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 155
... represented social manifestations : recognizing his respondency both as a source of truthful information ( something Tristram and Philonous hardly ever did ) and as an object of truthful instruction . This perilous extension of the ...
... represented social manifestations : recognizing his respondency both as a source of truthful information ( something Tristram and Philonous hardly ever did ) and as an object of truthful instruction . This perilous extension of the ...
Page 157
... represented in itself with first one con- tributor being recognized and then another , none of the discrepant voices or positions being , as Boswell would put it , melted down . This public exposition of truth in its full strength and ...
... represented in itself with first one con- tributor being recognized and then another , none of the discrepant voices or positions being , as Boswell would put it , melted down . This public exposition of truth in its full strength and ...
Page 176
... represents himself , first of all , as belonging to one intellectual company or another and to such companies , moreover ... represented the crisis , " was immediately mythologized " ; " the whale [ in the parable ] was interpreted to be ...
... represents himself , first of all , as belonging to one intellectual company or another and to such companies , moreover ... represented the crisis , " was immediately mythologized " ; " the whale [ in the parable ] was interpreted to be ...
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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