Erasmus Darwin and the Biopolitics of the Vital Habit

Abstract: This essay investigates the vitalistic theory of habit formulated by Edinburgh physicians, especially Erasmus Darwin. In so doing, it elucidates how Darwin envisioned the epigenetic transmission of acquired habits to facilitate the gradual improvement and progressive transformation of the human species. As a poet-physician, Darwin employed his poetry as transformative medicine, aiming to inculcate healthier habits of imagination in his readers. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s theory of biopower and Roberto Esposito’s negative and positive biopolitics, this essay sheds light on the simultaneously radical and reactionary, or liberatory and oppressive power of vital habit in Darwin’s poetics.