Supervisors: Prof. Peter Cryle & Dr. Aurelia Armstrong
Area of Research: My dissertation will examine the Enlightenment foundations of the philosophy of the Marquis De Sade. Sade’s thought is deeply embedded in that of the French Enlightenment a fact which was overlooked by the twentieth century avant garde who used Sade’s oeuvre for to their own purposes and generally without considering its historical situation. My project will therefore entail a close reading of eighteenth century philosophy including: Condillac, Helvétius, Diderot, d’Alembert, d’Holbach, La Mettrie and Voltaire. It will also entail a major study of Rousseau who was arguably both Sade’s principal inspiration and antagonist. Critical to this project will be an investigation of the genre of the conte philosophique and the manner in which it can be understood to operate as a nexus between philosophy and literature. Tangential to my dissertation is research on the philosophy of Michel Foucault with a focus on the “middle” and “late” periods.
