SWIFT AND SATIRE: GULLIVER’S TRAVELS AND THE AGE OF REASON
SWIFT AND SATIRE: GULLIVER’S TRAVELS AND THE AGE OF REASON

Summary/Abstract: Member of the Scriblerus Club which included some of the most astute satirists of the 18th century England, Jonathan Swift is mainly known for the collection of travels in imaginary realms gathered under the title Gulliver’s Travels. In the third part of the voyages, Gulliver visits the floating island of Laputa which will become the target for a critique of rationalism associated with the Enlightenment. The critique is mainly aimed at the scientific approach of the Royal Society. Laputa’s inhabitants are mathematicians, astronomers and people interested in accurate measurement. Swift ridicules the inhabitants’ futile experiments and points out that their endeavour has no benefit or practical usage whatsoever. Moreover, if there are any benefits, it is the rich people that have access to them. The main aim of the present paper is to analyse the scientific background of the early 18th century and establish whether Swift’s satire is valid or stems from a misunderstanding of the new scientific concepts. Laputa’s mathematicians, for instance, are based on the real characters of Kepler, Leibniz and Descartes. The mockery of their experiments may well have stemmed from the failure of understanding them, or that a failed or absurd experiment may trigger a successful one. The paper also looks at the political context as it has been argued that Swift’s views are more political than satirical and that his ridicule of the scientists, Newton included, is actually a means of illustrating the discrepancy between people who starve and those who have the luxury of amusing themselves by engaging in various experiments.

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