Shaftesbury: Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times

Anthony Ashley Cooper Earl of Shaftesbury

Cambridge University Press, 1999 - Philosophy - 490 pages

Shaftesbury's Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times was published in 1711. It ranges widely over ethics, aesthetics, religion, the arts (painting, literature, architecture, gardening), and ancient and modern history, and aims at nothing less than a new ideal of the gentleman. Together with Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Addison's and Steele's Spectator, it is a text of fundamental importance for understanding the thought and culture of Enlightenment Europe. This volume presents a new edition of the text together with an introduction, explanatory notes and a guide to further reading.

Contents

• Preface: 3
• Sensus communis an essay on the freedom of wit and humour in: 29
• Soliloquy or advice to an author: 70
• An inquiry concerning virtue or merit: 163
• The moralists a philosophical rhapsody being a recital of certain: 231
• Miscellaneous reflections on the preceding treatises: 339
• Miscellany II: 351
• Miscellany III: 395
• Index: 458

Bibliographic information

• Title: Shaftesbury: Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times; Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy
• Author: Anthony Ashley Cooper Earl of Shaftesbury
• Editors: Lawrence E. Klein, Lawrence Eliot Klein
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1999
• ISBN: 0521578922, 9780521578929
• Length: 490 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / General; Philosophy / History & Surveys / General; Philosophy / History & Surveys / Modern