Do-Now
Everything that exists plays a role in the
divine plan.
Do you believe in the above statement?
Why, or why not?
What is mankind’s role or purpose within
this divine plan? What is mankind’s place
within the cosmos?
T h u r, F e b. 2 7 , 2 0 1 4
AGENDA
• Review: Past Readings (Mon/Tue)
• Unit Overview: The Enlightenment
(continued)
• Mini-Lesson: Alexander Pope
• Reading: Essay on Man (Epistle I & II)
HOMEWORK
• Complete Reading: Essay on Man
(Epistle I & II)
T h u r, F e b. 2 7 ,
2014
Unit Goals, Key Questions,
& Topics for Class Discussion
Readings
History of Ideas
Trace the breaks in tradition that the Enlightenment
represents, in how we see ourselves, the state, the
divine, and the relationships between them. Note
the revival and championing of rationalism, in the
spirit of ancient Greek philosophy.
Kant: What it the Enlightenment?
Development of liberal
democracy, natural rights,
social contract theory,
utilitarianism
Analyze and evaluate the philosophical
underpinnings of the Enlightenment, such as
natural rights, civilization grown out of the state of
nature, society as a social contract with rules and
obligations that go both ways between subject and
ruler, and the maturation of society vs. religious
superstition, intolerance, and the tyranny of kings.
Do close readings of Voltaire’s ironic style, surface
pessimism, and careful optimism. How does his
comic form work as politics, philosophy, and
novel? Compare to Swift’s “modest proposal.”
UNIT ESSAY:
Analyze and
evaluate one or
more Enlightenment
Rousseau
Wollstonecraft
text.
Voltaire
Equiano
Utopia: What is the “best of all possible worlds,” in
Voltaire, Rousseau, Bentham, Equiano,
Wollstonecraft? What do you make of utopian
visions and their utilitarian detractors, then, and
today?
Leibnitz, The Theodicy
Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary
Voltaire, Candide
Pope, Essay on Man
Rousseau, Emile
Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles
of Morals and Legislation
Bentham, Panopticon
Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the
Life of Olaudah Equiano
Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights
of Woman
Swift, A Modest Proposal
How does each text construct and expand the
“Enlightened” self, in contrast with the “savage”
other? Analyze and evaluate the portraits of
civilization and barbarism. To what extent are the
constructions in these texts reflections of early
imperialism, and are they still active in our
culture?
Analyze and evaluate the emergence of
utilitarianism, and the strong state’s more
“humane” and diffuse exercising of power over the
individual, in Bentham’s plan for prisons and
schools. Contrast to the prior model of the weak
state with occasional but fierce power, as observed
by Foucault.
What do you make of the arguments for an
expanding notion of equal rights, in terms of gender
and race, from Wollstonecraft and Equiano? How
do they construct their arguments in the
environment of 18th century discourse? How have
arguments for equality changed in recent times?
What makes a good argument? What are strong and
weak efforts to convince? What can you learn from
the examples in this unit? What could these writers
learn from you?
Bentham
Swift
Watch for shift from premodern irregularity of “super
power” monarch to modern
reformer spirit, with a more
diffuse, regular and “measured”
intervention of state in lives of
the people … “not to punish
less, but to punish better; to
punish with an attenuated
severity perhaps, but in order to
punish with more universality
and necessity; to insert the
power to punish more deeply
into the social body” (Foucault)
Transition from weak state that
relies on physical terror to
strong state that intervenes for
mental discipline (Ignatieff)
Faith in reason and science
overtakes Christianity’s belief
in divine revelation in the
Hebrew tradition, esp. in the
intellectual elite (Kramer)
While constructing theory of
the free and rational self with
inalienable rights, contradictory
theory and behavior against
“savage” other – a fatal flaw of
Enlightenment project?
Mania for categorizing in new
sciences leads unwittingly to
rigid, artificial and stagnant
human condition, where human
freedom, creativity and caprice
are replaced with time tables
and taxonomies of the good
(Dostoevsky, Nietzsche,
Foucault)
Pope
disclose a bond with others. From ethos we get the word “ethics.”
Sarcasm—a form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually harshly or bitterly critical. For example, if a teacher says to a
student who sneaks into class an hour late, “Nice of you to join us today,” the teacher is being sarcastic. Perhaps the best-known
sarcasm is Jonathan Swift’s satire, A Modest Proposal. Oscar Wilde is also well known for his sarcastic statements; The Importance
of Being Earnest is full of them.
Satire—a literary work that holds up human failings to ridicule and censure. Jonathan Swift and George Orwell both were masters of sat
Diesm—belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe; accepts the
existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind.
Meliorism—the belief that the world can be made better by human effort.
Philosophical Optimism—This is a school of philosophy that believes that everything that happens in the world has some point and,
in the end, everything happens for the best.
For example, in the event of a disaster, the “good end” of what seems to be a tragedy
may not be apparent at the moment, but there is good that will come out of the
disaster. Voltaire opposes this point-of-view because he thinks it makes people
complacent and discourages them from working to make things better in the world.
The Problem of Evil—The presence of evil in this world is something philosophers, theologians, and average people have long
grappled with. Philosophers pose this question: “If God is all good and all knowing, how can He allow such terrible, evil
things to happen in a world that He has created?”
Divine Providence—Allied with the belief in Philosophical Optimism was a religious notion that there is a divine will that guides our
fate; that is, everything that happens to us is God’s will. Related to the question of Divine Providence is the question of Free Will. If
our lives are ordained by God, are we responsible for choosing good or evil in our lives? Do we have any control over our lives, or
are we simply pawns of fate?
Cause and Effect—This idea is used by philosophers to prove the existence of God. They argue that for every effect there must have
been a cause; in tracing this back we eventually reach the “uncaused cause”: God.
Sufficient Reason—In Leibnitz’s philosophy, the sufficient reason is that which justifies the existence of things. Like the uncaused
cause, the ultimate sufficient reason is God (Perfection Learning).
Alexander Pope (TBD—TBD)
Pope’s Essay on Man (1732, 1733, 1744)
• popularized, more than any other
work, the optimistic philosophy,
that God created a world that is
the best of all possible worlds
• a rationalistic effort to justify
the ways of God to man philosophically
• hailed as superior work of poetry by
enlightened thinkers
•
“The Essay on Man appears to me to be the
most beautiful didactic poem, the most useful,
Essay on Man
by Alexander Pope
[The first two Eplisles were written in 1732, the third in 1733, and the fourth in 1744]
Transcribed by hand from The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope,
Student's Cambridge Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1903 (edited by H.W. Boynton).
The Design
Having proposed to write some pieces on Human
Life and Manners, such as, to use my Lord Bacon's
expression, `come home to men's business and bosoms,' 1
I thought it more satisfactory to begin with considering
Man in the abstract, his nature and his state: since to
prove any moral duty, to enforce any moral precept, or to
examine the perfection or imperfection of any creature
whatsoever, it is necessary first to know what condition
and relation it is placed in, and what is the proper end and
purpose of its being.
The science of Human Nature is, like all other
sciences, reduced to a few clear points: there are not many
certain truths in this world. It is therefore in the anatomy
of the mind, as in that of the body; more good will accrue
to mankind by attending to the large, open, and
perceptible parts, than by studying too much such finer
nerves and vessels, the conformations and uses of which
will for ever escape our observation. The disputes are all
upon these last; and, I will venture to say, they have less
sharpened the wits than the hearts of men against each
other, and have diminished the practice more than
advanced the theory of morality. If I could flatter myself
that this Essay has any merit, it is in steering betwixt the
extremes of doctrines seemingly opposite, in passing over
terms utterly unintelligble and in forming a temperate, yet
not inconsistent, and a short, yet not imperfect, system of
ethics.
This I might have done in prose; but I chose
verse, and even rhyme, for two reasons. The one will
appear obvious; that principles, maxims, or precepts, so
written, both strike the reader more strongly at first, and
are more easily retained by him afterwards: the other may
seem odd, but it is true: I found I could express them
more shortly this way than in prose itself; and nothing is
more certain than that much of the force as well as grace
of arguments or instructions depends on their conciseness.
I was unable to treat this part of my subject more in detail
without becoming dry and tedious; or more poetically
without sacrificing perspicuity to ornament, without
wandering from the precision, or breaking the chain of
reasoning. If any man can unite all these without
diminution of any of them, I freely confess he will
compass a thing above my capacity.
What is now published is only to be considered
as a general Map of Man, marking out no more than the
greater parts, their extent, their limits, and their
connexion, but leaving the particular to be more fully
delineated in the charts which are to follow; consequently
these epistles2 in their progress (if I have health and
leisure to make any progress) will be less dry, and more
susceptible of poetical ornament. I am here only opening
the fountains, and clearing the passage: to deduce the
rivers, to follow them in their course, and to observe their
effects, may be a task more agreeable.
EPISTLE I:
Of the Nature and State of Man, With Respect to the
Universe
ARGUMENT
Of Man in the abstract. I. That we can judge only
with regard to our own system, being ignorant of the
relations of systems and things. II. That Man is not to be
deemed imperfect, but a being suited to his place and rank
in the creation, agreeable to the general order of things,
and conformable to ends and relations to him unknown.
III. That it is partly upon his ignorance of future events,
and partly upon the hope of a future state, that all his
happiness in the present depends. IV. The pride of aiming
at more knowledge, and pretending to more perfection,
the cause of Man's error and misery. The impiety of
putting himself in the place of God, and judging of the
fitness or unfitness, perfection or imperfection, justice or
injustice, of his dispensations. V. The absurdity of
conceiting himself the final cause of creation, or
expecting that perfection in the moral world which is not
in the natural. VI. The unreasonableness of his complaints
against Providence, while, on the one hand, he demands
the perfections of the angels, and, on the other, the bodily
qualifications of the brutes; though to possess any of the
sensitive faculties in a higher degree would render him
miserable. VII. That throughout the whole visible world a
universal order and gradation in the sensual and mental
faculties is observed, which causes a subordination of
creature to creature, and of all creatures to man. The
gradations of Sense, Instinct, Thought, Reflection,
Reason: that Reason alone countervails all the other
from Francis Bacon’s Dedication to the Essays (1625), meaning the
content addresses matters in which everybody has an interest
1
2
epistle: a poem or other literary work in the form of a letter or series of letters
Name:
Alexander Pope’s
Essay on Man: Abridged Edition
DIRECTIONS: Alexander Pope’s Essay on Man is composed of four epistles, each of which is divided into sections.
Pope summarized the argument of each section, which has been placed in the left column. In the adjacent space provided,
identify a heroic couplet (a pair of rhyming iambic pentameters) that best embodies Pope’s claim within each section.
EPISTLE I: Of the Nature and State of Man, With Respect to the Universe
I. That we can judge only with regard to our own
system, being ignorant of the relations of
systems and things.
II. That Man is not to be deemed imperfect, but a
being suited to his place and rank in the
creation, agreeable to the general order of
things, and conformable to ends and
relations to him unknown.
III. That it is partly upon his ignorance of future
events, and partly upon the hope of a future
state, that all his happiness in the present
depends.
IV. The pride of aiming at more knowledge, and
pretending to more perfection, the cause of
Man's error and misery. The impiety of
putting himself in the place of God, and
judging of the fitness or unfitness,
perfection or imperfection, justice or
injustice, of his dispensations.
V. The absurdity of conceiting himself the final
cause of creation, or expecting that
perfection in the moral world which is not
in the natural.
VI. The unreasonableness of his complaints
against Providence, while, on the one hand,
he demands the perfections of the angels,
and, on the other, the bodily qualifications
of the brutes; though to possess any of the
sensitive faculties in a higher degree would
render him miserable.
VII. That throughout the whole visible world a
universal order and gradation in the sensual
and mental faculties is observed, which
causes a subordination of creature to
creature, and of all creatures to man. The
gradations of Sense, Instinct, Thought,
Reflection, Reason: that Reason alone
countervails all the other faculties.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
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1
2
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8
Essay on Man: Abridged Edition—1
Pope
260
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
In God's, one single can its end produce,
A mighty maze! but not without a plan;
Yet serve to second too some other use:
A wild, where weeds and flowers promiscuous shoot,
So man, who here seems principal alone,
Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown,
Alexander Pope’s
Name:
Together let us beat this ample field,
Touches
some wheel, or verges to some goal:
Essay on Man: Abridged Edition
Try what the open, what the covert
yield;
'Tis but a part we see, and not a whole.
DIRECTIONS: Alexander Pope’s Essay on Man is composed of four epistles, each of which is divided into sections.
provided,
spacerestrains
adjacent
In the why
column.
the leftshall
placed in
beenproud
which hasthe
summarized the argument of each section, When
The latent tracts, the giddy heights,Pope
explore
steed
know
man
identify a heroic couplet (a pair of rhyming iambic pentameters) that best embodies Pope’s claim within each section.
Of all who blindly creep or sightless soar;
His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains;
the Universe
Respect
With
Man,
of
State
and
Nature
the
Of
I:
EPISTLE
Eye Nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies,
Whento the
dull ox, why now he breaks the clod,
1
own
our
to
regard
with
only
judge
can
we
That
I.
Say
first,
of God
or Man
below
And catch the manners living as they rise;
Is now
a victim,
andabove
now Egypt's
God;
2
system, being ignorant of the relations of
Laugh where we must, be candid where
can,
shallwe
man's
pride and
comprehend
What
reason
butdulness
from what
we
3 Then can
and things.
systemswe
4
But vindicate the ways of God to man.
His actions', passions', being's, use and end;
know?
5
6 Why doing, suff'ring, check'd, impell'd; and why
7
I.
This hour a Slave, the next a Deity.
8
1 Then say not man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault;
II. That Man is not to be deemed imperfect, but a
2
being suited to his place and rank in the
Say first, of God above or Man below
Say rather man's as perfect as he ought;
3
creation, agreeable to the general order of
4 His knowledge measured to his state and place,
and conformable to ends and
What can we reason but from what things,
we know?
5
relations to him unknown.
Of man what see we but his station here,
His time a moment, and a point his space.
6
7 If to be perfect in a certain sphere,
From which to reason, or to which refer?
8
Thro' worlds unnumber'd tho' the
God
known,
1 What matter soon or late, or here or there?
upon his ignorance of future
partly
it isbe
III. That
events, and partly upon the hope of a future 2 The blest to-day is as completely so
'Tis ours to trace him only in our own.
3
state, that all his happiness in the present
He who thro' vast immensity can pierce,
4 As who began a thousand years ago.
depends.
5
See worlds on worlds compose one universe,
6
Observe how system into system runs,
7 III.
8
What other planets circle other suns,
1
IV. The pride of aiming at more knowledge, and
What varied being peoples every star,
pretending to more perfection, the cause of 2 Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of Fate,
3 All but the page prescribed, their present state;
and misery. The impiety of
May tell why Heav'n has made us asMan's
weerror
are:
4
putting himself in the place of God, and
But of this frame, the bearings and judging
the ties,
5 From brutes what men, from men what spirits know;
of the fitness or unfitness,
6
perfection or imperfection, justice or
The strong connexions, nice dependencies,
Or who could suffer being here below?
7
injustice, of his dispensations.
Gradations just, has thy pervading soul
8 The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,
1
V. The absurdity of conceiting himself the final
Look'd thro'; or can a part contains cause
the whole?
Had he thy reason would he skip and play?
2
of creation, or expecting that
3 Pleas'd to the last he crops the flowery food,
perfection in the moral world which is not
Is the great chain that draws all to agree,
4
in the natural.
And drawn supports, upheld by God or thee?
And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood.
5
6 O blindness to the future! kindly giv'n,
And
supports,
by to
God
or thee?
Is thedrawn
great chain
thatupheld
draws all
agree,
And drawn supports, upheld by God or thee?
II.
II.
Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find,
Why
form'd soman!
weak,the
soreason
little, and
so blind?
Presumptuous
wouldst
thou find,
First,
if thou so
canst,
thesoharder
Why form'd
weak,
little,reason
and so guess
blind?
Why
weaker,
blinder,
and no
less!
First, form'd
if thou no
canst,
the harder
reason
guess
Ask
of
thy
mother
earth
why
oaks
are
made
Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less!
Taller
stronger
weeds
shade!
Ask ofor
thy
motherthan
earththe
why
oaksthey
are made
Or
askor
ofstronger
yonder argent
fields
above
Taller
than the
weeds
they shade!
Or ask of yonder argent fields above
And
licks
handhejust
rais'd
shed his
blood.
Pleas'd
to the last
crops
thetoflowery
food,
O
blindness
the future!
kindly
giv'n,
And
licks thetohand
just rais'd
to shed
his blood.
That
each may
fill future!
the circle
mark'd
by Heav'n;
O blindness
to the
kindly
giv'n,
Who
sees with
as mark'd
God of by
all,Heav'n;
That each
may equal
fill theeye,
circle
A
hero
perish
or
a
sparrow
fall,
Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
Atoms
systems
ruin fall,
hurl'd,
A hero or
perish
or a into
sparrow
And
now
bubble into
burst,
andhurl'd,
now a world.
Atoms
or asystems
ruin
Hope
humbly
then;burst,
with trembling
And now
a bubble
and now apinions
world. soar;
Wait
the
great
teacher
Death,
and
God
adore.
Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions
soar;
What
future
bliss
He gives
notand
theeGod
to know,
Wait the
great
teacher
Death,
adore.
Name:
Alexander Pope’s
But
thatbliss
hope
be thy
Whatgives
future
Hetogives
notblessing
thee to now.
know,
Essay
on
Man: Abridged Edition
Hope
springs
eternal
in
the
human
breast:
But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.
Man
never
is,
but
always
to
be,
blest.
Hope
springs eternal
the human
DIRECTIONS:
Alexander
Pope’s in
Essay
on Manbreast:
is composed of four epistles, each of which is divided into sections.
1
Why
arewas
less
Jove!
HenryJove's
St Johnsatellites
(1678–1751)
an than
English
politician, government
The
soul,
uneasy
and
confin'd
from
home,
Pope summarized
the
argument
of each
section,
which has been placed in the left column. In the adjacent space provided,
Man
never
is,
but
always
to
be,
blest.
official
political
philosopher.
1Of systems
possible,
if 'tis
Henry and
St John
(1678–1751)
wasconfest
an English politician, government
identify aThe
heroic
couplet
(a pair
rhymingfrom
iambic
pentameters) that best embodies Pope’s claim within each section.
soul,
uneasy
andofconfin'd
home,
official
and political
philosopher.
That wisdom
infinite
must form the best,
EPISTLE I: Of the Nature and State of Man, With Respect to the Universe
Where all must fall or not coherent be,
261
Pope
And all that rises rise in due degree;
I. That we can judge only with regard to our own Say
1
first, of God above or Man below
Then in the scale of reas'ning life 'tis plain
261
Pope being ignorant of the relations of
system,
2
There must be, somewhere, such a rank as Man:
What
can we reason but from what we know?
systems and things.
3
And all the question (wrangle e'er so long)
4
5
Is only this,--if God has placed him wrong?
6
Respecting Man, whatever wrong we call,
7
May, must be right, as relative to all.
8
In human works, tho' labour'd on with pain,
II. That Man is not to be deemed imperfect, but a
1
A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain;
Then
say not man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault;
being suited to his place and rank in the
2
In God's, one single can its end produce,
creation, agreeable to the general order of
3
Say rather man's as perfect as he ought;
Yet serve to second too some other use:
things, and conformable to ends and
4
So man, who here seems principal alone,
relations to him unknown.
5
Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown,
6
7
Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal:
8
'Tis but a part we see, and not a whole.
1
When the proud steed shall know why man restrains III. That it is partly upon his ignorance of future
events,
and
partly
upon
the
hope
of
a
future
2
His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains;
state, that all his happiness in the present
3
When the dull ox, why now he breaks the clod,
depends.
4
Is now a victim, and now Egypt's God;
5
Then shall man's pride and dulness comprehend
6
His actions', passions', being's, use and end;
7
Why doing, suff'ring, check'd, impell'd; and why
8
This hour a Slave, the next a Deity.
IV. The pride of aiming at more knowledge, and
1
pretending to more perfection, the cause of 2
Then say not man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault;
Man's error and misery. The impiety of
3
Say rather man's as perfect as he ought;
putting himself in the place of God, and
4
His knowledge measured to his state and place,
judging of the fitness or unfitness,
5
His time a moment, and a point his space.
perfection or imperfection, justice or
6
If to be perfect in a certain sphere,
injustice, of his dispensations.
7
What matter soon or late, or here or there?
8
The blest to-day is as completely so
V. The absurdity of conceiting himself the final
1
As who began a thousand years ago.
cause of creation, or expecting that
2
perfection in the moral world which is not
3