Essay on Man

Essay on Man

What methods does Pope use in his satire?
1. He indirectly criticizes the ideas of the British Aristocrats of the time
Deism
1. Definition: Belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe.
2. Evidence of Deist thought in Essay of Man
  1. Pope talks in some sections about the idea of humans being "parts" of the system
    1. "He, who though vast immensity can pierce, See worlds on worlds compose one universe, Observe how system into system runs." (23-25
    2. de us as we are, but of this frame, the bearings, and the ties." (28-30)
    3. "A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain; in God's one single can its end produce." (54-55)
What does it mean to be didactic? How are Pope and his works didactic?
1. Didactic: Literature that is used to teach or convey and idea
2. His work is didactic because it conveys the idea that God created humans all for a reason.
Symmetry and Artifice
1. Symmetry: balanced and equal
  1. Symmetry of the englightenment is inspired from the Greeks and Romans
    1. Period is known as the Neoclassical period
      1. Art from this period is based on order, such as the order of systems described in Pope's Essay on Man
        This order was seen in government, religion, and nature
2. Artifice: Clever or artful skill
  1. Artifice is seen in the Englightnement with the ornate and high artificial art systels of the era
    1. This is seen in Essay on Man with the complicated and ornate language that Pope uses as opposed to using an easier method of writing such as vernacular.
      1. Neoclassical literature focuses on the individual and the place of the person in the system.
What kind of satire is the poem?
1. Indirect
2. Horatian
  1. In Horatian satire the speaker is, "the character of the speaker is that of an urbane, witty, and tolerant man of the world" source: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chris.thorns/drama/satire.htm
The Great Chain of Being
1. This is a concept from Plato and Aristotle, and developed full in Neoplatonism
  1. It details a strict religious hierarchical structure of all matter and life, believed to have been a decreed by God
Problem of Evil
1. The question of evil anything that makes people have to think about the existence of evil.
  1. Like Pope said, "People are mad and not satisfied about how God made them.
    1. The problem with this is evil makes you want to think that there are problems with yourself
      1. But God made you the way he wanted and that you are perfect in his eyes and that is the most important thing.
“Whatever is, is right” (294). How does this last line capture the theme of Pope’s thinking? What is the “lesson” of the poem?
1. New Idea of Reason
  1. People are questioning their previous traditions and ideas based off of faith
    1. No physical evidence regarding common beliefs leaves the possibility of falsehood evident through the use of reason
      1. Therefore, what is evident leads to what is right through use of reason.
2. The "lesson" of the poem regards the idea that even though there is not always evidence for the existence of things, there is still a possibility of existence.
Target of Pope's Satire?
1. The new radical enlightenment thinkers that believe proof is needed for all things
Leibniz's Theodicy
1. The main argument in this is the claim that the actual world is the best of all possible worlds. Or it is the attempt to solve the Problem of Evil
  1. In the Essay on Man, Pope says, " the world God created is a perfect world which would agree with Leibniz's Theodicy
Argument from Design
1. An arugment that staes that if a creature or an object is complex it should be inferred that it has been designed that way.
  1. Pope argues that we have been designed the way we have been for a reason and to argue against it is sinful
  2. Example: A Watch is a complex system of components and needed to be designed.
Philosophical Optimism
1. The idea that God created the universe and the laws of physics and has given us the best of all possible worlds to live in.
  1. The philosopher Voltaire mocked this idea.

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