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Jonathan Swift and Philosophy is the first book to analyse and interpret Swift's writing from a philosophical angle. By placing key texts of Swift in their philosophical and cultural contexts and providing background to their history of ideas, it demonstrates how well informed Swift's criticism of the politics, philosophy, and science of his age actually was. Moreover, it also sets straight preconceptions about Swift as ignorant about the scientific developments of his time.
The authors offer insights into, and interpretations of, Swift's political philosophy, ethics, and his philosophy of science and demonstrate how versatile a writer and thinker Swift actually was.
This book will be of interest to scholars of philosophy, history of ideas, and 18th century literature and culture.
List of contents
Editor's Preface
Part I: Ethics and Social Philosophy
1. Michael Hauskeller: Topsyturvy: Jonathan Swift on Human Nature, Reason, and Morality
2. Chris A. Kramer: How Socratic is Swift's irony?
3. Will Desmond: Gulliver among the Cynics
4. Steve van Hagen: "His foul Imagination links / Each Dame he sees with all her Stinks": Masculinity and obsessional disorder in The Lady's Dressing Room
5. Janelle Pötzsch: Kantian ethics from the horse's mouth
Part II: Philosophy of Science
6. William Goodwin: Volatile Spirits: Scientists and Society in Gulliver's Third Voyage
7. Kurt Edward Milberger: Gulliver in Stable: Anti-Cartesian Satire and the Bête-machine in Part Four of Gulliver's Travels
8. Dutton B. Kearny: Swift's critique of philosophical materialism
9. Nicolas Michaud: Gulliver's Creation of Reality through Disability: Swift, Idealism, and the Act of Perception
10. Dutton B. Kearny: How to Historicize Thumos: Swift's The Battel of the Books
11. Janelle Pötzsch: Weaving the world: The spider in Swift's The Battel of the Books
Part III: Political Philosophy
12. Jesús Valera-Zapata: Swift's fantasy as a vindication of tolerance
13. Greg Littmann: Gulliver's Republic
14. Will Desmond: Gulliver's Travels and Philosopher-Kings
15. Pritika Nehra: Political Vision(s) in Plato's Republic and Swift's Gulliver's Travels
16. John Price: Modernizing Augustan Satire on Screen: Gulliver's Travels (1996)
About the Contributors
About the author
Edited by Janelle Pötzsch - Contributions by Michael Hauskeller; Chris A. Kramer; Will Desmond; Steve van Hagen; Janelle Pötzsch; William Goodwin; Kurt Edward Milberger; Dutton B. Kearney; Nicolas Michaud; Jesús Valera-Zapata; Greg Littmann; Pritika Nehra
Summary
This book explores the rich philosophical content of the writings of Jonathan Swift. It discusses these philosophical topics against their ideengeschichtliche background and demonstrates that Swift’s work offers starting points for philosophical reflection that are still topical today.
