Where Locke warned repeatedly of the ways in which language, particularly figurative language and rhetoric, might mislead understanding,Addisonbelieved 2 the imaginative and energetic use of language to be one of the most distinctive of human pleasures. In Addison’s view, imagination was an important part of both perception and understanding this opened the way to a more tolerant view than Locke’s of the fanciful choice of metaphors, fictions, works of art, pleasurable delusions of all sorts. Locke would have empirical reason as the final arbiter of all cognition, while Addison found more room for pleasurable sensations, particularly images, and for imagination as an interpreter of human experiences. Addison borrowed from Locke’s assessment of how humans form their ideas. Looking at Lockean and Addisonian ideas of pleasure, heemphasizes their respective epistemologies and their philosophies of language.
Walker’s attention is devoted to Addison’s series of essays on the pleasures of the imagination (Spectators 411–421). Addison often sounds Lockean until one reads more carefully. dison sometimes borrowed Lockean thoughts without naming his source, so one needs to know Locke well to judge their relationship. He usefully points out that Ad- *Unsigned reviews are by the editors. Walker carefully demonstratesthat there was a much more complex relationship between their thinking, one made up of partial conformity and partial dissent, but mostly a quiet and quite systematic reworking of Locke’s ideas to fit them into Addison’s own system of thought. Yes, there were specific points of difference-Locke’smistrustof the powers of rhetoric is a good example -but in general Addison was able to inhabit Lockean thought intelligentlyand comfortably.
Modern interpreters often easily assume a loose consonance between the two. In the Spectator, Addison invoked Locke repeatedly as an authority on diverse matters (the proper use oflanguage, the human sense of duration, and how people form their ideas of God) he also recommended Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding as a model for thinking clearly.
‘‘Addison’sMastery of Locke,’’1650–1850: Ideas,Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era, 6 (2001), 45–76.
1 and 2 RECENT ARTICLES* ADDISON WALKER, WILLIAM. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:ġ Autumn 2002 and Spring 2003 Vol.