Literary+movements+notes

Philosophical and Literary Movements in the U.S. and Britain European and American changes in perspective

Empiricism – Rationalism -1650-1800
 * experience is the only source of knowledge
 * // tabula rasa // – the idea that everyone is a //blank slate// at birth and our experiences write on that slate
 * According to the ideas of empiricism, experience is the **only** source of our knowledge. None of us can truly know anything except through our own senses. This was the idea of the //tabula rasa//, that each of us is born as a blank slate waiting to be affected by the experiences we perceive through our own senses. Empiricism denies any innate knowledge, any knowledge unrelated to experience.
 * John Locke – 1632-1704 – father of Empiricism
 * John Locke – 1632-1704 – father of Empiricism
 * Reason is the source of all knowledge
 * Not acceptance of authority
 * Not empiricism
 * Not spiritual revelation
 * Founding Fathers were Rationalists
 * The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were planned, logical documents. Washington, D.C. was a rationally planned city.

Age of Enlightenment Utilitarianism The Romantic Movement - late 18th C. to late 19th C. Transcendentalism
 * when doctrines (divine right of kings) and institutions (monarchy) were being questioned in light of Rationalist ideas
 * •The era when Rationalism was strongest.
 * •The time when doctrines (divine right of kings) and institutions (monarchy, the church) were viewed from the point of view of Rationalism.
 * •Led to a change in assumptions about those doctrines and institutions.
 * The right act or policy was that which would cause “the greatest good for the greatest number of people.”
 * •also known as "the greatest happiness principle", or the principle of utility. He wrote in //The Principles of Morals and Legislation//:
 * •**“** Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do."
 * People are moved only by pain and pleasure
 * Jeremy Bentham – Utilitarian advocate
 * his body is still sitting, waiting for more meetings!
 * his body is still sitting, waiting for more meetings!
 * stressed strong emotions and imagination
 * Freedom from artistic correctness
 * rebellion against social conventions (rules!)
 * began with Emerson’s essay “Nature” in 1836
 * Divine truths can come from intuitions.
 * Laws should be disobeyed if moral intuition holds them to be unjust.
 * One can discover his or her own truths and not be beholden to someone else’s truth.
 * One can have a personal relationship with God that is not dependent on an organized religion
 * Individualism is of the utmost importance; social conformity stifles artistic and spiritual growth
 * Some social arrangements prevent spiritual growth – the idea of private ownership of property, the oppression of women, slavery.
 * Divine truths can be found in nature.
 * Died out as a movement in the late 19th C.
 * But it’s still with us!