Consent: Sex and Governance in the Age of Revolution

Catalog description

An exploration of the rise of the notion of consent in the 18th century. Consent came to serve as the foundation of legitimacy and ethics within both political and conjugal unions, yet women's agency with regard to consent remained ambiguous in both cases, entwining discourses on rape and disenfranchisement with political theory. Seminar will focus on constructions of will, desire, reason, autonomy, and political voice in theory and literature from around 1800, juxtaposed with more recent theory. Particular attention paid to the reciprocal authorization between political theory and emerging field of biology. Will engage with current debate on the definition of consent.