Gulliver's Travels, Part 4, Chpts 1-4,8

Janika Mohan
Section 1H

Gulliver's Travels-Jonathan Swift (1726- amended 1735)

Romanticism was among other thing s movement of revolt against Pope/Swift type thinking. The question of What is man?
But...Swift explores what it is to be human.
Two philosophers: Leibniz (1646-1716) and Spinoza(1632-1677)
Leibniz:Each human is a self contained unit cut off from all other humans this is called a "monad"-i remember this by thinking nomad..a lone traveler ..maybe don't take this advice.Every individual monadic unit is a species-Extreme individualism
The opposing philosophical viewpoint was:

Spinoza: He argued the less individual we are, the better off we are, and that we only exist in our desires. Desire is our very essence-We exist in our striving, in our preserverance.

The argument that formed in this period surrounded whether the human was an individual or part of a collective mass. This is IMPORTANT because it relates to a broad shift between early to later periods we looked at.
Locke represented the view of Leibniz, that every human is an individual. He determined that we are individuals because of our power of rationality.
we all begin with a blank slate ( Tabula Rasa) and as we grow up our reasoning develops our differences. We cannot expect to understand everything so we can only focus on making "clear and distinct" or "determined" ideas and in doing this understanding will come about passively.
A little more about Tabula Rasa: Images bombard our minds, a world of obtrusive objects tel us how to think- a passive understanding of what it is to be human. Human beings are cut off from the creative power of God. All we understand is what God gave us, we are reduced to sensory organs. We are furnished with faculties for conveniences for living. Blake resisted this idea that we are locked inside our bodies.
SO---->>>

- Swift (along with Pope and Wilmot) questioned Locke's idea of rationality as the leading human characteristic, arguing mainly that rationality and reason are flawed and misleading although they were not entirely of Spinoza's view of having no individuality at all. This can be applied to Gulliver's Travel's different "races" of people . One is seemingly more sophisticated than the the other - The horses, or " Houyhnhuhms" are a representation of Locke and Leibniz's views:
their reasoning and rationality are what make them "superior" to the lesser, seemingly more primitive race.The "Yahoos" are described as primal humans-think about Spinoza and existing in our desires. Gulliver does not recognize the Yahoos as human even though the horses see him as being one of the Yahoos." He was extremely curious to know from what part of the country I came, and how I was taught to imitate a rational creature; because the Yahoos ( whom he saw I exactly resembled in my head, hands feet, face that were only visible) with some appearance of cunning, and the strongest disposition to mischief , were observed to be the most unteachable of all brutes ( 2426)".

and so what Swift is really saying is the opposite ... that the one race, equipped with human rationality, is really no different than the Yahoos who appear to be human.
The following describes the Yahoos
"The females were not so large as the males...the hair of both sexes was of several colors...Upon the whole I had never beheld in all my travels so disagreeable an animal, or one against which I naturally conceived so strong an antipathy. So that thinking I had seen enough, full of contempt and aversion" (2420"
The next description of of the horse people:
" I was amazed to see such actions and behavior in brute beasts; and concluded with myself that if the inhabitants of this country were endued with a proportion able degree of reason, they must needs be the wisest people upon the earth.This thought gave me so much comfort...Upon the whole, the behavior of these animals was so orderly and rational, so acute and judicious, that I at last concluded, they must needs be magicians... " (2421).
It seems to me the satire in Gulliver is obviously more subtle than that in A Modest Proposal.an interesting question to explore is how does the method of satire/reasons differ in Swifts two texts.