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"I Trot Like a Horse": The Early Modern Animal Debate in Gulliver's Travels.

  • Published In: Philosophy & Literature, 2024, v. 48, n. 1. P. 204 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Laitinen, Dana 3 of 3

Abstract

Does Gulliver's apparent equiphilia (love for equines) at the conclusion of Jonathan Swift's satire signify madness or misanthropy? I say neither, and propose that the neighing narrator is a satirical figure encompassing the animal debate between Michel de Montaigne and René Descartes. Swift's satire, I argue, addresses the early-modern controversy over human-animal distinctions by dramatizing a profound skepticism toward human reason. Swift's stance is registered in a vacillation between literalization of human-animal conversations, lampooning Montaigne, and satirizing Cartesian mechanism. I conclude that the greatest paradox of Gulliver's Travels is that Swift's satirization of skepticism is an endorsement of skepticism itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Philosophy & Literature. 2024/04, Vol. 48, Issue 1, p204
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:History
  • Publication Date:2024
  • ISSN:0190-0013
  • DOI:10.1353/phl.2024.a930338
  • Accession Number:178140216
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Philosophy & Literature is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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