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Natural Pleasure: Pierre-Louis Moreau De Maupertuis’s Contribution to a Materialist Conception of the Erotic

2022; Springer International Publishing; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-030-89921-9_16

2523-8779

Waltraud Ernst,

History of Science and Medicine

Narratives about the meaning of erotic desire are central to a culture’s self-conception, forming an essential part of its production of art, poetry, music, and science. In Enlightenment science and culture, the discussion of erotic desires and pleasures, practices and relations played a central role. Attraction functioned as an explanatory principle for cultural and natural processes in the conjectural histories of civilization as well as in emerging theories of generation. The Époque Émilienne, the period from 1700 to 1750, is significant for opening up traditional taboos and hierarchies and for developing new visions. In Système de la Nature, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis linked theories of chemical affinity and contemporary ideas on heredity in animal breeding to a theory of human nature. Here, the search for erotic pleasure was no longer considered a sin but the subtle cause for the generation of life. Nature was thus ascribed the role of an intentional force, overseeing the reproduction and survival of the species. This paper analyses these narrative moves and discusses some of the consequences for modern European conceptualisations of gender, race, and sexuality.