The Power of the Monstrous

Abstract

Alterity and Otherness have often been the privileged field of contemplation within Western philosophy. Since the Presocratic philosophers, Being has been defined in relation to-and more often opposed to-non-Being, just as Goodness has been considered in relation to Evil, Beauty in relation to the Ugly, Society in relation to Nature, and the examples could be multiplied ad libitum. Every identity is shaped in opposition to an excluded other, an outside, or some thing. Identity and alterity are thus constructed as two inseparable sides of a single, coherent philosophical discourse, or rather a field of various discourses that compose a philosophy, associated with-although not limited to-the early centuries of what we call modernity.Alterity has many faces, depending not only on the different fields of thought in which it is explored (e.g., theology, anthropology, aesthetics, politics, etc.), but also on the nature of its relationship with identity and, more particularly, with the degree of its resistance to or compatibility with identity. No wonder, thus, that so many philosophers have been fascinated not only with alterity in general, but with alterity at the extreme boundaries (geographical as much as ontological) of otherness, at its greatest distance from identity itself. The otherness found at this extreme distance has traditionally been described as monstrous.Monstrosity and the monster have received an astonishing degree of attention across the centuries, not only from philosophers, artists and poets but also, more recently, from scholars in the history of philosophy. The concept of marginality and margins, in particular, has magnetized the attention of the latter and, in the process, completely expanded the comprehension of the centre, or what is considered the centre. Perhaps what has not been underlined enough in the history of philosophy is something best described by an almost paradoxical expression: the centrality of the margin itself. Monstrosity does not simply offer the line or the margin as the site of conflict, difference, or what remains unknown (for example, between the inside and the outside of identity); it entails a reflection upon the role played by alterity and otherness in the grounding or emergence of identity. In other words, it draws our attention to the role played by marginality, and otherness of various kinds, in the definition, conception, and understanding of identity during the early modern period and beyond. In our view, identity itself is inseparable from monstrosity.If the monstrum is what causes the most profound bewilderment and amazement and if, according to Aristotle's dictum about thaumazein in the incipit of his Metaphysics, wonder is the origin of philosophy itself,1 might we recognize in monstrosity and its marginality something more archetypical and central than has traditionally been credited? Perhaps we might find in abnormality, exceptionality, and otherness something that amazes and, more disturbingly, interpellates the entire philosophical enterprise. Thus, the opening of philosophy, that is, the openings of worlds, the genesis of forms of life, are each tied, as if in a web, with the many figures of monstrosity.Given the multifarious complexity of the topic of monstrosity, a plurality of approaches and singular incursions into the thought of individual philosophers or of limited historical periods often provides the best results. This is the rationale and the approach that we have followed for this special issue. We have asked contributors for monographic articles on monstrosity in single authors or articles that compare philosophers' use of monstrosity; we also asked contributors to measure the impact that early modern ideas of monstrosity have had, or continue to have, upon contemporary philosophical and political issues.The question of cultural impact is particularly relevant. Among the philosophical ideas that have had an influence on the world we live in, monstrosity-in the broadest sense of profound alterity and radical otherness-is one of the most powerful. …