UNIT 5:

European Enlightenment & The Age of Reason

Unit Overview
Unit Goals, Key Questions,
& Topics for Class Discussion

Readings

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?

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.

Pope, Essay on Man

Do close readings of Voltaires ironic style,

surface pessimism, and careful optimism. How
does his comic form work as politics,
philosophy, and novel? Compare to Swifts
modest proposal.

Leibnitz, The Theodicy

History of Ideas
Development of liberal democracy,
natural rights, social contract theory,
utilitarianism

Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary

Voltaire, Candide

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

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?
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 states more
humane and diffuse exercising of power over
the individual, in Benthams 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?

World Literature with Mr. Brennan: Unit 5 Overview

Watch for shift from pre-modern

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 Christianitys 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)

Unit 5 Vocabulary for the analysis of form.

Caricaturea depiction in which a characters characteristics or features are so deliberately exaggerated as to render them absurd.
Political cartoons use visual caricature; writers, such as Charles Dickens, create verbal caricaturethis can be found both in
drawing and in print in The Pickwick Papers.
Euphemisma mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to
something unpleasant or embarrassing. For example, To pass away is a euphemism for to die..
Hyperboleoverstatement characterized by exaggerated language. Im starving! is usually hyperbole. The Concord Hymn by
Ralph Waldo Emerson presents a famous hyperbole in the last line of stanza one: And fired the shot heard round the world.
Ironya situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually
happens or is meant. Irony is often humorous, and sometimes sarcastic when it uses words to imply the opposite of what they
normally mean. Classical sarcastic irony is Jonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal.
A form of humor in which the outcome is the opposite of what was expected. The Ransom of Red Chief by James Thurber is an
example: a young boy is kidnapped, and his behavior is so atrocious that the kidnappers pay the parents to take the boy back.
Parody: a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing. Parody makes fun of some familiar style, typically
be keeping the style more or less constant while markedly lowering or debasing the subject. Parody can also simply mean to mimic
humorously. A parody on Hamlets To be, or not to be soliloquy would be To eat a cupcake, or not to eat a cupcake.
Rhetoricthe art of using language as a means to persuade.
Logosan appeal based on rational argument. In Aristotles analysis of rhetoric, it was one of the three ways to convince the
audience of an argument: ethos, logos, and pathos. From logos we get the word logic.
Pathosan appeal based on emotional reaction. In Aristotles analysis of rhetoric, it was one of the three ways to convince
the audience of an argument: ethos, logos, and pathos. From pathos we get the word pathetic.
Ethosan appeal based on the character of the speaker. In Aristotles analysis of rhetoric, it was one of the three ways to
convince the audience of an argument: ethos, logos, and pathos. In ancient Greece, ethos referred to the characteristic manner
or spirit, either of a community, or individual. This is a word that indicates a certain attitude or sense of comportment
towards others, and generally associated with questions of character or moral selfhood, where character or moral selfhood
disclose a bond with others. From ethos we get the word ethics.
Sarcasma 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 Swifts satire, A Modest Proposal. Oscar Wilde is also well known for his sarcastic statements; The Importance
of Being Earnest is full of them.
Satirea literary work that holds up human failings to ridicule and censure. Jonathan Swift and George Orwell both were masters of satire.
Diesmbelief 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.
Meliorismthe belief that the world can be made better by human effort.
Philosophical OptimismThis 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 EvilThe 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 ProvidenceAllied 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 Gods 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 EffectThis 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 ReasonIn Leibnitzs philosophy, the sufficient reason is that which justifies the existence of things. Like the uncaused
cause, the ultimate sufficient reason is God (Perfection Learning).
World Literature with Mr. Brennan: Unit 5 Overview