This chart, adapted from one used by the late Prof. Henry K. Miller of Princeton University, deliberately reduces the complexities of 18th-C thought to artificial polar opposites or norms. The views on the left (Renaissance, Christian Humanist) might roughly be described as "conservative" or "traditional" during this period; those on the right (Romantic, Naturalist), as "radical" or "progressive." The dominant prestige or emphasis moves slowly and uncertainly from left to right during the years 1660-1800, but more often than not, the old and the new remain in uneasy juxtaposition.
1. Conceptual Metaphor
The Great Chain of Being: The Hierarchy �� The Mathematical Machine: The Organism
2. Metaphysical Orientation
Ontological ("Being": relation to Universe) �� Epistemological (Process: Psychological individual)
3. Question of the Universe
Why? (Rationalism: Religion: Synthesis) �� What? How? (Empiricism: Science: Analysis)
4. Cosmology
Meaningful, finite Universe (Purposeful interlocking Universals: Macrocosm-microcosm) �� Scientific Universe, mechanical, infinite (Non-purposive Particulars)
5. Highest Wisdom
Ethical contemplation: Knowledge leads to Virtue �� Scientific experiment: Knowledge leads to Power
6. Philosophical Orientation
Theocentric (God-centered); but Man at center of God's Universe �� Anthropocentric ("Man the Measure"); but Man not focus of neutral Universe
7. Nature
The total spiritual, moral, material construct, structured by God �� External, physical phenomenon, separate from the mind, but a stimulus to subjective spiritual experience
8. View of "Reality"
Metaphysical "Realism" (Universals are real): Lower explained in terms of the higher �� Metaphysical "Nominalism" (only Particulars are real): Higher explained in terms of the lower
9. Natural Law
Normative (defining norms); Duties of Man �� Descriptive (describing effects); Rights of Man
10. Psychological Emphasis
Intuitive Reason and the Conscious Mind: Identity as essence �� Imagination and the (Unconscious) Irrational: Identity as state of mind
11. Ethics
Christian: prescriptive: absolute �� Benevolist, Utilitarian: descriptive: relative
12. Ethical Emphasis
Reason: Motives: Ends �� Emotion: Effects: Means
13. Moral Truth
Extrinsic: objective (in Divine Will) �� Intrinsic: subjective (in the Agent)
14. Moral Faculties
"Right Reason" and the Will (the Head) �� "Sensibility and the Will (the Heart)
15. Major Virtue
Caritas: Love of God and Man for the image of God �� "Natural Goodness"
16. Major Sin
Pride �� Sexual immorality
17. Dominant Group in the Church of England
(Latitudinarian) Anglo-Catholicism �� Evangelicism and "Broad Church"
18. Leading Heterodoxy
Dissent; Deism �� Methodism
19. Science: major focus
Astronomy, Physics �� Mathematics, Biology
20. Test of scientific truth
Congruity with basic norms �� Experiment
1. Conceptual Metaphor
The Land �� Money
2. Ruling Class
Aristocracy (landowners): hierarchy of classes �� Middle Class (moneyed oligarchy): fluid classes
3. Basic Economy
Agriculture �� Trade and Industry
4. Economic Theory
Mercantilism �� Laissez-Faire
5. Form of Capitalism
Individual production: capitalism in social-moral frame �� Factory production: finance capitalism
6. Attitude toward Business
"Low Mechanick Trade" �� The Dignity of Trade ("Merchants" distinguished from "Tradesmen")
7. Manners
"Renaissance" Gentleman: "masculine" orientation �� "Victorian" Gentleman: "feminine" orientation
8. Status of women
Hierarchical inferior: marriage as business deal �� Individual function in family: "companionate marriage"
1. Conceptual Metaphor
The Body and its Members �� The Individual versus the State
2. Political Entity
England (and Scotland) �� Great Britain and the British Empire
3. Government
Absolute Monarchy: Parliament subordinate: Authority descends �� Limited Monarchy: Parliamentary government, extended franchise; Authority ascends
4. Political Mentors
Cicero and Aristotle �� Machiavelli and Locke
5. Historical Orientation
Chronological Primitivism (looking to the Past: myth of the Golden Age) Teleology �� Cultural Primitivism (the spontaneous and "natural"); Progress (looking to the Future: Utopia, secular Millennium); Evolution
1. Conceptual Metaphor
The Mirror �� The Lamp
2. The Poet
Artificer, "maker," educated artist �� Seer, improviser, natural genius
3. Center of interest
The poem's subject �� The poet's mind
4. End of Poetry
Harmony: beauty; to please and teach �� Emotion: the sublime; to involve and uplift
5. Ideal Form
Epic �� Lyric
6. Verse Style
Blank verse; heroic couplet �� Blank verse; ode
7. Dominant Subject
The City: Man: public experience �� The Country: External Nature: private experience
8. Classical Model
Latin: Virgil �� Greek: Homer
9. Prose Fiction
Romance �� Novel
10. Characters of Fiction
Types, essences: fixed psychology �� Unique individuals: fluid, evolving psychology
11. Prose Style
"Senecan" formal styles �� "Ciceronian" middle style
12. Dramatic Form
Comedy of Wit; "Heroic" Tragedy �� Comedy of Sentiment; Melodrama
13. Press
Individual Essay-Journals �� Mass Public Newspapers and Magazines
14. Critical Emphasis
Formal (the work); Mimetic (the universe); Rhetorical (the audience psychology) �� Formal (the work); Expressive (the artist's psychology)
15. Critical Reference
Educated taste; tradition �� Individual genius; empathetic imagination
16. Classical Authority
Aristotle, Horace, Quintilian �� Plato, Longinus
17. Writing Method
Imitation �� Inspiration; Evolution