The Concept of Love in 17th and 18th Century Philosophy

The Theory and Regulation of Love in 17th Century Philosophy

The Theory and Regulation of Love in 17th Century Philosophy Catherine Wilson, City University of New York 1. The appetite of English readers in the first half of the 17th century for sermons, devotional works, and commentaries on scripture was robust. They consumed information regarding the defects of their souls as avidly as we consume information regarding the defects of our appearances. Concern with appearances was, of course, considered a defect of the soul. In the fallen world, the beauty of women was a reminder of Eve’s temptation, Adam’s fatal disobedience, and all the evil and suffering that ensued, down to the martyrdom of Christ. Pierre Du Moulin’s devotional work Théophile ou l’amour divin1 describes women’s adornment as Satan’s most deadly weapon. The faithful eye sees through their costume to the Devil’s very image: A soldier having a sword that hath surely served him in many combats, will be carefull to scowre & polish it: and doe we marvell if the woman having served Sathan to overthrow Adam, bee carefully decked & embellished by him; and that women are curious in ornaments by the suggestion of the devil?2 Other religious writers, like Jean Senault in Man become guilty, or, The corruption of nature by sinne, according to St. Augustines sense translated into English in 1650, represent love of particular women as slavery, an inversion of the natural order. In his Sixth Treatise, “On the Corruption of all Creatures”, Senault said: Love is an imperious passion, it subjects all those souls which it possesseth, it makes as many slaves as lovers, and reduceth them to a condition wherein having no longer any will, they are not Masters of their desires, they look pale, when in the presence of those that they adore, they tremble when they come neer them, and the Stars have not so much power over their bodies as those whom they love have absolute command over their souls: the object of their love is the cause of all their 141 1 Pierre Du Moulin, Theophilus, or Loue diuine. A treatise containing fiue degrees, fiue markes, fiue aides, of the loue of God, translated by Richard Goring from the third French edition. Renewed, corrected, and augmented by the author M. Peter Moulin, preacher, the reformed Church of Paris (London, 1610). 2 Ibid., p. 117. 10_Boros_Wilson2.qxd 12/17/2007 2:39 PM Page 141 motions, if it be absent, they consume away in desire, and languish in vain hopes... Thus these slaves take upon them their Masters livery... and betraying their own greatnesse they subject themselves to creatures which ought to obey them.3 Linguistic communities create numerous images of their members, many of them inconsistent with one another. Senault’s and du Moulin’s need to be kept in perspective. Popular drama in the early 17th century presented women very differently from the theologians. In William Shakespeare’s and John Fletcher’s plays, women appear kind, noble, intelligent, brave and resourceful, and as indistinguishable from men when they change their clothes. In the shepherds’ romance, L’Astrée of Honoré d’ Urfé’ (1567–1625), translated into English in 1620 and again in 1658,4 practical questions of the amorous life were discussed and debated. The inquietudes of new acquaintance, the ravages of jealousy, and all the phenomena of attachment and loss were described, and models of exemplary conduct – ideals of faithful service and renunciation – proposed.5 The upheavals of the Civil War following the execution of the King, and the temporary collapse of censorship brought out radical egalitarian doctrines in the 1640s, and The Concept of Love in 17th and 18th Century Philosophy 142 3 Jean-Francois Senault, Man become guilty, or, The corrruption of nature by sinne, according to St. Augustines sense. Written originally in French by Iohn-Francis Senault and translated into English by Henry, Earle of Monmouth (London, 1650). 4 Honorée d’Urfé, The history of Astrea the first part. In twelue bookes: newly translated out of French (London, 1620). Of the pastoral, Hume later comments: “When poets form descriptions of ELYSIAN fields, where the blessed inhabitants stand in no need of each other’s assistance, they yet represent them as maintaining a constant intercourse of love and friendship, and sooth our fancy with the pleasing image of these soft and gentle passions. The idea of tender tranquillity in a pastoral ARCADIA is agreeable from a like principle.” From An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, ed...