ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on the analysis of the plays of Euripides and Aristophanes, which are centered on problems related to artificial, manufactured bodies imitating human faculties, i.e. mental bodily unconscious automatisms. The artificial fashioning of the body, i.e. its material replication and partial substitution in the cases of augmented body parts, proposes an elevated and enhanced body which goes beyond its former physical features and characteristics. A model that replicates the functions of the human mind is also proposed by dramatists; this idea is based on the configuration of past and current information. The aim is to improve some possibilities of human intelligence. Nevertheless, in the texts we are discussing, both artificial bodies and minds do not perform their predetermined tasks; instead, human experience, volitions, affections and values prevail over the inflexible artificial body and mind.
