Search engine for discovering works of Art, research articles, and books related to Art and Culture
Javascript must be enabled to continue!
First Climb
View through CrossRef
The chapter explores the distinction between pseudo and real knowledge. Several episodes in which knowledge is being conveyed in Paradise Lost are discussed (Adam’s exchange with Raphael, Eve’s temptation by Satan, and Adam’s instruction by Michael). Milton’s challenge is not only to distinguish benign from malign forms of knowledge-seeking, but to convincingly communicate what prefallen knowledge involves, and to achieve this as a fallen mind writing for other fallen minds. The notion of hosting is introduced: in (some) real knowledge, one hosts a higher element. One’s knowledge-seeking ought not to devolve into mere curiosity, but should be driven by a hope to bond further with God. A distinction between Adam and Eve’s folly is proposed. Finally, the poem’s view of postlapsarian wisdom is presented.
Title: First Climb
Description:
The chapter explores the distinction between pseudo and real knowledge.
Several episodes in which knowledge is being conveyed in Paradise Lost are discussed (Adam’s exchange with Raphael, Eve’s temptation by Satan, and Adam’s instruction by Michael).
Milton’s challenge is not only to distinguish benign from malign forms of knowledge-seeking, but to convincingly communicate what prefallen knowledge involves, and to achieve this as a fallen mind writing for other fallen minds.
The notion of hosting is introduced: in (some) real knowledge, one hosts a higher element.
One’s knowledge-seeking ought not to devolve into mere curiosity, but should be driven by a hope to bond further with God.
A distinction between Adam and Eve’s folly is proposed.
Finally, the poem’s view of postlapsarian wisdom is presented.
Related Results
Seeking Sanctuary
Seeking Sanctuary
Seeking Sanctuary explores a curious aspect of premodern English law: the right of felons to shelter in a church or ecclesiastical precinct, remaining safe from arrest and trial in...
Pietro Bembo on Etna
Pietro Bembo on Etna
This book is centered on the Venetian humanist Pietro Bembo (1470–1547), on his stay in Sicily in 1492–4 to study the ancient Greek language under the Byzantine émigré Constantine ...
Hero of Hispaniola
Hero of Hispaniola
We know Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice as two of today's most high-profile African American political figures, but who paved the way for these notable diplomats? More than one h...
Perception First?
Perception First?
Heather Logue, like Williamson, investigates an analogy—in her case, an analogy between knowledge and perception. This chapter asks if knowledge is unanalysable, might also percept...
The Cinema of Manoel de Oliveira
The Cinema of Manoel de Oliveira
Manoel de Oliveira is the only filmmaker whose career spans from the silent era to the digital age, and yet there is little written in English about his extensive filmography. This...
2. Guru Nanak and his first successors
2. Guru Nanak and his first successors
In Sikh belief, there are ten human Gurus all of whom are physical embodiments of the same Guru. Sikh religious images portray two figures most frequently: Guru Nanak, the first hu...
Cactus Air Force
Cactus Air Force
Using diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts, this vivid narrative brings to life the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 1...