E 201: Major British Authors I

We meet MWF 10:10 – 11:00 in South College E470

WEEK 11 Milton

M 14 Nov. Paradise Lost Two

• Read Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II. (Also with notes at Dartmouth)
• Milton Reading Guide
• Worksheet for Friday

 

M 16 Nov. Paradise Lost Nine

• Read Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IX. (Also with notes at Dartmouth)
• Milton Reading Guide
• Worksheet for Friday

 

F 18 Nov. Paradise Lost Nine

• Worksheets due: Milton PL 2 and 9 (two separate sheets).
• Continue Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IX. (Also with notes at Dartmouth)
• Start planning your final paper (research guide). Here are the topics.

________

Note: We are interpreting Adam and Eve as symbolic of Sapientia ("wisdom" or theoretical intelligence) and Scientia ("science" or practical intelligence). Each of us inherits both those intellectual faculties. How much can we rely on reason, how much on reported knowledge, how much on intuition, how much on experience? How does ethical disorder enter our minds? How are we fooled?

Note that in our interpretation, Eve is not the ambassador of all women and Adam is not the ambassador of all men. Both of them together are the symbolic parents of each human.

Satan's Temptation and the Ten Modes of Skepticim: Sextus Empiricus

Ten Skeptical modes applied to the claim, "It's cold outside"

1. Not to a polar bear!
2. Not to me!
3. It doesn't look cold.
4. It was fine on the loading dock.
5. I haven't been outside lately.
6. I have a warm coat.
7. It's supposed to warm up.
8. No one else thinks it's cold.
9. Welcome to November in New England.
10. I'm from Maine, so this isn't cold at all!
And an ad hominem: Why do you say that? Do you sell gloves?
Appeal to semantics: What does "cold" really mean anyway?

Key:

September

October

November

December

Academic Schedule