CFP: Frankenstein and Philosophy

Edited by Nicolas Michaud ([email protected])

The Open Court Philosophy and Pop Culture Series

Abstracts and subsequent essays must be accessible to a lay audience as well as philosophically substantial. All writing should be engaging and directly relevant to Frankenstein films, graphic novels, comics, or the original Mary Shelley text.

The 10 to 12-paged papers are written in a conversational style.

Submission Guidelines:

1. Submission deadline for abstracts (100-500 words) and CV’s: January 7th
2. Notification of accepted abstracts: January 14th
3. Submission deadline for first drafts of accepted papers: February 20th

We will follow all deadlines strictly!

Kindly submit abstract (with or without Word attachment) and CV by email to: Nicolas Michaud ([email protected]).

Possible themes and topics might include, but are not limited to, questions such as…

• Metaphysical Questions: Does the monster have a soul? Is the monster one “person?”
• Moral Questions: Was it right to create the monster? Is it right to kill the monster?
• Linguistic Questions: How do we define “monster?” What is the “Monster/Creator” binary?
• Social Questions: How is “deformity” constructed?” “Is the monster a perspective on “otherness?”
• Epistemic Questions: How do we know the monster has a mind?
• Philosophy of Mind: When does the monster truly gain consciousness?
• Philosophy of Science: Is the monster the next logical Darwinian step?

Or any other though-provoking philosophical issue brought up by Frankenstein!

For Example,

• “God is Dead, Long Live Frankenstein!”: Nietzsche and Dr. Frankenstein’s usurping of God’s Place.
• “The Next Lumbering Step in Evolution”: Darwinism and Frankenstein’s Monster.
• “Caring for our Monstrous Children”: Nel Noddings’ Critique of Dr. Frankenstein’s heartlessness.
• “From Monster to Super-Hero”: Derridean Perspectives on the Creation of the Other.
• “Preserving Myself and Killing the Monster”: What Hobbes Could Have Taught Dr. Frankenstein.
• “Lacking the Lack of Humanity”: Cixous’s Re-conception of the “Man” the Monster.
• “The Primal Scene and the Monster’s Fall”: How Freud’s Analysis Explains the Monster’s Crimes.
• “What’s in a Name?”: Authenticity and why Frankenstein’s Monster Knows Better.
• “Death and Dying… and then Dying Again”: Bioethical Perspectives on What it Really Means to Die.
• “Through a Pale Monster”: Why the Development of Technology Heralds the End of Humanity.
• “Intelligence, Monsters, and Enslavement”: Our Creation of Intelligence for the Production of Slaves.
• “Murder and Redemption”: Moral Responsibility and the Absolution of Frankenstein’s Monster.
• “Music Soothes the Savage Monster”: Plato and the Power of Music to Control Others.
• “The Creation of Monsters”: Deformity and the Social Construction of Disability.
• “Who Am I, Dr. Frankenstein?”: Personal Identity and John Locke’s Creation of “Persons”.
• “Coming to Consciousness”: What Frankenstein Tells Us about Thinking, Thought, and Intentionality.
• “The Nature of Love and Murder”: Frankfurt, Love, and the Reasons for the Monster’s Actions.
• “‘M’ is for Vengeance”: The Morality of Vengeance and Why the Monster was Right.
• “Does Frankenstein’s Monster Have a Soul”: Gilbert Ryle and the Mistake of Bias Based on Souls.
• “It’s Alive! …Kinda”: How Do We Define Life and Should We Try to make it?

To propose ideas for future volumes in the Open Court series please contact the Series Editor,
George A. Reisch, at:[email protected].

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