The Enduring Wisdom in Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels and Alexande

The Enduring Wisdom in Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels and Alexander Popes An move on ManIf learned men of a past age came to this present age of technological advance, virgin man magnate be surprised at the observations these military mans of yesterday would pay. Over three centuries ago, 2 such men -- Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope -- made observations concerning their experience time which have interesting insights to todays world. One thing Jonathan Swift might choose to expound upon is the institution of semipolitical democracy. In Gullivers Travels, he comments, That on the whole true believers shall break their eggs at the at rest end and which is the convenient end, seems, in my humble opinion, to be left to every(prenominal) mans conscience, or at least in the power of the chief magistrate to determine. So although he believes that every man has the right to choose his own end -- religion -- he also accepts the authority of the chief magistrate - - the king -- to determine a state-wide religion. This composition is hardly acceptable to democracy advocates today. Alexander Pope, in his An Essay on Man, propounds the Great kitchen range of Being theory of existence and order massive Chain of Being which from God began, Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, No glass can reach from Infinite to thee, (EM 1102) Know thy own headspring this kind, this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heaven bestows on thee. (EM 1103) In this Great Chain of Being, every creature and thing occupies a place -- it seems liable to assume that since there exists much than one link in the human spectrum, that different humans occupy different social positions. Kings, for exa... ...e the religion he practices in his own home. Pope and Swift might surprise modern society with their views. They would be cautious about accepting or rejecting anything new -- both men demonstrated careful logic in their ideas, and non just fervent belief. Some modern beliefs might require more time before they would pass judgment science-fiction, for example. And some they might not agree with but would be willing to tolerate various religions and political systems. Their ideas about other technologies, such as space exploration, might make modern society re-evaluate its reasons for exploring the vast unknown.Works Cited Pope, Alexander. ?Essay on Man.? Norton Anthology of humankind Masterpieces 6th ed. Ed. Maynard Mack et.al. New York Norton, 1992.Swift, Jonathan. Gullivers Travels. Ed. Louis A. Landa. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1990.