Religious
Prime Mover
Universe
Man
Nature
Human Nature
Source of evil
Attitude toward life
Man’s will
Man’s duty
Social attitude
Man’s destiny
How determined
Thomas Aquinas tradition (1200s)
Yes
God: trinity, all-powerful, benevolent
God’s creation; unknowable; good
God’s special creature (not an animal)
Created by God for Man’s use; benevolent
Corrupted by Original Sin; weak; prone to error
Devil – a fallen angel
Optimistic – in the hereafter
Free
Faith; observance of Church offices, morality and good works
Obedience to authority
Heaven (by way of Purgatory) or hell
Faith and good works
Calvinist (Puritans)
(1600s)
Yes
God: trinity, all-powerful, good, just, wrathful
God’s creation; predestined, unknowable
God’s creature (not an animal)
Created by God, but often hostile, evil, and a source of temptation
Corrupted by Original Sin, depraved
Man’s nature (through Adam’s fall)
Deterministic (predestination)
Not free
Faith, the glorification of God, and preparation for afterlife
Obedience to authority, spiritual stewardship of all men
Election or reprobation
Will of God
Enlightenment / Age of Reason (late 1700s)
Yes
God: One, powerful; initially benevolent, now detached
God’s creation but Man’s charge; eventually knowable and good
God’s creature (not an animal)
Created by God, benevolent, mechanistic, and proof of God’s existence
Perfectible
Ignorance and the “passions”
Optimistic – progress through reason
Free
To cultivate reason; do good works
Environmentalist, ethical, humanitarian
Happiness on earth, rewards and punishments in hereafter
Good works and rationality
Religious
Prime Mover
Universe
Man
Nature
Human Nature
Source of evil
Attitude toward life
Man’s will
Man’s duty
Social attitude
Man’s destiny
How determined
Unitarianism
(1780s-1820)
Yes
God: One, powerful, benevolent
God’s creation, but Man’s charge; eventually knowable and good
God’s creature (not an animal)
Created by God, benevolent, and proof of God’s existence
Partakes of the Divine nature
Human perversity
Optimistic – progress through faith and good works
Free
To imitate goodness of God
Environmentalist, ethical, humanitarian
Progress forever
Good works and rationality
Transcendentalism
(1830-1860)
No
Oversoul: not anthropomorphic, good
Manifestation of creative power of Oversoul
Same as above
Same as above, benevolent, and proof of Divine existence
Basically good (comes from Oversoul)
Evil non-existent
Optimistic – inevitable progress
Free – self-reliance plus compensation (not logically consistent)
To realize his fullest capabilities
Individualistic and humanitarian
Reemergence with Oversoul
Cultivation of innate Divinity
Pragmatism
(late 1800s)
No
Natural forces: God a projection of human ideals
Exists as an observed fact, mechanistic
Product of evolution, animal
Product of evolution, exists as an observed fact
Perfectible through scientific trial and error
Ignorance, and failure to adapt to environment
Optimistic – progress through rational group effort
Free
To achieve the good society
Environmentalist, scientific social experimentation
Happiness on earth
Application of scientific method of living
Religious
Prime Mover
Universe
Man
Nature
Human Nature
Source of evil
Attitude toward life
Man’s will
Man’s duty
Social attitude
Man’s destiny
How determined
Naturalism (literary)
(early 1900s)
No
Natural forces
Exists as an observed fact, mechanistic, chaotic
Product of evolution, animal
Product of evolution, indifferent, even hostile
Selfish, cruel, egoistic
Man’s nature and social conventions
Pessimistic
Not free
Man’s actions are irrelevant
Disillusioned – cynical
Frustration and unhappiness in life, ending in death and oblivion
In the course of nature
Freudanism
(early – mid 1900s)
No
Libido
No theory
Biological accident, animal
No theory
Egoistic; sexually motivated
Excessive repression of libidinous instincts
Not strongly marked – can be either
Not free
To achieve the balanced psyche
Accepts principle of social responsibility (superego)
Happiness on earth
Through mental hygiene, reconditioning
Marxist
(late 1800s – mid 1900s)
No
Economic forces
Exists as an observed fact, mechanistic, but dynamic
Product of evolution, animal
Product of evolution, not intrinsically hostile
Perfectible; shaped by economic environment
The profit motive plus social and economic inequalities
Optimistic – progress through economic evolution
Free within the evolutionary process
To achieve the good society through revolution of the proletariat
Class consciousness, but ultimate goal of classless Utopia
Happiness on earth
Dialectical process – Revolution of proletariat
Religious
Prime Mover
Universe
Man
Nature
Human Nature
Source of evil
Attitude toward life
Man’s will
Man’s duty
Social attitude
Man’s destiny
How determined
Literary Existentialism (post WWII – present)
No
Natural forces
No theory
Biological accident; a perceiving consciousness
Insensate, impenetrable Being
No universal human nature; existence precedes essence
Bad faith; taking refuge in some false public image of oneself
Qualified optimism: the individual has power to shape his own life
Free
To achieve the authentic life
Varies with the existentialist – generally, the individual is held to be socially responsible
To create his own essence
By the nature of consciousness
Source:
Horton, Rod and Herbert
Edwards. Backgrounds
of American Literary
Thought.. Prentice Hall
College Division,
1974.