Common Courtesy in Eighteenth-century English LiteratureIn one of his Idlers, Johnson indicated the problems involved in such an achievement as follows: "As a question becomes more complicated and involved, and extends to a greater number of relations, disagreement of opinion will always be multiplied: not because we are irrational, but because we are finite beings, furnished with different kinds of knowledge, exerting different degrees of attention, one discovering consequences which escape another, none taking in the whole concatenation of causes and effects, and most comprehending but a very small part, each comparing what he observes with a different criterion and each referring it to a different purpose. "Where, then, is the wonder, that they who see only a small part should judge erroneously of the whole? |
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Page 19
... Particular experiences and observations should thus be considered , as the eighteenth century understood , only insofar as they relate to some general purpose or opinion : they are composed to support a certain opinion and analyzed to ...
... Particular experiences and observations should thus be considered , as the eighteenth century understood , only insofar as they relate to some general purpose or opinion : they are composed to support a certain opinion and analyzed to ...
Page 72
... particular reference to things brings even particular agreement in question . Although two people may nod together over Homer's poetic preeminence , one person may love the catalog of ships in the Iliad or the geography of the Odyssey ...
... particular reference to things brings even particular agreement in question . Although two people may nod together over Homer's poetic preeminence , one person may love the catalog of ships in the Iliad or the geography of the Odyssey ...
Page 73
... particular cases as exemplary of general positions ; and , second , his analysis of each case to make its exemplary force apparent . In his early Essay on Criticism Pope enforced his arguments much of the time , as I have suggested ...
... particular cases as exemplary of general positions ; and , second , his analysis of each case to make its exemplary force apparent . In his early Essay on Criticism Pope enforced his arguments much of the time , as I have suggested ...
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A. A. Luce acknowledges actually Addison agreement Alexander Pope allows apparent Arbuthnot argument asserts Atossa attention audience Author Berkeley Berkeley's biographical Bolingbroke Boswell Boswell's circle common sense Consider conversation course courteous courtesy described Dialogues disagreement discourse discussion doubt Dunciad eighteenth-century ellipsis enforces epistle Essay on Criticism evident example experience explains exposition figures human Hylas imagine individual intellectual Johnson Johnsonian judgment knowledge literary Lord Lord Bolingbroke Lycidas Malebranche ment Milton's mind moreover nature never observed occasion once opinion particular passage passive voice Percival Philonous philosophers poem poet poetic poetry polite Pope Pope's practice praise present quotes Rambler Rasselas readers recognizes reference represented respondent rhetorical satiric sensible Shakespeare share social society Sterne Sterne's style suggests Swift Tale things thought throughout tion topics train of ideas Treatise Trim's Tristram Shandy truth uncle Toby Uncle Toby's understanding universal W. K. Wimsatt Walter's words writing