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- Title
Terry Pratchett's thought experiments about the body.
- Authors
Hajdu, Péter
- Abstract
Terry Pratchett was a fertile fantasy writer whose forty-one Discworld novels contain several fascinating philosophical ideas about the body. Although the magic, unnatural character of the represented world may ignite generic or allegorical interpretations, in this paper I interpret some subtexts and subplots as thought experiments. Focusing on the body, I will discuss the golems as an experimentation with perfect labor, labor rights, and ownership of the body, while an ongoing golem subplot in Making Money experiments with engendering. Igors are a kind of species in the Discworld, through which Pratchett can investigate the questions of bodily identity in the age of advanced transplantation technology. In Unseen Academicals, a personalized myth of the orcs gives him the opportunity to reason about genetic design and its interaction with socialization and education policy, and to do so while also considering the moral and social risks.
- Subjects
PRATCHETT, Terry, 1948-2015; MIND &; body; ALLEGORY; EMPLOYEE rights; EDUCATION policy
- Publication
Neohelicon, 2020, Vol 47, Issue 1, p75
- ISSN
0324-4652
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11059-020-00533-2