Lockean Philosophy in Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels

An Exploration of Lockean Philosophy in Gullivers Travels Ricardo Quintana asserts in his study Two Augustans that even though Swift as a traditional philosophical realist dismissed Lockian empiricism with impatience, he recognized in Lockian political theory an enforcement of his own convictions (76). It may be argued, however, than when two contemporary authors, such as Locke and Swift, are shaped within the same matrix of cultural forces and events, they reveal through their respective works a similar ideology. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explore the parallels between Lockes Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Swifts Gullivers Travels, using textual evidence and literary criticism; and†¦show more content†¦The general relation of deferential and hierarchal practices in society, as reflected in the political changes, combined with Lockes Some Thoughts Concerning Education to open the way for a new era in parent-child relations . . . (407). Augustan perspective, common to Locke and Swift, reflected the intellectual outlook and general temper shared by the greater number of educated persons of the time (Quintana 52). This belief system greatly influenced the writings of both Locke and Swift, linking the foundations of their literature to a common source or state-of-mind. The Augustan outlook was a compromise between the old system of established principles and protocol, from the secular to the religious, and the revolutionary new concepts that challenged the very foundations of that system. In particular, students of this school of thought challenged conservative religious views concerning creation and the relationship between Nature and Reasonemdash;two topics that Locke explored in his writing. Prior to Locke and his contemporaries, it was universally held that God was the sole creator of the world, and that the Law of Nature was binding among all men, taking precedence over individual reason and advantage. In Some Thoughts Concerning Education, Lockes view of parent-child relationships relies on a careful balance between tolerant political authority, as presented in the Second Treatise of Civil Government, and the moral and philosophical aspects of