[Studyguide for Knowledge and Indifference in English Romantic Prose by Milnes, Tim, ISBN 9780521035958] (By: Cram101 Textbook Reviews) [published: July, 2011]

This 2003 study sheds light on the way in which the English Romantics dealt with the basic problems of knowledge, particularly as they inherited them from the philosopher David Hume. Kant complained that the failure of philosophy in the eighteenth century to answer empirical scepticism had produced a culture of 'indifferentism'. Tim Milnes explores the way in which Romantic writers extended this epistemic indifference through their resistance to argumentation, and finds that it exists in a perpetual state of tension with a compulsion to know. This tension is most clearly evident in the prose writing of the period, in works such as Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Hazlitt's Essay on the Principles of Human Action and Coleridge's Biographia Literaria. Milnes argues that it is in their oscillation between knowledge and indifference that the Romantics prefigure the ambivalent negotiations of modern post-analytic philosophy. Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 4 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 10 ROMANTIC INDIFFERENTISM......Page 11 SERPENT AND LOGOS: CREATION VS. FOUNDATION......Page 16 DISFIGURING ARGUMENT......Page 21 THE NEW FOUNDATIONALISM......Page 24 A KNOWING NOT-KNOWING......Page 26 THE RIVER-BED OF THOUGHT......Page 29 1 From artistic to epistemic creation: the eighteenth century......Page 35 INSPIRATION AND THE SUBLIME FROM PUTTENHAM TO BURKE......Page 37 Crossing Hume’s fork: the problem of value......Page 47 Inner sense: Hutcheson......Page 55 Common sense: Reid......Page 56 Association: Hartley......Page 60 Imitation ancient and natural......Page 64 Innatism: Sharpe vs Young......Page 67 Invention......Page 70 The Scottish ‘Genius’......Page 73 CONCLUSION......Page 78 2 The charm of logic: Wordsworth's prose......Page 81 CULTURAL PRODUCTION AND THE CREATIVE ARTIST......Page 87 THE HABIT OF KNOWLEDGE: IMAGINATION, ASSOCIATION AND PLEASURE......Page 90 POETIC TRUTH: SPONTANEITY, APPEARANCE AND POWER......Page 100 CONCLUSION......Page 112 3 The dry romance: Hazlitt's immanent idealism......Page 115 ACTION AND ABSTRACTION......Page 119 REASONING IMAGINATION AND PRODUCTIVE UNDERSTANDING......Page 130 PERCEPTION AND COMMON SENSE......Page 133 ASSOCIATION AND INSTINCTIVE PERCEPTION......Page 136 INNATISM AND THE POWER PRINCIPLE......Page 140 ART AND ORIGINALITY......Page 143 CONCLUSION: POWER AND PREJUDICE......Page 150 4 Coleridge and the new foundationalism......Page 154 KANT AND THE FATE OF THE SYNTHETIC A PRIORI......Page 158 PHILOSOPHY'S RUINED TOWER: BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA......Page 163 ARGUING 'TRANSCENDENTALLY' IN BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA......Page 168 ECLIPSING ART: DIALECTICS IN THE FRIEND (1818)......Page 178 5 The end of knowledge: Coleridge and theosophy......Page 186 RATIONALISM AND GLOBAL LOGIC......Page 191 'REVERENCING THE INVISIBLE': VOLUNTARISM......Page 200 DIALECTICS AND THE 'INEFFABLE NAME'......Page 211 CONCLUSION......Page 217 Conclusion: life without knowledge......Page 219 INTRODUCTION: ROMANTICISM’S KNOWING WAYS......Page 226 1 FROM ARTISTIC TO EPISTEMIC CREATION: THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY......Page 230 2 THE CHARM OF LOGIC: WORDSWORTH’S PROSE......Page 239 3 THE DRY ROMANCE: HAZLITT’S IMMANENT IDEALISM......Page 244 4 COLERIDGE AND THE NEW FOUNDATIONALISM......Page 250 5 THE END OF KNOWLEDGE: COLERIDGE AND THEOSOPHY......Page 256 CONCLUSION: LIFE WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE......Page 262 PRIMARY HISTORICAL SOURCES......Page 264 SECONDARY AND CRITICAL SOURCES......Page 270 Index......Page 282 ISBN-13: 9780521810982 Half-title 3 Series-title 4 Title 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction: Romanticism’s knowing ways 11 ROMANTIC INDIFFERENTISM 11 SERPENT AND LOGOS: CREATION VS. FOUNDATION 16 DISFIGURING ARGUMENT 21 THE NEW FOUNDATIONALISM 24 A KNOWING NOT-KNOWING 26 THE RIVER-BED OF THOUGHT 29 1 From artistic to epistemic creation: the eighteenth century 35 INSPIRATION AND THE SUBLIME FROM PUTTENHAM TO BURKE 37 ASPECTS OF EMPIRICISM 47 Crossing Hume’s fork: the problem of value 47 Inner sense: Hutcheson 55 Common sense: Reid 56 Association: Hartley 60 CREATION AT THE MARGINS: THEORIES OF ORIGINAL GENIUS 64 Imitation ancient and natural 64 Innatism: Sharpe vs Young 67 Invention 70 The Scottish ‘Genius’ 73 CONCLUSION 78 2 The charm of logic: Wordsworth's prose 81 CULTURAL PRODUCTION AND THE CREATIVE ARTIST 87 THE HABIT OF KNOWLEDGE: IMAGINATION, ASSOCIATION AND PLEASURE 90 POETIC TRUTH: SPONTANEITY, APPEARANCE AND POWER 100 CONCLUSION 112 3 The dry romance: Hazlitt's immanent idealism 115 ACTION AND ABSTRACTION 119 REASONING IMAGINATION AND PRODUCTIVE UNDERSTANDING 130 PERCEPTION AND COMMON SENSE 133 ASSOCIATION AND INSTINCTIVE PERCEPTION 136 INNATISM AND THE POWER PRINCIPLE 140 ART AND ORIGINALITY 143 CONCLUSION: POWER AND PREJUDICE 150 4 Coleridge and the new foundationalism 154 KANT AND THE FATE OF THE SYNTHETIC A PRIORI 158 PHILOSOPHY'S RUINED TOWER: BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA 163 ARGUING 'TRANSCENDENTALLY' IN BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA 168 ECLIPSING ART: DIALECTICS IN THE FRIEND (1818) 178 5 The end of knowledge: Coleridge and theosophy 186 RATIONALISM AND GLOBAL LOGIC 191 'REVERENCING THE INVISIBLE': VOLUNTARISM 200 DIALECTICS AND THE 'INEFFABLE NAME' 211 CONCLUSION 217 Conclusion: life without knowledge 219 Notes 226 INTRODUCTION: ROMANTICISM’S KNOWING WAYS 226 1 FROM ARTISTIC TO EPISTEMIC CREATION: THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 230 2 THE CHARM OF LOGIC: WORDSWORTH’S PROSE 239 3 THE DRY ROMANCE: HAZLITT’S IMMANENT IDEALISM 244 4 COLERIDGE AND THE NEW FOUNDATIONALISM 250 5 THE END OF KNOWLEDGE: COLERIDGE AND THEOSOPHY 256 CONCLUSION: LIFE WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE 262 Bibliography 264 PRIMARY HISTORICAL SOURCES 264 SECONDARY AND CRITICAL SOURCES 270 Index 282 "This ambitious study sheds new light on the way in which the English Romantics dealt with the basic problems of knowledge, particularly as they inherited them from the philosopher David Hume. Kant complained that the failure of philosophy in the eighteenth century to answer empirical scepticism had produced a culture of 'indifferentism'. Tim Milnes explores the way in which Romantic writers extended this epistemic indifference through their resistance to argumentation, and finds that it exists in a perpetual state of tension with a compulsion to know. This tension is most clearly evident in the prose writing of the period, in works such as Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Hazlitt's Essay on the Principles of Human Action, and Coleridge's Biographies Literaria. Milnes argues that it is in their oscillation between knowledge and indifference that the Romantics prefigure the ambivalent negotiations of modern post-analytic philosophy."--Jacket This ambitious study sheds new light on the way the English Romantics dealt with the basic problems of knowledge. Kant complained that the failure of philosophy in the eighteenth-century to respond to empirical scepticism had produced a culture of ''indifferentism.'' Tim Milnes explores the tension between this epistemic indifference and a perpetual compulsion to know. The tension is most clearly evident in the prose writing of the period, in works such as Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Hazlitt's Essay on the Principles of Human Action, and Coleridge's Biographia Literaria. The roots of Romantic discourse in eighteenth-century philosophy and psychology have been charted extensively elsewhere, to the extent that this provenance is now generally accepted in English literary history. Tim Milnes. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 216-271)) And Index.