If you have any questions, you are always welcome to contact us. We'll get back to you as soon as possible, withing 24 hours on weekdays.
Customer service
All questions about your order, return and delivery must be sent to our customer service team by e-mail at yourstore@yourdomain.com
Sale & Press
If you are interested in selling our products, need more information about our brand or wish to make a collaboration, please contact us at press@yourdomain.com
Help
If you have any questions, you are always welcome to contact us. We'll get back to you as soon as possible, withing 24 hours on weekdays.
Customer service
All questions about your order, return and delivery must be sent to our customer service team by e-mail at yourstore@yourdomain.com
Sale & Press
If you are interested in selling our products, need more information about our brand or wish to make a collaboration, please contact us at press@yourdomain.com
This study looks at the lives of the most famous "wild children" of eighteenthcentury Europe, showing how they open a window onto European ideas about the potential and perfectibility of mankind. Julia V. Douthwaite recounts reports of feral children such as the wild girl of Champagne (captured in 1731 and baptized as MarieAnglique Leblanc), offering a fascinating glimpse into beliefs about the difference between man and beast and the means once used to civilize the uncivilized.A variety of educational experiments failed to tame these feral children by the standards of the day. After telling their stories, Douthwaite turns to literature that reflects on similar experiments to perfect human subjects. Her examples range from utopian schemes for progressive childrearing to philosophical tales of animated statues, from revolutionary theories of regenerated men to Gothic tales of scientists run amok. Encompassing thinkers such as Rousseau, Sade, Defoe, and Mary Shelley, Douthwaite shows how the Enlightenment conceived of mankind as an infinitely malleable entity, first with optimism, then with apprehension. Exposing the darker side of eighteenthcentury thought, she demonstrates how advances in science gave rise to troubling ethical concerns, as parents, scientists, and politicians tried to perfect mankind with disastrous results.
⚠️ WARNING (California Proposition 65):
This product may contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer,
birth defects, or other reproductive harm.
For MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) violations and Intellectual Property (IP) or Trademark concerns, please contact:
support@ergodebooks.com
⚠️ California Proposition 65 Warning: Some products sold on this website may expose you to chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. For more information, visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.
