薩德的索多瑪120天，或者所有狀態下的自然：超越physis與metaphysis

Abstract

This work on The 120 Days of Sodom, divided into three parts, is built around the key concept of nature addressed in relation with two other Greek concepts: physics (phusis) and metaphysics (metaphusis). In doing so, the thesis seeks to demonstrate that Sade exposes a radical conception of man―or radical anthropology―within his text; a conception based on a study of the passions—that is, as rooted into the Greek etymology, as pathology, the “science” of passions. Amongst all of this, there is also a political project. But this so-called scientific project challenges the idea of science as system. Sadean anthropology goes beyond traditional ontology, because it refuses theology or ontotheology. It also raises the question of teleology as it is posed in relation to the libertine discourse that makes evil the end (purpose) of human conduct, thereby undermining all ethics. This anthropology is also presented as a pathology. As a result, nature in all its states, and particularly in The 120 Days, can be defined as the celebration of the senses. This debauchery of the senses is, in fact, the body in all its states. And it is precisely here that the political dimension of the novel raises the question of domination and government of bodies. These appear, both passively and actively, as patients and agents—as would have been said in the eighteenth century. This body signifies the desired body, the narrated body, the mutilated body—in short, the dead body (killed) and the living body that has been kept alive. However, it is also the experienced body. Hence the imperative to say that it all guides Sade, a kind of encyclopaedical will. A saying it all that is akin to a type of “inspection”, but which also provides the reader with a relative sense of freedom in this orgy of passions, presented as a culinary metaphor. Consequently, The 120 Days of Sodom—through the figure of the castle of Silling—poses both a geographical problem in the literal sense, but also in physiological and physical sense of the body as political territory. Hence the question of the conflict between utopia and heterotopia. A superficial reading of Sade’s novel would assign a heterotopic dimension to Silling. However, it is, in fact, a utopia: a real place of sovereignty and biopolitics. However, a heterotopia is possible if the reader chooses to participate in a conversion with the gaze on the side of the victims. Finally, there is a dilemma between a utopian or heterotopic reading of Sade’s text―that is, the sovereignty or biopolitics reading of the novel.

This work on The 120 Days of Sodom, divided into three parts, is built around the key concept of nature addressed in relation with two other Greek concepts: physics (phusis) and metaphysics (metaphusis). In doing so, the thesis seeks to demonstrate that Sade exposes a radical conception of man―or radical anthropology―within his text; a conception based on a study of the passions—that is, as rooted into the Greek etymology, as pathology, the “science” of passions. Amongst all of this, there is also a political project. But this so-called scientific project challenges the idea of science as system. Sadean anthropology goes beyond traditional ontology, because it refuses theology or ontotheology. It also raises the question of teleology as it is posed in relation to the libertine discourse that makes evil the end (purpose) of human conduct, thereby undermining all ethics. This anthropology is also presented as a pathology. As a result, nature in all its states, and particularly in The 120 Days, can be defined as the celebration of the senses. This debauchery of the senses is, in fact, the body in all its states. And it is precisely here that the political dimension of the novel raises the question of domination and government of bodies. These appear, both passively and actively, as patients and agents—as would have been said in the eighteenth century. This body signifies the desired body, the narrated body, the mutilated body—in short, the dead body (killed) and the living body that has been kept alive. However, it is also the experienced body. Hence the imperative to say that it all guides Sade, a kind of encyclopaedical will. A saying it all that is akin to a type of “inspection”, but which also provides the reader with a relative sense of freedom in this orgy of passions, presented as a culinary metaphor. Consequently, The 120 Days of Sodom—through the figure of the castle of Silling—poses both a geographical problem in the literal sense, but also in physiological and physical sense of the body as political territory. Hence the question of the conflict between utopia and heterotopia. A superficial reading of Sade’s novel would assign a heterotopic dimension to Silling. However, it is, in fact, a utopia: a real place of sovereignty and biopolitics. However, a heterotopia is possible if the reader chooses to participate in a conversion with the gaze on the side of the victims. Finally, there is a dilemma between a utopian or heterotopic reading of Sade’s text―that is, the sovereignty or biopolitics reading of the novel.