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Breeding : A Partial History of the Eighteenth Century / Jenny Davidson.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2008]Copyright date: ©2008Description: 1 online resource (312 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780231138789
  • 9780231511117
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 809/.93353
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. Breeding Before Biology -- Chapter 1. The Rules of Resemblance -- Chapter 2. Bent -- Chapter 3. Cultures of Improvement -- Chapter 4. A Natural History of Inequality -- Chapter 5. Blots on the Landscape -- Chapter 6. Shibboleths -- Notes -- Bibliography of Works Cited -- Index
Summary: The Enlightenment commitment to reason naturally gave rise to a belief in the perfectibility of man. Influenced by John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, many eighteenth-century writers argued that the proper education and upbringing¿breeding¿could make any man a member of the cultural elite. Yet even in this egalitarian environment, the concept of breeding remained tied to theories of blood lineage, caste distinction, and biological difference. Turning to the works of Locke, Rousseau, Swift, Defoe, and other giants of the British Enlightenment, Jenny Davidson revives the debates that raged over the husbandry of human nature and highlights their critical impact on the development of eugenics, the emergence of fears about biological determinism, and the history of the language itself. Combining rich historical research with a keen sense of story, she links explanations for the physical resemblance between parents and children to larger arguments about culture and society and shows how the threads of this compelling conversation reveal the character of a century. A remarkable intellectual history, Breeding not only recasts the fundamental concerns of the Enlightenment but also uncovers the seeds of thought that bloomed into contemporary notions of human perfectibility.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780231511117

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. Breeding Before Biology -- Chapter 1. The Rules of Resemblance -- Chapter 2. Bent -- Chapter 3. Cultures of Improvement -- Chapter 4. A Natural History of Inequality -- Chapter 5. Blots on the Landscape -- Chapter 6. Shibboleths -- Notes -- Bibliography of Works Cited -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

The Enlightenment commitment to reason naturally gave rise to a belief in the perfectibility of man. Influenced by John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, many eighteenth-century writers argued that the proper education and upbringing¿breeding¿could make any man a member of the cultural elite. Yet even in this egalitarian environment, the concept of breeding remained tied to theories of blood lineage, caste distinction, and biological difference. Turning to the works of Locke, Rousseau, Swift, Defoe, and other giants of the British Enlightenment, Jenny Davidson revives the debates that raged over the husbandry of human nature and highlights their critical impact on the development of eugenics, the emergence of fears about biological determinism, and the history of the language itself. Combining rich historical research with a keen sense of story, she links explanations for the physical resemblance between parents and children to larger arguments about culture and society and shows how the threads of this compelling conversation reveal the character of a century. A remarkable intellectual history, Breeding not only recasts the fundamental concerns of the Enlightenment but also uncovers the seeds of thought that bloomed into contemporary notions of human perfectibility.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mrz 2022)