Moreau's Law in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" in Light of Kant's Reciprocity Thesis

In this paper, I explore a tension between the Law in the novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, by H. G. Wells, and Kant’s reciprocity thesis. The Law is a series of prohibitions that Moreau has his beasts recite. Moreau devotes his time to transforming animals through a painful surgery into beings tha...

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Autor principal:	Dan Paul Dal Monte
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Alfredo Mac Laughlin 2018
Materias:	free will kant wells moreau reciprocity thesis law Philosophy (General) B1-5802 Literature (General) PN1-6790
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/abc99a66659440058fe82c86ef17a216
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:abc99a66659440058fe82c86ef17a2162021-11-10T20:05:21ZMoreau's Law in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" in Light of Kant's Reciprocity Thesis2573-881Xhttps://doaj.org/article/abc99a66659440058fe82c86ef17a2162018-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://jsfphil.org/vol-1/moreaus-law/https://doaj.org/toc/2573-881XIn this paper, I explore a tension between the Law in the novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, by H. G. Wells, and Kant’s reciprocity thesis. The Law is a series of prohibitions that Moreau has his beasts recite. Moreau devotes his time to transforming animals through a painful surgery into beings that resemble humans, but the humanized beasts are constantly slipping back into animalistic habits, and so Moreau promulgates the Law to maintain decorum. Kant’s reciprocity thesis states that free will is the necessary and sufficient condition of moral practical laws. That is, in order for a moral practical law to be applicable, there must be free will, and, if free will is present, then there will be a moral practical law that sets a standard for the free will. However, in Wells’s novel, the humanized beasts seem to lack free will. So, how can a law be applicable to them? By delving deeper into the mystery of Moreau’s strange island, I will shed light on the otherwise cumbersome concepts of free will, natural impulses, and practical laws, as well as their interrelationships. The upshot will be a deeper understanding of personhood through an exploration of the instinctual nature of animals, moral law, and free will.Dan Paul Dal MonteAlfredo Mac Laughlinarticlefree willkantwellsmoreaureciprocity thesislawPhilosophy (General)B1-5802Literature (General)PN1-6790ENJournal of Science Fiction and Philosophy, Vol 1, Pp 1-12 (2018)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	free will kant wells moreau reciprocity thesis law Philosophy (General) B1-5802 Literature (General) PN1-6790
spellingShingle	free will kant wells moreau reciprocity thesis law Philosophy (General) B1-5802 Literature (General) PN1-6790 Dan Paul Dal Monte Moreau's Law in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" in Light of Kant's Reciprocity Thesis
description	In this paper, I explore a tension between the Law in the novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, by H. G. Wells, and Kant’s reciprocity thesis. The Law is a series of prohibitions that Moreau has his beasts recite. Moreau devotes his time to transforming animals through a painful surgery into beings that resemble humans, but the humanized beasts are constantly slipping back into animalistic habits, and so Moreau promulgates the Law to maintain decorum. Kant’s reciprocity thesis states that free will is the necessary and sufficient condition of moral practical laws. That is, in order for a moral practical law to be applicable, there must be free will, and, if free will is present, then there will be a moral practical law that sets a standard for the free will. However, in Wells’s novel, the humanized beasts seem to lack free will. So, how can a law be applicable to them? By delving deeper into the mystery of Moreau’s strange island, I will shed light on the otherwise cumbersome concepts of free will, natural impulses, and practical laws, as well as their interrelationships. The upshot will be a deeper understanding of personhood through an exploration of the instinctual nature of animals, moral law, and free will.
format	article
author	Dan Paul Dal Monte
author_facet	Dan Paul Dal Monte
author_sort	Dan Paul Dal Monte
title	Moreau's Law in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" in Light of Kant's Reciprocity Thesis
title_short	Moreau's Law in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" in Light of Kant's Reciprocity Thesis
title_full	Moreau's Law in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" in Light of Kant's Reciprocity Thesis
title_fullStr	Moreau's Law in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" in Light of Kant's Reciprocity Thesis
title_full_unstemmed	Moreau's Law in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" in Light of Kant's Reciprocity Thesis
title_sort	moreau's law in "the island of doctor moreau" in light of kant's reciprocity thesis
publisher	Alfredo Mac Laughlin
publishDate	2018
url	https://doaj.org/article/abc99a66659440058fe82c86ef17a216
work_keys_str_mv	AT danpauldalmonte moreauslawintheislandofdoctormoreauinlightofkantsreciprocitythesis
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Moreau's Law in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" in Light of Kant's Reciprocity Thesis

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