"The Problem of Evil: The Interaction of Philosophy and Fiction (1661-1" by Audrey Vivien Bull
 

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

Publication Date

12-22-1977

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes trends in philosophy and the novel on the question of evil during the period 1661-1715. The problem was treated on three levels: cosmic, personal and social evil. Three questions dominate: Why does evil exist? From whence does it come? How can it be alleviated or eliminated? By the study of similarities and differences between the works of a philosopher and a novel, the dissertation shows how abstract ideas were rendered into concrete situations and how serious concepts were made palatable to a wide-spread audience through the sugar-coating of fiction. Chapter I gives a broad view of philosophies on evil from St. Augustine to the Renaissance, concentrating on France but including thought from the rest of Europe which was influential in France. Chapter II follows the development of Christian, Stoic and Epicurean theories on the problem of evil from the time of Montaigne to the mid-seventeenth century. The contributions of Charron, Vanini, Descartes and Gassendi are examined, and the importance of Pascal's work as a resume of and a possible answer to the problem of evil is emphasized. Chapter III explains in detail the attitude of Pascal towards evil and considers its relationship to the Lettres Portugaises (1669) by Guilleragues. Chapter IV concentrates first on the way in which Spinoza attacked the problem of evil. The interaction of these ideas with those of a novel is shown in the discussion of La Terre australe connue (1678) by Gabriel de Foigny, a utopian adventure story. Chapter V explains how morality pursued an increasingly separate path from religion, describes briefly Malebranche's opinions on evil, then moves to Fontenelle's contribution to the subject. Perrault’s Contes de Fées (1697) are analyzed for their ideas on the problem of evil and shown to reflect the ideas of the society in which Perrault and Fontenelle moved. Chapter VI examines Bayle's obsession with the problem of cosmic evil, which included the questions of the conflict between faith and reason, of God as the author of evil, of the contrast between divine and human morality. These questions are illustrated in the utopian novel Voyages et Avantures de Jaques Massé (1710) by Tyssot de Patot. Chapter VII states that Fénelon’s contribution to the problem of evil was mostly on the social level but based on religion, then explains the theories of Locke, who separated morality still further from religion by moving from the metaphysical to the psychological and social level. Evidence of Locke's influence on his contemporaries is given by the study of Chasles' Les Illustres Françoises (1713), the first of the eighteenth century psychological novels. Chapter VIII examines the philosophy of Leibnitz on evil and shows how he attempted to answer Bayle's questions. Leibnitz closes an era which Pascal began. Fiction was little influenced by Leibnitz so the comparison of thought and fiction ceases here; theories on evil are traced in a general manner till the end of the century. The Conclusion summarizes the role that fiction played as intermediary between philosophers and the general public, while emphasizing that in order to truly understand the intellectual climate of the early Enlightenment period we need even more studies which clarify questions about the dissemination of ideas.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

First Committee Member (Chair)

Patricia Murphy

Second Committee Member

Julián Eugene White Jr.

Third Committee Member

James Llewellyn Thorson

Fourth Committee Member

Ernest Truett Book

Fifth Committee Member

Raymond Ralph MacCurdy

Download

Share

COinS