Jonathan Swift and Philosophy

David Cody, Associate Professor of English, Hartwick College

"To enter on causes of Philosophy," Swift wrote, "is what I protest I will rather dy in a ditch than go about." Why would Swift make such a statement? Does the fact that he made it mean that he was not a philosopher, or that he was not concerned with philosophical issues? If, in those portions of his work which we have read, he does seem to have been concerned with certain philosophical issues, what are they?

Website Overview Screen Before Victoria Jonathan Swift Biography [Neoclassicism]

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