LITS2306 HISTORY OF CRITICISM

MODULE TWO: EARLY MODERN / ROMANTIC THOUGHT
 

WEEK FIVE: EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY  (c.1600 - c.1785):
(Week of October 4)
 

REQUIRED READINGS:

• René Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy [1641]:
  • Meditations I and II: see extract entitled "New Foundations for Knowledge," pp. 22-26 in Cottingham
  • Meditations II and VI: see extract entitled "The Incorporeal Mind," pp. 145-152 in Cottingham
• John Locke An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [1690]:
  • Book I Ch. 2 and Book II Ch. 1: see extract entitled "The Senses as the Basis of Knowledge," pp. 26-32 in Cottingham
  • Book II:
    • Ch. 8: see extract entitled "Qualities and Ideas," pp. 80-85 in Cottingham
    • Ch. 27: see extract entitled "The Self and Consciousness," pp. 187-192 in Cottingham

• 05A Descartes Meditations (Books I and II)
• 05B Locke An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Books I, II and III)

• John Locke An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [1690] Continued: Book III (pp. 254-268 in Adams):
  • Ch. 2 "Of the Signification of Words"
  • Ch. 3 "Of General Terms"
  • Ch. 9: "Of the Imperfection of Words"
  • Ch. 10: "Of the Abuse of Words"
• Immanuel Kant Critique of Pure Reason [1781]: see extract entitled "Experience and Understanding," pp. 41-45 in Cottingham

• 05C Kant Critique of Pure Reason (Selections)

• Questions on the Sophists, Aristotle's Rhetoric and Longinus (04D Questions on Sophists, Aristotle's Rhetoric, Longinus' "On the Sublime")

• 05D Questions on Descartes, Locke and Kant

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

PHILWEB RESOURCES:

• Early Modern Thought:
  • Early Modern Philosophy:
    • Descartes
    • Kant
    • Locke

• This week we begin Module 2 by jumping over several hundred years of intellectual and literary history (including the Medieval and Renaissance periods) in order to focus on the so-called early modern period and, in particular, the philosophical debate between Continental Rationalism (epitomised by René Descartes, but represented also by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Baruch Spinoza), on the one hand, and British Empiricism (epitomised by John Locke, but represented as well by George Berkeley and David Hume).  Notwithstanding important differences between these two camps (the former are rationalists and as such believe that at least some of our ideas are pre-given, while the latter are empiricists who are of the view that all our ideas are derived from our experiences), they have in common a broadly scientific (or rationalist, in the broadest sense of this word) world view that prioritises the reason over other mental functions and science over literature.
• Note that there are two sources for the Required Readings in the case of each of the thinkers listed: in the case of Descartes, for example, the first link takes you to an online source for the Meditations as a whole, while the following two links take you to PDFs (hosted on this website) of particular extracts which you should at least read.  This pattern continues for most/all the Required Readings that follow.

WEEK SIX: NEOCLASSICAL LITERARY THEORY
(Week of October 11)
 

REQUIRED READINGS:

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

• 06A Pope An Essay on Criticism

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

• 06B Johnson Selections

• Questions on Descartes, Locke and Kant (05D Questions on Descartes, Locke and Kant)

• 06C Questions on Pope and Johnson

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

PHILWEB RESOURCES:

• Neo-Classical Literature, Literary Theory and Rhetoric:
  • Johnson
  • Pope

• Our attention this week turns away from broader philosophical issues (not least the nature of knowledge) and towards literary theory.  Our focus is on the views, inspired by the scientism discussed last week, of Pope (who is arguable influenced by the tenets of Rationalism per se) and Johnson (arguably more influenced by Empiricism).

WEEK SEVEN: ROMANTICISM (c.1785 - c.1830)
(Week of October 18)
 

REQUIRED READINGS:

• Johann Gottfried von Herder Ideas for a Philosophy of the History of Man [1784-1891]: see extract, pp. 35-49 in Theories of History, ed. Patrick Gardiner
• Wilhelm von Humboldt "From Collected Works" [1796-1836] (pp. 486-491 in Adams)

• 07A Herder Ideas for a Philosophy of History
• 07B Humboldt On Language

• G. W. F. Hegel The Philosophy of History [1805-1837]: Introduction (see extract entitled "Philosophical History," pp. 60-73 in Theories of History, ed. Patrick Gardiner)

• 07C Hegel The Philosophy of History

• Questions on Pope and Johnson (06C Questions on Pope and Johnson)

• 07D Questions on Herder, Hegel and Humboldt

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

• This

PHILWEB RESOURCES:

• Nineteenth Century Thought:
  • German Idealism:
    • Hegel
  • Historicism / Hermeneutics:
    • Herder
    • Humboldt

WEEK EIGHT: ROMANTIC LITERARY THEORY
(Week of October 25)
 

REQUIRED READINGS:

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

• 08A Young Conjectures on Original Composition

• Hyppolite Taine "From History of English Literature" [1863] (pp. 609-620 in Adams)

• 08B Taine History of English Literature: Introduction

• Questions on Herder, Humboldt and Hegel (07D Questions on Herder, Hegel and Humboldt)

• 08C Questions on Young and Taine

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

PHILWEB RESOURCES:

• Romanticism:
  • Taine
  • Young

* JSTOR: available on campus only.