Jonathan A. Cook
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780875804644
- eISBN:
- 9781501757167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780875804644.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter focuses on the significance of the White Whale to Ishmael, whose quest for Leviathan raises questions of cetology, cosmology, and epistemology. In Moby-Dick's cetological chapters, part ...
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This chapter focuses on the significance of the White Whale to Ishmael, whose quest for Leviathan raises questions of cetology, cosmology, and epistemology. In Moby-Dick's cetological chapters, part of Ishmael's mission is to attain practical and philosophical wisdom from his whaling experience which portrayed significant allusions to biblical wisdom. Ishmael's review of cetology reflects the contemporary Romantic critique of science, together with support from older metaphorical languages of myth and mysticism. Additionally, the epistemology of Ishmael's discussion of whales and whaling subsumes a broad range of literary prototypes. Ishmael's description of sperm-squeezing is a secularized act of Christian conversion replete with biblical language and imagery.Less
This chapter focuses on the significance of the White Whale to Ishmael, whose quest for Leviathan raises questions of cetology, cosmology, and epistemology. In Moby-Dick's cetological chapters, part of Ishmael's mission is to attain practical and philosophical wisdom from his whaling experience which portrayed significant allusions to biblical wisdom. Ishmael's review of cetology reflects the contemporary Romantic critique of science, together with support from older metaphorical languages of myth and mysticism. Additionally, the epistemology of Ishmael's discussion of whales and whaling subsumes a broad range of literary prototypes. Ishmael's description of sperm-squeezing is a secularized act of Christian conversion replete with biblical language and imagery.
Robert Faulkner
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300123937
- eISBN:
- 9780300150278
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300123937.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter is the first of two chapters to address the issues and arguments put forth by skeptics and intellectual critics. It looks at how many present-day intellectuals and academics would ...
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This chapter is the first of two chapters to address the issues and arguments put forth by skeptics and intellectual critics. It looks at how many present-day intellectuals and academics would challenge the admiration for great figures such as Nelson Mandela, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George Washington that arises almost naturally in decent citizens and appreciative historians. This chapter, however, is not necessarily a rebuttal of the arguments put forth by these critics. It instead shows how these perspectives developed out of questionable contentions and the fraying of modern political philosophies. Some of the most thoughtful and relevant of contemporary critiques were those belonging to John Rawls (1921–2002) and Hannah Arendt (1906–75), where their teachings provided a complex and sometimes changing insights on the topic.Less
This chapter is the first of two chapters to address the issues and arguments put forth by skeptics and intellectual critics. It looks at how many present-day intellectuals and academics would challenge the admiration for great figures such as Nelson Mandela, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George Washington that arises almost naturally in decent citizens and appreciative historians. This chapter, however, is not necessarily a rebuttal of the arguments put forth by these critics. It instead shows how these perspectives developed out of questionable contentions and the fraying of modern political philosophies. Some of the most thoughtful and relevant of contemporary critiques were those belonging to John Rawls (1921–2002) and Hannah Arendt (1906–75), where their teachings provided a complex and sometimes changing insights on the topic.
