical debates on sensibility and human nature, but tackled them from a more experimental angle by imagining fictional characters whose disturbed sensibility served to question the limits between the human, the non-human and the inhuman.http://www.studia.ubbcluj.ro/download/pdf/philologia/2023_3/09.pdfsensibilitysensesfeelingshuman natureenlightenmentmontesquieulaclos |
| spellingShingle | Andreea BUGIAC LA FABRIQUE DE L’HUMAIN. SENSIBILITÉ ET ÉPISTÉMOLOGIE DE L’HUMAIN DANS DEUX ROMANS FRANÇAIS DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai. Philologia sensibility senses feelings human nature enlightenment montesquieu laclos |
| title | LA FABRIQUE DE L’HUMAIN. SENSIBILITÉ ET ÉPISTÉMOLOGIE DE L’HUMAIN DANS DEUX ROMANS FRANÇAIS DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE |
| title_full | LA FABRIQUE DE L’HUMAIN. SENSIBILITÉ ET ÉPISTÉMOLOGIE DE L’HUMAIN DANS DEUX ROMANS FRANÇAIS DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE |
| title_fullStr | LA FABRIQUE DE L’HUMAIN. SENSIBILITÉ ET ÉPISTÉMOLOGIE DE L’HUMAIN DANS DEUX ROMANS FRANÇAIS DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE |
| title_full_unstemmed | LA FABRIQUE DE L’HUMAIN. SENSIBILITÉ ET ÉPISTÉMOLOGIE DE L’HUMAIN DANS DEUX ROMANS FRANÇAIS DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE |
| title_short | LA FABRIQUE DE L’HUMAIN. SENSIBILITÉ ET ÉPISTÉMOLOGIE DE L’HUMAIN DANS DEUX ROMANS FRANÇAIS DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE |
| title_sort | la fabrique de l humain sensibilite et epistemologie de l humain dans deux romans francais du xviiie siecle |
| topic | sensibility senses feelings human nature enlightenment montesquieu laclos |
| url | http://www.studia.ubbcluj.ro/download/pdf/philologia/2023_3/09.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT andreeabugiac lafabriquedelhumainsensibiliteetepistemologiedelhumaindansdeuxromansfrancaisduxviiiesiecle |