I uppsatsen jämförs William Paleys Natural Theology : or, evidence of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, collected from the appearances of nature från 1802 med Michale J. Behes Darwin's black box : The biochemical challenge to evolution från 1996. Jämförelsen kontextualiseras med en skiss över evolutionsteorimotståndets historia under den mellanliggande perioden, som tillsammans med själva den vetenskapliga utvecklingen, antas förklara de skillnader i tilltal och val av argument som föreligger mellan de två verken. I fråga om grundläggande budskap, idéstruktur, syfte och religiositet befinns de två verken ligga varandra betydligt  närmare än vad som initialt kan tyckas vara fallet.

“Doctor Moreau and The Hunt for The Ethical Figure. From unsuccessful man-making to respectful relations with Jacques Derrida, Donna Haraway and H. G. Wells” In H. G. Wells’ science fiction novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), a scientist on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean attempts to create humans from animals. Wells draws on Charles Darwin’s theories on the origins of species and the descent of man to create a horror story in which the uniqueness of the human is called into question. This study uses the novel to investigate the re-emergent interest in human-animal relations, within the natural sciences as well as the arts and humanities, in the past twenty years. In what is often termed “the Animal Turn,” theorists such as Jacques Derrida and Donna Haraway, who are at the centre of this study, have dedicated a significant amount of their work to the animal question and in particular to the ethics of inter-species relationships. Furthermore this essay stages the interaction of fiction and theoretical discourse in an analysis that probes challenges inherent to the relations of humans to other species, such as the practice of eating meat, the killing of animals, and animal rights. Moreover, it considers how the figure of the animal has been used to define the human, as well as to dehumanize people in the justification of abuse and persecution. However, human-animal ethics also has positive connotations, discussed through the figures of positivity and possibility in play, sharing, contact and responsive responsibility. Taking its inspiration from Karen Barad’s method of diffraction, this study foregrounds new pattern-making while exploring how Derrida’s and Haraway’s strategies for formulating a new ethics are present in their use of tropes and figures. / Science fiction-romanen The Island of Doctor Moreau skrevs 1896 och handlar om hur en vetenskapsman på en avlägsen ö i Stilla havet försöker skapa människor av djur. Författaren H. G. Wells inspirerades av Darwins teorier om arternas uppkomst till att skriva en skräckberättelse där mänsklighetens unikhet sätts ur spel. Den här studien använder Wells text i syfte att undersöka hur relationen mellan människor och andra arter har kommit att få ett nytt intresse inom en mängd olika vetenskapliga, praktiska och konstnärliga ämnen i slutet av 1900-talet och början av 2000-talet, något som har kommit att kallas ”The Animal Turn”.  I centrum för studien återfinns teorier formulerade av filosofen Jacques Derrida och den feministiska vetenskapsteoretikern och biologen Donna Haraway. Båda två har ägnat stor del av sina respektive arbeten åt djurfrågan, framför allt med enträget intresse för hur ett etiskt förhållande mellan arter kan se ut. Studien låter romanen och de teoretiska texterna samverka i en analys som diskuterar utmaningar i människa-djur-relationer – som köttätande, dödande och rättigheter. Människan har till exempel använt sig av djuret för att definiera sig som människa, men också för att dehumanisera andra människor, och därmed kunnat utnyttja eller våldföra sig på dessa människor. Men människa-djur-etiken har också positiva aspekter: kontakt över språkgränser, att tillsammans utgöra världsmedborgare som alla består av och är beroende av varandra, att dela lek och arbete, att se och upptäcka den andre.  Med inspiration från Karen Barads användning av metoden diffraktion vill den här uppsatsen utforska Derridas och Haraways strategier för att formulera en ny etik genom bruket av figurer och troper.

Le processus sélectif est-il nié, persistant ou dialectiquement réalisé dans la civilisation ? De ce problème, deux thèses générales se dégagent : (1) celle de l’épuisement de la sélection naturelle, la société humaine témoignant d’une véritable émancipation vitale et (2) celle d’un report des pressions de sélection, le système de contraintes sélectives demeurant effectif. En fait, cette interrogation se trouve esquissée dès l’« anthropologie » de Charles Darwin (1871), sujette encore à débats, notamment sur l’existence du darwinisme social de ce dernier, forme, justement, de report des pressions de sélection. Face à la thèse de l’incohérence doctrinale de cette « anthropologie », qui légitime malgré elle qu’on fasse tout dire de Darwin, on proposera une cohérence articulée autour du concept de sympathie et des effets combinés de la sélection, de la culture et de l’habitude. Ensuite, il s’agira de proposer une théorie de l’émancipation vitale, mêlant report des pressions de sélection et émancipation par procès ‘technosymbiotique’, néologisme au lien fort avec la cultural niche construction (Odling-Smee). Prendre la civilisation comme une niche écologique, la culture comme un paramètre, résoudra une bonne part des problèmes théoriques et de ce dualisme identitaire qu’on retrouve si souvent dans notre approche de l’homme et de sa société. La réflexion sur la civilisation nous conduira à nous interroger sur le biotope économique, comme marque essentielle et originale de notre niche écologique. Notre émancipation biologique côtoie ainsi le maintien du système de contrainte sélectionniste, dans un biotope, dès lors, de plus en plus biomimétique / Is the selective process irrelevant, does it persist, or is it dialectically achieved in civilization? Two general theses arise from this question: (1) either the progressive extinction of natural selection, human society thus witnessing a genuine vital emancipation or (2) the persistence of selection pressures, the system of selective constraints thus remaining effective. In fact, this question was outlined in 1871 with Charles Darwin’s “anthropology”; his anthropology and notably his social Darwinism, a form of displacement of selection pressures continue to be debated today. Confronted with the thesis of the doctrinal inconsistency of this “anthropology” which allows Darwin’s words to be interpreted at will, we shall put forward a form of coherence based on the concept of sympathy and the combined effects of selection, culture and habits. We shall then put forward a theory of vital emancipation that combines the persistence of selection pressures and emancipation via a technosymbiotic process, a neologism similar to cultural niche construction (Odling-Smee). Considering civilization as an ecological niche and culture as a parameter will solve most theoretical problems, notably related to the identity dualism associated with a conventional approach to man and society. Our reflection on civilization will lead us to focus on and investigate into the economic biotope understood as an essential and specific feature of our ecological niche. Following this approach, man’s biological emancipation coexists with a system of selectionist constraint in a biotope that is, as a consequence, increasingly biomimetic

<p>My thesis examines how eugenicist and psychologist Robert M. Yerkes’ experimental intelligence research helped to situate the non-human primate as the ideal research subject for human betterment research in the twentieth century U.S. Yerkes believed that the primate was the ideal research subject to address questions of human betterment and social welfare, specifically best to create methods of evaluating the imagined threat of intellectual disability. While Yerkes has been studied extensively in the history of psychology, primatology, and eugenics, rarely have his separate contributions to these fields been placed in conversation with one another. Placing the primate at the center of Yerkes’ work allows for all three fields to engage with one another in a new perspective. By analyzing Yerkes’ publications about the Multiple-Choice Experiment within the context of the American eugenics’ movement, we can see how the primate came to hold a central position in U.S. scientific research, the advancement of human welfare and betterment, and as a means of defining what it means to be human. This story offers a glimpse into this longer process of how the primate came to occupy this position, but even a glimpse offers historians of the American eugenics’ movement new questions. What was the role of the non-human animal in the formulation of American eugenic theories? How have we historically used the natural world in our attempts to separate ourselves from it? And can we truly reconcile a history with eugenics if we continue to ignore the role of animals within it, they who today exist unquestionably within the status of the sub-human?</p>

Ouvrage clé de l’histoire des sciences, « On the Origin of Species » (1859) de Charles Darwin (dorénavant l’OS) lance la théorie de l’évolution, dont les répercussions sociétales ne sont plus à démontrer. L’OS connaîtra plusieurs éditions. La sixième, parue en 1876, a longtemps été l’édition de référence, mais depuis la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle la première a été réévaluée par les chercheurs et est maintenant considérée comme canonique. Celle-ci donnerait en effet une vision plus authentique et plus claire de la pensée darwinienne. Au moment de sa parution, cette première édition fait sensation. Les contemporains de Darwin remarquent notamment son caractère hautement métaphorique et nombreux sont ceux qui le critiquent sur ce point. Il existe à ce jour deux traductions de cette édition vers le français, celles de Becquemont (1992, 2008) et de Hoquet (2013). La traduction de Becquemont surprend par sa méthode inusitée. Le traducteur a effectivement remanié la traduction de Barbier (1876), qui elle est basée sur la sixième édition de l’ouvrage. La traduction Hoquet, pour sa part, est plus traditionnelle. Ces deux traductions sont demeurées largement inexplorées en traductologie comme en histoire et en philosophie des sciences. Cela les rend propres à de multiples travaux de recherche. Le caractère métaphorique de leur édition source soulève notamment un problème de traduction. Il s’agit alors de déterminer comment ces métaphores sont traduites en français. Pour répondre à cette question, nous situons notre étude au sein de la métaphorologie cognitive telle que définie par la théorie contemporaine de la métaphore. Ainsi, nous envisageons la métaphore comme la projection d’un cadre conceptuel source sur un cadre conceptuel cible. Plus précisément, nous adoptons le cadre théorique établi par Vandaele, qui opérationnalise l’analyse des métaphores à l’aide du concept d’indice de conceptualisation métaphorique (ICM). Nous avons mis en place une méthode d’annotation de corpus en format XML autorisant le repérage des ICM en discours, ainsi que leur caractérisation et leur dénombrement. Nous avons ainsi pu réaliser une analyse qualitative et quantitative de la conceptualisation métaphorique dans l’intégralité de l’oeuvre originale et de ses deux traductions vers le français, en nous limitant cependant à la nature et à la sélection naturelle. Il ressort de ce travail que la nature et la sélection naturelle font l’objet de riches personnifications dans l’original anglais, qui sont largement restituées dans les deux traductions. Celles-ci se distinguent surtout par la richesse et la densité des réseaux d’ICM qui expriment ces personnifications. La présence d’une troisième personnification a également été révélée lors de notre analyse. Ces résultats seront discutés à l’aune du contexte de réception de l’OS, des assises cognitives de la personnification et des perspectives dominantes relatives au phénomène de la retraduction. / A seminal work of the history of science, Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859) (henceforth OS) launched the theory of evolution, whose deep-felt social impact has long been demonstrated. Several editions of the OS exist. The sixth edition, published in 1876, was for a long time the reference, but since the second half of the 20th century the first has been reassessed by scholars and is now considered canonical. The latter is purported to offer a more authentic and clearer vision of Darwin’s theory of evolution. At the time of its publication, this first edition caused a sensation. Darwin’s contemporaries noticed its highly metaphorical nature and many criticized him on this point. To date, there are two French translations of this edition into, one by Becquemont (1992, 2008) and the other by Hoquet (2013). On the one hand, Becquemont’s translation is somewhat surprising because of its unusual method. Indeed, the translator recycled Barbier’s translation (1876) of the sixth edition of the work. Hoquet’s translation, on the other hand, is more traditional. These two translations have remained largely unexplored in translation studies as well as in the history and philosophy of science. This makes them ideal candidates for inquiry. Namely, the metaphorical character of their source edition can constitute a translation problem. The question is then to determine how these metaphors were translated into French. To answer this question, we situate our study within cognitive metaphorology as defined by the contemporary theory of metaphor. Thus, we consider metaphor as a mapping between a source domain and a target domain. In particular, we apply the theoretical framework established by Vandaele, who operationalizes the analysis of metaphors via the concept of metaphorical conceptualization index (MCI). We elaborated an XML-based methodology for the annotation of corpora, which allows for the identification of MCIs in discourse, as well as their characterization and quantification. We were thus able to carry out a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the metaphorical conceptualization in the entirety of the original work and its two French translations, though limiting ourselves to nature and to natural selection. Our study reveals that nature and natural selection are richly personified in the English original, and the two translations follow suit. The translations mainly differ from each other through the richness and density of the MCI networks that express these personifications. The presence of a third personification was also discovered during our analysis. These results will be discussed in light of the reception of the OS, the cognitive foundations of personification, and dominant perspectives on retranslation.

Biologische Evolutionstheorie erklärt die sukzessive Veränderung von Arten durch Vererbung und wurde erstmalig von Charles Darwin umfassend formuliert. Die Rezeption durch die Genderforschung umfasst diskursanalytische Studien und die Methodenkritik feministischer Biowissenschaftler_innen. Konkrete Bezugspunkte stellen dabei die sexuelle Selektion, naturalisierende Thesen der Soziobiologie und der evolutionären Psychologie sowie die Rolle des Essentialismus in der Evolutionstheorie Darwins dar.

The worlds of Dickens's novels and of Darwin's science reveal striking similarity in spite of their involvement in different areas. The similarity comes from the fact that they shared the ethos of Victorian society: laissez-faire capitalism. In The Origin of Species, which was published on 1859, Charles Darwin theorizes that nature has evolved through the rules of natural selection, survival of the fittest, and the struggle for existence. Although his conclusion comes from the scientific evidence that was acquired from his five-year voyage, it is clear that Dawinian nature is reflected in cruel Victorian capitalism. Three novels of Charles Dickens which were published around 1859, Bleak House, Hard Times, and Our Mutual Friend, share Darwinian aspects in their fictional worlds. In Bleak House, the central image, the Court of Chancery as the background of the novel, resembles Darwinian nature which is anti-Platonic in essence. The characters in Hard Times are divided into two groups: the winners and the losers in the arena of survival. The winners survive in Coketown, and the losers disappear from the city. The rules controlling the fates of Coketown people are the same as the rules of Darwinian nature. Our Mutual Friend can be interpreted as a matter of money. In the novel, everything is connected with money, and the relationship among people is predation to get money. Money is the central metaphor of the novel and around the money, the characters kill and are killed like the nature of Darwin in which animals kill each other. When a dominant ideology of a particular period permeates ingredients of the society, nobody can escape the controlling power of the ideology. Darwin and Dickens, although they worked in different areas, give evidence that their works are products of the ethos of Victorian England.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Deakin University, Victoria, 2005. / Submitted to the School of Education of the Faculty of Education, Deakin University. Degree conferred 2006. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 211-225)

Biologische Evolutionstheorie erklärt die sukzessive Veränderung von Arten durch Vererbung und wurde erstmalig von Charles Darwin umfassend formuliert. Die Rezeption durch die Genderforschung umfasst diskursanalytische Studien und die Methodenkritik feministischer Biowissenschaftler_innen. Konkrete Bezugspunkte stellen dabei die sexuelle Selektion, naturalisierende Thesen der Soziobiologie und der evolutionären Psychologie sowie die Rolle des Essentialismus in der Evolutionstheorie Darwins dar.

Bibliographical references at end of each chapter / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.A. (Philosophy)