Sea-Cards for the Impetuous Muse: A Reading of Shaftesbury's Characteristicks

<p><italic>Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times,</italic> by Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury, marks an important dissent from the general trend of early modern philosophy. This dissertation argues that Shaftesbury's book undertakes a restoration of the classical understanding of philosophy in contradistinction to the understanding presented by the writings of Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, and other modern thin0kers. According to Shaftesbury, modern philosophy introduces a method of radical skepticism in order to combat the moral and political effects of Christianity. This methodical skepticism, however, turns out to be at least as corrosive to moral and political life as the worldview it hopes to undermine. Shaftesbury proposes as an alternative the restoration of the classical critique of religion, which made possible the coexistence of philosophy and religion and was accompanied by political toleration of a variety of religious practices. To this end Shaftesbury distinguishes a noble form of enthusiasm akin to Platonic <italic>eros,</italic> which in his account is the source of all higher human aspirations, including philosophy. Shaftesbury's primary concern is to preserve and defend the distinctly human things as they come to light in the writings of the ancients. This concern informs both the substance and the presentation of his defense of the noble and beautiful.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Cook, Travis Sean

• aesthetics
• Characteristicks
• Enthusiasm
• eros
• Modernity
• Shaftesbury
• Political Science

Repository record dc:identifier

https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/31

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.luc.edu:luc_diss-1030