Classics and the Western Canon discussion
Swift - Gulliver's Travels
>
Week 5: Part III, Chapters 1-5
date
newest »
newest »
Chapter 3Mimicking papers published in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Swift gives us an excellent example of science fiction. Swift even seems to have “predicted” two moons orbiting the Planet Mars, although he more likely borrowed Kepler’s more “educated guess”. We also have what could be the first example of aerial bombardment:
And if the crime deserve it, they are at the same time pelted from above with great stones,Thanks to some good annotations, we are informed the tall rocks, spires, and pillars of stone which act as a check upon the Laputan king from crushing cities simply at will, or by descending on them too quickly for fear of damaging the underside of the island which keeps it afloat, are symbolic of Irish, nobility, the Irish Anglican clergy, and the Irish merchants who resist English tyranny. We are also given a story of a successful rebellion. Any history buffs out there care to give us an explanation?
Chapter 4
After the thrill of the technological advances is over, Gulliver finds himself being ostracized by most of the Laputan because he is not as well versed in the abstract sciences and judged inferior. His only friend in court, described as universally reckoned the most ignorant and stupid person among them, helped Gulliver make arrangements to visit Balnibarbi. He is introduced to Lord Munodi, an ex-governor of Lagado, thrown out of office for sticking to the old successful ways and not embracing the new but failed attempts at improvements based on science as suggested by the Projectors, symbolic of The Royal Society. Swift here seems to provide such illogical scientific improvements that I can only see that he is promoting the old at the expense of the new simply because the former is old and the latter is new.
Chapter 5
While the research projects at the Academy were greatly exaggerated for the sake of absurdity. These silly examples made me chuckle but make for a poor satirical argument against science. I was looking for Gulliver to turn a corner and find himself at the Ministry of Silly Walks, immediately across the hall from Argument Clinic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCLp7...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDB5...
David wrote: "Swift is not opposed to reason itself, but to reason both taken to extremes and reason as applied negatively to religion. The objection here is that reason is a religion. This goes to show how old the echo of that argument against science often still heard today is...."Is that kind of like "facts"?
Lily wrote: "Is that kind of like "facts"?"Stubborn, yes.
Some critics have noted that Swift has borrowed some of the voyage to Laputa from a work by Dr. Francis Godwin, Bishop of Landaff, called "The Man in the Moon, or a Discourse of a Voyage thither; by Domingo Gonzalez." This was published in 1603 and republished in 1638. I haven't read it, so I can't comment further, though I'll note that Henry Hallam praises it for the verisimilitude of its fiction.
Swift's description of the philosophers of Laputa was probably suggested to him by the remarkable absent-mindedness of Sir Isaac Newton. Swift once described him as the worst companion in the world, and said that if one were to ask him a question "he would revolve it in a circle in his brain, round, and round, and round before he could produce an answer." Another story he told of Swift was that having one day been called to dinner by his servant, he did not come for some time; and the man returning, found him mounted on a ladder placed against the library shelves, a book in his left hand and his head reclined upon the right (perhaps this explains the Laputans?) sunk in such a fit of abstraction that the servant was obliged, after calling him once or twice, actually to jog him before his attention could be engaged.
Why did Swift choose a circle as the shape of Laputa?
Donnally wrote: "and his head reclined upon the right (perhaps this explains the Laputans?)"I like that. So it could be more than just a way of demonstrating they don't have their heads on straight, or that they don't look at the world straight on.
This section is odd. The philosophers scene is similar to Wonderland. So absurd. When I read it I never came with this idea but David's comment make me think that it should be an attack to science. The mad scientist trope before it came to existence.
The insane activities in the Academy of Projectors in Lagado were inspired by Rabelais. In Gargantua and Pantagruel, Book V, chapters 20 & 21, Pantagruel inspects the occupations of the courtiers of Quintessence, Queen of Entelechie. For example: "Another, by marvelous device, threw houses out the windows; thus they were left cleansed of any pestilent air . . . Others were washing tiles and making them lose their color. Others were squeezing water out of pumices, which you call pumice stones, by pounding them a long time in a marble mortar and making them change substance," etc. I am quoting from the translation by Donald M. Frame.One thing that puzzles me is what Swift meant by the remark at the end of chapter 4: "I had myself been a sort of projector in my younger days." I have the feeling he's telling us something, but I don't know what.
Compared with Parts 1 and 2, this first section in Part 3 is even more absurdist. I did enjoy Swift's creativity in imagining ridiculous (from the reader's perspective) inventions and technological development. Swift challenges to science for science's sake.Not unlike monks, professors spending time analyzing and developing ideas that seem meaningless might eventually yield something meaningful. For every good idea, there are thousands of fruitless ones.
Swift is mocking scientists and philosophers. Perhaps Swift did much the same on his own to write Gulliver's Travels. Is the work itself a meaningless exercise? Perhaps the ends justifies the means.
HisGirlFriday wrote: " Is the work itself a meaningless exercise?.."HGF -- So, how are you "measuring" meaning? What is your intended antecedent to "work" -- the action Swift expended to create Gulliver's Travels? The published book itself? Or ....
Mike wrote: "Why did Swift choose a circle as the shape of Laputa?"Interesting question. I have not been able to find a significatn reason or meaning for the shape of Laputa being an exact circle. Perhaps it was thought the circular shape would facilitate its being able to move in any direction.
Gulliver seems to crave attention. In Lilliput he received too much attention just by his being there but as a result became a victim of political intrigue and maliciousness. In Brobdingnag, He was kept, like a pet, and felt constant pressure to perform and impress but was ultimately only laughed at. In Laputa, he:thought my self too much neglected, not without some degree of contempt. For neither prince nor people appeared to be curious in any part of knowledge, except mathematics and music, wherein I was far their inferior, and upon that account very little regarded.He seems to go on these voyages in search of something, but the outcome of these voyages is disappointment and further estrangement from the world. I cannot imagine Gulliver wanting to return to anyplace he has visited because he doesn't fit in, and he does not want to stay at home where family life seems agreeable.
Gulliver’s demonstrative tour of the failings of reason at by offering absurd examples of applying modern reason to areas and subjects where he feels it is ill equipped is stubborn attitude still alive today and seems like scientism to me.The term scientism is generally used critically, implying a cosmetic application of science in unwarranted situations considered not amenable to application of the scientific method or similar scientific standards. More generally, scientism is often interpreted as science applied "in excess".Of course using reason as a premise against reason is philosophically begging the question, therefore I am not sure the circular argument holds much weight. But Swift does make it humorous.
The term scientism has two senses:
1. The improper usage of science or scientific claims. This usage applies equally in contexts where science might not apply, such as when the topic is perceived as beyond the scope of scientific inquiry, and in contexts where there is insufficient empirical evidence to justify a scientific conclusion. It includes an excessive deference to the claims of scientists or an uncritical eagerness to accept any result described as scientific. This can be a counterargument to appeals to scientific authority. It can also address the attempt to apply "hard science" methodology and claims of certainty to the social sciences, which Friedrich Hayek described in The Counter-Revolution of Science (1952) as being impossible, because that methodology involves attempting to eliminate the "human factor", while social sciences (including his own field of economics) center almost purely on human action.
2. "The belief that the methods of natural science, or the categories and things recognized in natural science, form the only proper elements in any philosophical or other inquiry", or that "science, and only science, describes the world as it is in itself, independent of perspective" with a concomitant "elimination of the psychological [and spiritual] dimensions of experience". Tom Sorell provides this definition: "Scientism is a matter of putting too high a value on natural science in comparison with other branches of learning or culture." Philosophers such as Alexander Rosenberg have also adopted "scientism" as a name for the view that science is the only reliable source of knowledge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism
I have tried to keep pace with the reading but failed behind with this portion. As I remember the same happened with the first reading (in the school), quite funny that so little changed.What I do not remember is whether I also found Swift's narration this part so illogical in those times. I mean seemingly totally impractical people create a quite impressive machine--Laputa itself and control a lot of 'normal' people without whom they cannot interact with reality. It is much weirder than all we've read in two previous chapters.
With a nod to Robinson Crusoe, the visiting captain’s name is William Robinson, Gulliver begins thinking of his next voyage in only 10 days after returning from Brobdingnag. Of note in this chapter is the Dutch pirate who is made to be the villain due to Swift’s Tory sentiments against the Dutch alliance with the English Whigs during the War of Spanish Succession. Oh, and there is an island in the air.
Chapter 2
The inhabitants are described as extremely absent-minded professors. The name Laputa is Spanish for whore which may be applied to both the floating island itself, aka reason, and the wives of the island who are described as always running off with gallants from below.Swift is not opposed to reason itself, but to reason both taken to extremes and reason as applied negatively to religion. The objection here is that reason is a religion. This goes to show how old the echo of that argument against science often still heard today is.
I think I understand about the directionss of the eyes, inward looking microscopes and upward looking telescopes, but what does the head being reclined to one side symbolize?