ASSIGNMENT ON ENLIGHTENMENT
PHILOSOPHY
SUJITHA.M
LCL051521
INTRODUCTION
Neoclassicism refers to the period between
1600 and 1785 in English literature. There are many sub periods or sub division
between the neoclassical ages. The period between 1660 and 1700 is known as
“restoration period”. Then the “Augustan
age” started which extends from 1700 to 1745. “Augustan age” followed the “age
of sensibility” or “age of Johnson” (1745 to 1785). Now we are going to look it
detailed.
The restoration
period takes its name from the restoration of the Stuart king Charles second to
the English throne in 1660, at the end of commonwealth; it is specified as
lasting until 1700. The literature produced during this age reflects the
urbanity, wit, and licentiousness of the life centering on the court. Another
feature is that the theaters came back more powerfully. Sir George Etherege, William Wycherley,
William Congreve and John Dryden developed the distinctive comedy of manners
called “Restoration comedy”. Dryden was the major critic and poet as well as
major dramatist of the age. Dryden, Thomas Otway, and other playwrights developed
the distinctive form of tragedy called “heroic drama”. Like Dryden one of the
notable personalities of the age is Aphra Ben, the first Englishwoman to earn
her living by her pen and one of the most inventive authors of the age.
After restoration the Augustan
age started. This period is also known as “age of Queene Anne. It is quite true
that the twelve years of Queene Anne’s reign saw the most famous authors of
their generation come to full maturity.
The original Augustan age was the brilliant literary period of Virgil,
Horace, and Ovid under the Roman Emperor Augustus (27 BC- AD 14). In the
eighteenth century and later, however, the term was also applied to the
literary period in England from 1700-1745. The leading writers of the age were
Alexander Pope, Jonathan swift, and Joseph Addison. They imitated the literary
forms and subjects of the classic age.
Augustan age followed the
age of Sensibility. It denote the period
between the death of Alexander pope in 1744, and 1785, which was one year after
the death of Samuel Johnson and one year before
Robert Burns’ poems, Chiefly in
Scottish Dialect. The half century of the period is known as the “Age of Johnson”,
stresses the dominant position of Samuel Johnson and his literary and
intellectual circle, which included Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, James
Boswell, Edward Gibbon, and Hester Lynch Thrale. These authors on the whole
represented a culmination of the literary and critical modes of neoclassicism
and the world view of enlightenment.
The
Enlightenment sometimes referred as the age of reason. It was a confluence of ideas and activities
that took place throughout the eighteenth century Western Europe, England, and
the American colonies. The common
feature of enlightenment is the belief in human reason. The enlightenment
thinkers believe or try to prove that “reason” replace the darkness of
superstition, prejudice and barbarity.
Thinkers believed in advances of scientific and industrial development.
Reason was the inductive procedure of science. The famous enlightenment
thinkers are Francis Bacon, John Locke, William Godwin, Descartes, Voltaire,
Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Edmund Burke and Mary Wollstonecraft etc.
The age of
enlightenment and the enlightenment thinker’s views are a turning point in the
history of the world. Enlightenment age changed the outlook of the world
entirely. So here I am going to do an
assignment on the topic “enlightenment
philosophy”. The following pages
contain details regarding neoclassical literary criticism and enlightenment
criticism. It also contains major personalities of the age and their critical
view.
NEOCLASSICAL LITERARY CRITICISM
Neoclassicism refers to
a broad tendency in literature and art enduring from early seventeenth century
until around 1750. Neoclassical age is also known as “age of Queene Anne” or
“Augustan age”. Politically, Augustanism
refers to the parallels drawn between the emerging structures of English
society and those existing in the period of Emperor Augustus in ancient Rome.
These parallels were worked out in terms of political similarities and the
closeness evident in some kind of cultural conditioning in contemporary
England. The process of finding similarities between Augustan periods in
ancient Rome and English society began in the early seventeenth century, when
writers like Ben Jonson eluded the possibility.
Neoclassicism calls
for return to the classical models (writings of Horace and Virgil etc),
literary styles, and values of ancient Greek and Roman authors. Neoclassicists
were to some extent heirs of the Renaissance humanists. Compared to Renaissance
humanists, neoclassicists were less ambiguous in their emphasis upon classical
values of objectivity, impersonality, rationality, decorum, balance, harmony,
proportion, and moderation. Two of the
concepts central to neoclassical literary criticism and practice were imitation
and nature. They were closely related. In one sense the notion of imitation of
the external world and, primarily, of human action was a reaffirmation of the
ideals of objectivity and impersonality. But it also referred to the imitation
of classical models, especially of Homer and Virgil. The major critics of the
neoclassical age are Corneille, Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux in France Dryden,
pope, Aphra Ben and Johnson in England.
PIERRE CORNEILLE (1606-1684)
Neoclassical criticism first took root in
France .From France it spread to other part of Europe especially England. The
major figures of French neoclassicism were Corneille, Racine, Moliere and La
Fontain. Corneille’s theories grew out
of the need to defend his dramatic practice against classicists such as Scudery
and Jean Chaplin.
Corneille born in Normandy
and he was primarily a playwright. The most important text of his literary
criticism, Trois Discours sur le poeme
dramatique (Three Discourses on Dramatic
poetry, 1660), was produced in response to the controversies had ignited,
to explain justify his own dramatic practice. These controversies are aroused
from his most renowned play Le Cid appeared
in 1637. It was not only attacked by the critic but the French literary and
political establishment for its failure to observe the rules of classical
theater lay down by Aristotle and Horace. The play violated the classical
unities of action time and place and also Aristotle’s concept of probability
and necessity. Corneille responded to
these charges both by writing further plays displaying his mastery of classical
convention and by producing his Three
Discourses. In his third Discourse, entitled “Of Three Unities of
Action, Time and Place,” Corneille attempts
to explain the rational thinking behind his play. Corneille’s desire is to make
ancient rules agrees with modern pleasure. He put forward constant experience,
actual practice. He appeals not only to a broader vision of Aristotelian
probability and necessity but also to other aesthetic criteria such as beauty,
comprehensiveness, and unity. His text
is an example of ancient authority and an appeal to experience and theatrical
practice.
JOHN DRYDEN (1631-1700)
Samuel Johnson called
Dryden “the father of English criticism” and praised his Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668) by claiming that “modern English
prose begins here.” Dryden’s critical work was extensive, treating of various
genres such as epic, tragedy, comedy and dramatic theory, satire, the relative
virtues of ancient and modern writers as well as the nature of poetry and
translation. His Essay of Dramatic Poesy is
written as a debate on drama conducted by four speakers, Euginius, Crites,
Lisiedius, and Neander. The first of these debates is between ancient and
modern. Dryden’s Essay is an
important intervention in this debate, perhaps marking a distinction between
Renaissance and neoclassical values. Like Tasso and Corneille Dryden attempted
to strike a compromise between the claims of ancient authority and the
exigencies of the modern writer. He speaks about how or in what sense French
writers become more popular than the English.
He advocated that English should have a theory instead following French
dramatic theory. Dryden considers poetry as a rational activity.
ALEXANDER
POPE (1688-1744)
Pope’s An Essay on Criticism is generally
considered as the clearest statement of neoclassical principles in any
language. This work published anonymously in 1711, and explains Roman Catholic
outlook with classical aesthetic principles and with deism. Pope written his An Essay on Criticism in verse and it is
followed the tradition of Horace’s Ars
Poetica. He defines classical values in terms of “nature” and “wit”. Both
are necessary for good poetry and criticism. Pope calls for “return to nature”.
“Nature” and “wit” both are necessary for poetry and criticism. A good poetry
and criticism are divinely inspired. He gives advice for the critics to
recognize the overall unity of a work. A
critic needs moral sensibility and a sense of balance in order to criticize a
work of art.
APHRA
BEHN (1640-1689)
Aphra Behn was one of the first commercial
women writers of the age. She is a victim of gender biases and also an
important feminist personality of the neoclassical age. Her function as a poet in society is masculine.
She is one of the founders of English novel and her first novel Oroonoko (1688) is an opposition about
slavery. She defends the value of drama by contrasting it favorably with
traditional learning as thought in the universities. The French playwright Corneille appeals to
experience rather than classical rules but as a feminist Behn appeal to
experience female experience. In her
opinion drama is for entertainment. The
male writers of her age criticized her writings but she responded. She comments that equality in society is only
possible through female education. The male writers of her age treated women as
indecent in literature. So she found female education as a solution for these
attitudes of males.
SAMUEL
JOHNSON (1709-1784)
Samuel Johnson is
remembered for his two- volume Dictionary
of the English Language published in 1755 and Lives of the English Poets (1783). An integral dimension of Johnson’s literary
output and personality was his literary criticism, which was to have a huge
impact on English letters. In his Preface to Shakespeare he criticizes
Shakespeare for his violation of three unities put forward by Aristotle.
Shakespeare’s character’s represents general manners or nature rather than
particular. As a neoclassicist Johnson made frequent comparison between past
and present works. He concluded that past works are better than the present.
Johnson’s classical commitment to
reason, probability, and truth was complimented by his equally classical
insistence on the moral function of literature. Through
his criticism he tries to prove that he is flexible in his adherence to
classical formulations. Johnson stresses on “truth”. According to him truth is superior to
rule. Johnson’s criticism rested on the
classical foundation of adherence to nature, reason and truth. Through the term
“nature” he not only means the external world and physical nature but the human
nature in its universal and historical embodiment of reason and moral
sensibility.
ENLIGHTENMENT
Enlightenment is an
intellectual movement and cultural ambiance which developed in Western Europe
during the seventeenth century and reached its height during the eighteenth
century. According to Immanuel Kant enlightenment is the liberation of man from
his self imposed minority. Scientific rationalism or scientific method was the
hallmark of enlightenment. Enlightenment age is also known as “age of reason”. The
enlightenment thinkers were by no means uniform in their outlook, but in
general they saw themselves as an initiating an era of humanitarian,
intellectual, and social progress, underlain by the increasing ability of human
reason to subjugate analytically both the external world of nature and the
human self. Enlightenment replaced superstition and prejudice of the society.
Enlightenment thought was integral to the rise of liberalism and the ascendancy
to power of the bourgeois class through the French revolution of 1789 and
subsequent revolutions throughout Europe.
Francis Bacon and Isaac
Newton are frequently mentioned as the progenitors of enlightenment. Bacon worked in the realm of ideas and
language, Newton, the author of Principia
was a pure scientist in the modern sense.
Bacon in his work The Advancement
of learning (1605) and The New
Organon (1620) formulated the method of induction in which ideas are
generalize on the basis of actual observation. Enlightenment thinkers believe or only
approved scientific rational thinking. Reality is the only truth. They denied
deductive observation.
Rene Descartes is often called the “father” of
modern philosophy. Like Bacon he challenged the basic principles of modern
philosophy. In his Discourse on Method he
began a skeptical mode of thinking and started to doubt everything until he
came to the recognition that his mere process of thought proved his own
existence (“I think, therefore I am”).
He also states that never to receive anything as truth until to prove it
as truth. Descartes’ single most influential legacy was his philosophy of
Dualism. God created two kinds of reality- mind and matter. Mind belonged to
man alone and all else was matter. Bacon and Descartes represent what were to
become two important strands of enlightenment thought, empiricism and
rationalism respectively. Montesquieu, Voltaire, David Hume, Edward Gibbon,
Thomas Hobbes and Rousseau are the major political enlightenment figures of the
age. In Europe, Voltaire and Rousseau
were the torch bearers of enlightenment literature and philosophy. Latter was a
strong advocate for social and reform of all kinds. During this period English
literary field also witnessed progress. Tolerance of the religious matter is
the central theme of enlightenment literature. Richardson’s Pamela, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, and Henry Fielding’s Shamela are the products of
enlightenment.
The historical and intellectual developments
associated with enlightenment had far-reaching effects on literary criticism in
terms of the discussion of the language of poetry, notion of taste, and
faculties such as wit, judgment, and imagination. The increasing power of the bourgeoisie,
decline of the clergy and nobility, development of constitutional form of
development, the increasing power of scientific perspectives, and the
development of rationalism and empiricism are the result of enlightenment.
A very direct connection
between enlightenment philosophy and literary criticism occurs through the
various philosophies of language. The
most important of these theories of language was formulated by John Locke.
JOHN
LOCKE (1632-1704)
As an enlightenment writer
Locke’s philosophy has widespread influence. It was Locke who laid the
foundations of British Empiricism. Tolerance, moderation and commonsense are
the characteristics of his philosophical thinking. His important works are Essay concerning Human Understanding, Two
Treatises on Government, Thoughts on Education, and Letters Concerning
Tolerations. His philosophy is known as “Tabularasa” which means blank
states. He says that mind at birth is blank state upon which experiences would
write. He considers experience as the
beginning of knowledge. Like Hobbes he
also put forward social contract theory. In his “state of nature” there was no
effective means to enforce natural laws hence arouse the need to setup
government. Thus the government was the product of contract and its basis was
the concern of people. Thus the king has to operate within the framework of a
‘rule of law’. He clearly analyses the duties of the king and rejects ‘divine
right theory’ of divine kingship. He says a king become only the king becomes
the support of citizen. Lockian empiricism denied ‘abstract ideas’ claiming
that all ideas are concrete.
JOSEPH
ADDISON (1672-1719)
Addison was best known as a poet,
dramatist and essayist. He contributed much to the development eighteenth
century essay as a literary form. With
the collaboration of his friend Richard Steele he published number of essay in
the periodicals such as “tattler” and “spectator”. It was his great ambition to
bring philosophical, political and literary discussion within the reach of the
middle classes. Their essay is an
attempt to probe the truth of thing, in a dramatic and witty manner for the
moral enlightenment of the readers. Both of them used their periodicals for
literary, moral and educational purposes.
Addison is highly influenced by the
thoughts of classical writers such as Aristotle and Longinus and also
Milton. Like the psychology by Locke they
also made use of more recent observation. Steele calls his age as “corrupt age”
concentrating more on luxury and wealth rather than the virtues of friendship
and innocence. In Spectator there are
many essays dealing with literary critical issues such as nature of tragedy,
wit, genius, and sublime. Like Pope he also attempted to distinguish true and
false wit. Addison finds Dryden’s
definition of wit as “a propriety of words and thoughts adapted to the
subjects” to be broad; it is possible to apply all writing not only to wit. On
the basis of Locke’s definition of wit Addison produced a definition of false
wit. True wit consists in the resemblance and congruity of ideas whereas false
wit is based on single letters. By holding the values of classical age both
Steele and Addison tries to cultivate moral values among the people.
GIAMBATTISTA
VICO (1668-1744)
As an Italian philosopher Vico
expressed the historic view of the progress of human thought, language, and
culture in his writings. In his major work
Scienza Nuova (New Science) he views human nature not as timeless and
unchanging but as produced by specific social, religious, and economic
circumstances. He made number of speeches on human education. The purpose of his work is to study the
nature of nation based on divine providence. He says that philosophers must
ready to spend their time to study the nature which having been made by the
god. He rejects Hegel’s notion that is human history is a random or blind
series of events. He states the true knowledge teach the knowledge of divine
institutions in order to conduct human institutions to the highest good. In
short his “science” is the study of mankind. His vision of historical progress
allows for a mutual accommodation of divine and human agencies. Vico’s thoughts
reflect his approval of early stages of enlightenment thinking.
DAVID
HUME (1711- 1776)
David Hume is a Scottish
philosopher and one of the major philosophers of the enlightenment. Like Locke
he is an empiricist who believes only in concrete ideas. He states that human knowledge
originates from his or her experience. His major philosophical works are A Treaties of Human Nature(1740), An Enquiry
Concerning Human Understanding(1748), An Enquiry concerning the principles of
morals(1751) and Political Discourses (1752) etc. His works are generally
considers as the manifesto of enlightenment. Hume
was influenced by Locke and Newton. He was a skeptic which separated him from
those who trying to create a large comprehensive system of thought.
He considers empiricism as
the signature of enlightenment. He makes
a challenge in traditional classical confidence. He explains the cause and effect relation
properly. He makes a difference between
facts and sentiments or matter of facts and matter of values, the former is
based on truth and the latter lacks truth. Art is always appreciated on the
basis of sentiments and art always had a sort of value judgment. A standard of
taste conform one sentiment over another and condemns one over another. He then talks about how to regulate classical
arts and also about qualified and unqualified critics. According to him there
are two kinds of taste: - moral taste and aesthetic taste. One is natural and
other is cultivable taste. He is one of the notable figures of the enlightenment.
Hume’s essay On the Standard of Tastes raises questions about the standards of
aesthetic judgment.
MARY
WOLLSTONECRAFT (1759-1797)
Mary Wollstonecraft acknowledged as the one of
the first feminist writers of modern times known as the “mother of Western
feminism”. She was a radical thinker and
her central notions were formulated from the French revolution in 1789. Her first major work A Vindication of the Rights of Man (1790) was a response to Edmund
Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in
France (1790). Then her A Vindication of the rights of Woman
(1792) is considers as the founding text or manifesto of western feminism. In this treaty she advocates for social and
moral equality. She augmented for
rational education for both sexes was based on the promise of freedom greeted
by the early writers.
She has rightly been
characterized as an enlightenment thinker, propounding arguments in favor of
reason. Through her works she response
against enslavement of women due to the lack of education. She criticizes
Rousseau’s Emilie for its treatment
of male education as superior to female.
Equating female with military men she tries to change the women
stereotype as domestic workers.
According to her national education is necessary to women for the future
development of a nation.
CONCLUSION
From this assignment on the
topic “enlightenment” philosophy we can understand that neoclassical age in
English literature followed the age of Enlightenment. Age of Enlightenment is
also known as age of reason and it is an idea of progress. The eighteenth
century enlightenment philosophy gave a new outlook for the world. Rationalism,
Empiricism, ideas and observation these are the key terms related to
enlightenment philosophy. We can consider scientific rationalism and scientific
method as the hallmark of enlightenment.
The enlightenment philosophers
believed in the realization of truth based on experimentation. The renaissance
was the seed behind the blossom of enlightenment. They consider reason as more
valuable thing than religion. It is a revolt against religion and church
historiography. They stress on the need for history. Thinkers valued individual
dignity and advocated both personal freedom and liberation of mind.
The period of enlightenment followed the age
of romanticism which begins from 1785 or alternatively in 1789, the outbreak of
French revolution or in 1798, the publication of Lyrical Ballads by Coleridge and Wordsworth and it ends 1832 the
year in which Walter Scott died. Imagination is the key concept of romanticism.
It is a reaction against 18th century rationalism and 17th
century formalism both considered middle age as an age of barbarism. But the
romanticist looks middle ages with respect even nostalgia, finding in them a
fascination, colorfulness or spiritual depth. They praised middle age as an age
of imagination and feeling of popular poetry and art, of rural simplicity and
peace. Romantic period is somewhat
similar to that of neoclassical age which calls upon “return to nature”.
Immanuel
Kant (1724-1804) was one of the notable figures in both enlightenment and
romanticism. Kant’s account of the role
of imagination in an aesthetic judgment laid the foundation for a great deal of
romantic theory and literary practice. he defines aesthetic judgment as an
ability to judge an object.
The two thinkers who made much
contribution to the romantic period were Rousseau and Herder. Rousseau is known
as the “messiah of romantic movement” and also the “father of romantic
movement”. He is the child of
enlightenment. Hegel was another literary critic of the age. In total we can say that romanticism is an
opposition against the eighteenth century enlightenment in the sense that
latter is based on reason.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
Abrams, M. H.A Glossary of Literary
Terms. Wadsworth: Cengage, 2012. Print.
2.
Habib, M. A. R. A History of Literary
Criticism: from Plato to the Present. New Delhi: Blackwell, 2006. Print.
3.
Habib, M. A. R. Literary Criticism from
Plato to the Present: An Introduction. Singapore: Blackwell, 2011. Print.
4. Klages, Mony. Literary Theory: A Guide to the Perplexed. Newyork: Continuum,
2006. Print.
5.
Wimsatt K, William and Cleanth Brooks.
Literary criticism: A Short History. New Delhi: Oxford. 1957. Print.
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