Title:

On monsters, hybrids and the disastrous impact of imagination

Subtitle:

Analecta: Studies and Materials for the History of Science

Creator:

Pieczyński, Maciej

Institutional creator:

Instytut Historii Nauki im. Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Publisher:

Instytut Historii Nauki im. Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2020

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Location:

Biblioteka Instytutu Historii Nauki PAN

Subject and Keywords:

foetus deformations in the 17th-century thought ; human–animal hybrids in the 17th-century thought ; imagination ; crimen bestialitatis

Abstract:

The interest in monstrual beings, inciting fear and astonishment, is the cultural phenomenon of the early modern period. Its high seems to have come in the 17th century. According to contemporary ideas, drastically deformed human foetuses were a result of the somatic influence of the mother’s imagination or human–animal hybrids. The aim of the article is to present and analyse the contemporary scientific theories on the causes of monstrous progeny and to show the anthropological and theological implications of those theories. The analysis has taken into account the important context of classical and Judeo-Christian traditions.

Relation:

Analecta : studia i materiały z dziejów nauki polskiej

Volume:

29 (2020)

Issue:

2

Start page:

127

End page:

147

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article : original article

Format:

PDF

Resource Identifier:

1509-0957

Language:

pol

Language of abstract:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-NC-ND 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, full text available at:

Original in:

Biblioteka Instytutu Historii Nauki PAN

Access:

Open