Originally published: London : Allen Lane, 2003. Includes bibliographical references (p. 475-555) and index.
Contents:
Know yourself -- Religion and the soul -- Medicine and the body -- The rational self -- Science rescues the spirit -- John Locke rewrites the soul -- The spectator : the polite self in the polite body -- Shaftesbury and Mandeville -- Swift and the Scriblerans : nightmare selves -- Johnson and incorporated minds -- Edward Gibbon : fame and mortality -- This mortal coil -- Flesh and form -- Putting on a face -- Sexing the self -- Telling yourself -- And who are you? -- Unreason -- Scottish selves -- Psychologizing the self -- Industrial bodies -- Dependent bodies -- William Godwin : awakening the mind -- William Blake : the body mystical -- Byron : sexy satire -- The march of mind.
Summary:
"How did we come to a modern understanding of our bodies and souls? ... Roy Porter charts how, through figures as diverse as Locke, Swift, Johnson, and Gibbon, ideas about medicine, politics, and religion fundamentally changed notions of self"--p. [2] of jacket.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.