Morbid Pathos in Isaac Watts’ Philosophy of Affectionate Religion
This essay traces in Isaac Watts’ philosophy of affectionate religion the emergence of the category of affections as a category of emotion distinct in kind from the passions. I argue that the discrepancy between the confidence, clarity and conviction of the mode Watts uses to represent the affection...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2013
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| In: |
Literature and theology
Year: 2013, Volume: 27, Issue: 3, Pages: 297-312 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This essay traces in Isaac Watts’ philosophy of affectionate religion the emergence of the category of affections as a category of emotion distinct in kind from the passions. I argue that the discrepancy between the confidence, clarity and conviction of the mode Watts uses to represent the affections and the opacity of the information supplied about what they signify registers an unacknowledged anxiety about what affections are and what is at stake in their recommendation. I analyze how Watts’ writing about the affections produces a palpably morbid pathos by implying that the affections are realizable only through death, but advocating their pursuit nonetheless. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frs058 |