MODULE TWO: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD (THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY)

ABBREVIATIONS

Cottingham: John Cottingham, ed. Western Philosophy: an Anthology
Adams: Hazard Adams, ed. Critical Theory Since Plato
Leitch: Vincent Leitch, ed. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism

WEEK 5: EARLY MODERN RATIONALISM VS EMPIRICISM

• René Descartes
  • Meditations on First Philosophy [1641]:
    • "New Foundations for Knowledge" (pp. 22-26 in Cottingham)
    • "The Incorporeal Mind" (pp.145-152 in Cottingham)
  • Principles of Philosophy [1644]: "Supreme Being and Created Things" (pp. 74-80 in Cottingham)

Lec. 2: Locke: an Overview of his Epistemology, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind

• John Locke Essay Concerning Human Understanding [1690]:
  • Book I: Chs. 1 and 2: "The Senses as the Basis of Knowledge" (pp. 26-32 in Cottingham)
  • Book II: Ch. 8 "Qualities and Ideas" (pp. 80-85 in Cottingham)
  • Book II: Ch. 27: "The Self and Consciousness" (pp. 187-192 in Cottingham)
  • Book III: Ch. 2 "Of the Signification of Words" (pp. 254-256 in Adams)
  • Book III: Ch. 3 "Of General Terms" (pp. 256-260 in Adams)

• Russell, Bertrand The History of Western Philosophy: Bk. 3 Modern Philosophy: 
  • Ch. I "General Characteristics" (pp. 479-482)
  • Ch. II "The Italian Renaissance" (pp. 483-490)
  • Ch. VI "The Rise of Science" (pp. 512-525)
  • Ch. IX "Descartes" (pp. 542-551)
  • Ch. XIII "Locke’s Theory of Knowledge" (pp. 584-595)
  • Ch. XV "Locke’s Influence" (pp. 607-622)
• Taylor, Charles Sources of the Self: 
  • "Descartes’s Disengaged Reason" (pp. 143-158)
  • "Locke’s Punctual Self" (pp. 159-176)
  • "Exploring 'l'Humaine Condition'" (pp. 177-184)
  • "Inner Nature" (pp. 185-198)
  • "Rationalised Christianity" (pp. 234-247)
  • "Moral Sentiments" (pp. 248-265)
  • "The Providential Order" (pp. 266-284)

WEEK 6: NEO-CLASSICAL CRITICAL THEORY I

Lecs. 1 and 2: Introduction to Neo-Classicism /  The Reader I

• Alexander Pope An Essay on Criticism [1711] (pp. 274-282 in Adams; pp. 441-458 in Leitch):
  • Comments on Representation: ll. 68-200 and ll.289-383
  • Comments on the Reader: ll.1-67, 201-288; and 384-643

• Harland, Richard Literary Theory: from Plato to Barthes: Ch. 3 "The Rise and Fall of Neoclassicism": 
  • "French Neoclassical Theory" (pp. 41-45)
  • "The British Version of Neoclassicism" (pp. 45-49)

WEEK 7: NEO-CLASSICAL CRITICAL THEORY II

Lec. 1: Representation / The Reader II

• Samuel Johnson
  • Rambler 4 (March 31, 1750): "On Fiction" (pp. 317-319 in Adams; pp. 462-466 in Leitch) *
  • "From The History of Rasselas: Chapter X" (1759) (pp. 319-320 in Adams; pp. 466-467 in Leitch)
  • "From Preface to Shakespeare" [1765] (pp. 320-327 in Adams; pp. 468-480 in Leitch)

Lec. 2: The Author / Feminist Perspectives

• Edward Young "From Conjectures on Original Composition" [1759] (pp. 329-337 in Adams; pp. 427-437 in Leitch)

• Wolstonecraft, Mary A Vindication of The Rights of Woman [1792]:

  • Chapter II (also pp. 586-593 in Leitch)

  • Chapter VI (also pp. 395-398 in Adams)

  • Chapter XIII (also pp. 398-399 in Adams) 

• Abrams, M. H. The Mirror and the Lamp: 

  • Ch. 4"The Development of the Expressive Theory of Art": "Longinus and the Longinians" (pp. 73-78)
  • Ch. 7 "The Psychology of Literary Invention: Mechanical and Organic Theories" (pp. 156-183)
  • Ch. 8 "The Psychology of Literary Invention: Unconscious Genius and Organic Growth" (pp. 184-225)
• Harland, Richard Literary Theory: from Plato to Barthes: Ch. 3 "The Rise and Fall of Neoclassicism":
  • "French Neoclassical Theory" (pp. 41-45)
  • "The British Version of Neoclassicism" (pp. 45-49)
  • "British Theory in the Age of Sensibility" (pp. 49-55)

WEEK 8: THE TRANSITION FROM NEO-CLASSICISM TO ROMANTICISM

• William Wordsworth "Preface to Lyrical Ballads" [1800] ( pp. 437-446 in Adams; pp. 648-667 in Leitch): read
  • Representation / Form:
    • from "The principle object . . ." [p. 438] to " . . . their own creation." [p. 438]; 
    • from "Having dwelt thus . . ." [p.439] to " . . . subdued and temperate." (p.441); 
    • from "But whatever portion of this faculty . . ." (p.441) to " . . . a particular language." (p.443); and 
    • from "These and the like . . ." (p. 443) to " . . . the poet proposes to himself" (p.445)

• William Wordsworth "Preface to Lyrical Ballads" [1800] (pp. 437-446 in Adams; also in Leitch): read
  • The Author:
    • from "But as the pleasure . . ." (p.441) to " . . . external excitement." (p.441); 
    • from "What has been thus far said . . ." (p.443) to " . . . fear and sorrow." (p.443); and 
    • from "I have said that poetry is . . ." (p.444) to " . . . the prose is read once" (p.445)
  • The Reader:
    • from "I cannot, however, be insensible . . ." (p.438) to " . . . distinguished success" (p. 439)