"The child is father of the man" - On the pedagogical teachings of the myth of Frankenstein

Abstract

The myth of Frankenstein is one of the most emblematic myths of contemporaneity. It is open to multiple possible readings with an interdisciplinary character (philosophical, political, psychological, literary, anthropological, etc.). In this article we favour an educational and pedagogical reading: a distinction is made between the fabrication and the sculpturing of the human and the consequences that such distinction brings to a philosophy of education that is sensible to an education as value which is quite misunderstood in these post-modern times. We have divided our article into six parts: 1. A nameless creature; 2. The creature’s educating influences; 3. Is the creature a “new man”? 4. The creature’s loneliness; 5. Is Victor Frankenstein a Modern Prometheus? 6. On the pedagogical teachings of the myth of Frankenstein.