Re-Imagining Life: Frankenstein and the Ethics of Science

Abstract

What is life? Both literature and science are united in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein. The story of a genius who assembled a human body and ultimately gave life to his creature is very well-known. But is it also ethically justified to complete such a project when one has the knowledge and skills to do so? This thesis ponders on the question whether Victor Frankenstein's fatal project is ethical by means of a historical overview of the philosophy of alchemy and rise of modern science during Romanticism, the emergence of the Vitalism debate in the context of electrical science and the principle of life and, finally, an elaboration of the ethics of science in relation to Victor Frankenstein's educational background.