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The Limits of Reason

This book explores satirical responses to Enlightenment ideas, questioning notions of reason, society, and morality. Through works by Voltaire, Swift, and Rousseau, it challenges the optimism of Leibniz and Pope. Alongside philosophical musings from Kant, it delves into the limitations of human intellect. Additionally, it analyzes visual satires by Hogarth and the Rococo art movement for a deeper understanding of societal critiques during this era. The text offers a rich exploration of how literature and art were used to ridicule vices, folly, and the prevailing ideologies of the Enlightenment.

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The Limits of Reason

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  1. The Limits of Reason

  2. Satire • “Literature that ridicules vices and follies” (Harper Handbook to Literature 413)

  3. Voltaire, Candide (1759) • Satirical response to ideas expressed by • Leibniz (German mathematician/philosopher): this is “the best of all possible worlds” • Pope (English poet): “Whatever is, is right”

  4. Swift, “A Modest Proposal” (1729) • Irony (contradiction between what is stated and what is intended): “Modest” • Parody: the essay parodies the rational, reformist vision of Enlightenment thinkers

  5. William Hogarth (1697-1764) • Visual Satires • Gin Lane • Beer Street • “Marriage a la Mode” series

  6. Philosophical Challenges to Reason • Rousseau (1712-1778) • Kant (1724-1804)

  7. Rousseau, Origin of Inequality among Men (1755) • Society is the source of conflict among people • In the “state of nature”: no property, no strong interpersonal ties: equality • Society gives rise to esteem, and from esteem comes “vanity and scorn,” “shame and envy”: inequality

  8. Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762) • “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” • The state is “the general will” of the citizens: unlike Hobbes and Locke, for whom the social contract gives power to a ruler • The general will is always right • Anyone disagree? That person should “be forced to be free”

  9. Rousseau, Emile (1762) • Education begins at birth and lasts for 25 years • Reason and intellect develop from ages 12-15 • Nature and “hands-on” experience essential for the development of reason—send boys outdoors, don’t restrain them • Girls should get domestic education

  10. Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (1781) • Rejected Locke’s idea of the tabula rasa • Kant said, “though our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that [all knowledge] arises out of experience” • Forms of intuition and categories of thought exist from birth and shape/organize our understanding of sense experience • That is, there are limitations to human intellect

  11. Kant, Critique of Practical Reason (1788) • “Categorical imperative”: before doing something, we should be able to accept our decision as a standard for all humankind to follow • It is not enough for our actions to have good results, but we must will to do good. • Kant emphasizes truth/morality as something we struggle to find rather than (in mainstream Enlightenment view) as self-evident

  12. Rococo, 1715-50 • From rocaille, rock or shell ornamentation • Luxurious and ornate like Baroque style, but more playful and intimate (not spatially expansive and complex like the Baroque style) • Characterized by curves rather than geometrical regularity

  13. Watteau, Departure from the Island of Cythera (1717)

  14. Boucher, Venus Consoling Love(1751)

  15. Fragonard,The Swing(1768)

  16. Greuze, Village Betrothal (1761)

  17. Chardin,The KitchenMaid(1738)

  18. Houdon,George Washington,1786-96

  19. Houdon,Jefferson, 1789

  20. George Caleb Bingham, The County Election, 1852

  21. Gibbs,SaintMartin-in-the-Fields,1721-26

  22. David, The Oath of Horatii (1784)

  23. David,The Death of Marat(1793)

  24. David, Death of Socrates, 1787

  25. Kauffman, Zeuxis Selecting Models. . ., c.1765

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