Padraic Pearse: The Collected Works

First published in 1935, this comprehensive account on what is known and unknown of the human body and human life more generally addresses the problems of the modern world, and offers paths to a better future. Like the rest of the work of Alexis Carrel (Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1912), Man, the Unknown is aimed at promoting a scientific vision of life and a society structured for the health and betterment of Man. Carrel himself earned a reputation as one of the first eugenists and 'scientific racists' in modern history, assisting in the implementation of Vichy France's eugenic policy during his later years. "To progress again, man must remake himself. And he cannot remake himself without suffering. For he is both the marble and the sculptor. In order to uncover his true visage, he must shatter his own substance with heavy blows of his hammer."