'the More We Enquire, The Less We Can Resolve, ' Wrote Johnson. Scepticism - A Reasoned Emphasis On The Severe Limitations Of Rationality - Would Seem To Undermine The Grounds Of Belief And Action. But In Some Of The Best Eighteenth-century Literature, A Theoretically Paralysing Critique Of The Pretensions Of Reason, Precept, And Language Went Hand In Hand With A Vigorous Intellectual, Moral, And Linguistic Confidence. To Realize Philosophical Scepticism As Literature Was Effectively To Transform It. Dr. Parker Traces The Presence Of This Life-giving Irony In Works By Pope, Hume, Sterne, And Johnson, Discusses Its Source In Locke And Its Inspiration In Montaigne, And Relates It More Broadly To The Social Self-consciousness Of Eighteenth-century Culture. The Argument Serves As A Reminder That Radical Scepticism Is Not The Invention Of The Late Twentieth Century, And That Its Strategies And Implications Have Never Been More Interestingly Explored Than In The Eighteenth.--jacket. Rational Ignorance And Sceptical Thinking -- Just Supposing: Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding -- 'sworn To No Master': Pope's Scepticism In The Epistle To Bolingbroke And An Essay On Man -- Innocence And Simulation In The Scepticism Of Hume -- Tristram Shandy: Singularity And The Single Life -- Johnson's Conclusiveness. Fred Parker. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.

Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

German Historical Institute London

Oxford: Oxford University Press

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

OXFORD, Unknown

1, PS, 2003

Includes bibliographical references (p. [282]-285) and index.

In this first study of the role of scepticism in literature, Fred Parker offers a lively and stimulating introduction to key issues in eighteenth-century literature and philosophy. Parker traces the presence of sceptical thinking in works by Pope, Hume, Sterne, and Johnson, relates it more broadly to the social self-consciousness of eighteenth-century culture, and discusses its source in Locke and its inspiration in Montaigne.

ix, 290 pages ; 23 cm
Includes bibliographical references (p. [282]-285) and index

2023-06-28