Austin and Palmer

[there] are some cognitive scientists who emphatically stress the centrality of language to thought, although these views are often related more to the powerful role that language plays in forming out minds, rather than the language plays in everyday thought. Daniel Dennet makes the point about cognitive formation that language "infects and inflects our thought at every level... The structure of grammar enforce a discipline on our habits of thought, shaping the ways in which we probe our own 'data-bases'... [W]e can see how the powerful voices that a language unleashes in a brain can be exploited".
-Pg. 95 The Whole Mind, Palmer

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”
-Pride and Prejudice


I'd just like to note that I truly enjoyed the reading by Palmer this week. The idea that grammar and the function of words in sentences, specifically those words which signify mind states, frame our conception in some way of a phenomena is an idea absolutely critical to my analysis of Fantomina and The Female Quixote. Vocabulary and grammar have a way of insidiously framing and directing our thoughts, insidious because it is difficult/impossible just from a definition to know the history of a word, all the conceptions that have been packed into it and perpetuated in culture. We see the tip of the ice burg as a point, as the definition but unknowingly "trail around with a great number of vague generalities"-Jaspers. Words which signify a mind state (as we have continuously observed throughout this class) are not definite structures with right angles which house and contain phenomena but more like some organic environmental structure, eroding and redefining itself at the force of culture over time. I think this quote from Pride and Prejudice is so apt when understanding the language used to signify mind states- "we begin in the middle" and there is an unpacking which allows us to explore the nuances of the phenomena. When we are aware of the framework we can use it consciously, point out the flaws, know what exists outside it- what aspect of the phenomena is unacknowledged? I think about these questions increasingly when considering the language we use to denote psychological phenomena: "schizophrenia" "psychosis" "bipolar" "depressed" etc etc. What does the framing these mind states within the medial paradigm do?

McMahon and Austen

Is unhappiness associated with characters that are uniquely perceptive, or happiness with those whom are portrayed as unskeptical or credulous?

Marquise de Chatlet, confessed in her own Discourse on Happiness, to be happy "one must be susceptible to illusions, for is to illusions that we owe the majority of our pleasures. unhappy is the one who has lost them."
-Pg. 202 McMahon

Elizabeth took up some needlework, and was sufficiently amused in attending to what passed between Darcy and his companion. The perpetual commendations of the lady wither on his hand-writing, or on the evenness of his lines, or on the length of his letter, with the perfect unconcern with which her praises were received, formed a curious dialogue , and was exactly in unison with her opinion of each.
-Pg. 83 Pride and Prejudice

     Elizabeth, who's judge of character we've come to trust, thinks about how "exactly in unison" the conversation proceeds with her "opinion of each". She is distrustful of the superficially gracious Miss Bingley and observes Darcy to be keen and brooding. At this point in the story  Miss Bingley is making exceedingly superficial repetitive observations of Darcy's writing process. Her dialogue is marked with glad/excited explanations throughout. It seems to wear a facade of happiness. On the other hand, Dacy's responses are dry and witty, if he responds at all. He does not seem to express happiness near as much as any of the other characters, throughout the story, but constantly demonstrates his sharp perceptive abilities. It seems that unhappiness in him is associated with a certain "loss of illusion". Furthermore, when we analyze the character of Jane we observe a character that is portrayed as eternally pleasant and happy yet fails to possess any ability to perceive a deeper nature in others, past their unanimous good intentions.

Zunshine

What role does secondary and college education play in our ability to read other's minds? If it is fiction that sharpens this tool, what effect does the pre-medical curriculum have on future doctor's ability to read minds, specifically psychiatrists?

We all learn, whether consciously or not, that the default interpretation of behavior reflects the character's state of mind, and every fictional story that we read reinforces our tendency to make that kind of interpretation first.
-Zunshine, Why We Read Fiction Pg. 4

     Reading this article I couldn't help but be concerned about the current college pre-medical curriculum. If reading fiction is an exercise in developing these tools for mind reading and this skill is fundamental to making psychiatric diagnosis, how are we preparing these future doctors with the skills necessary to succeed at this? While, the ability to read minds is an added benefit to the tool chest of a cardiologist and especially a pediatrician, the ability of a psychiatrist practically depends on it. In psychiatry, there are few biological assays, there are questionnaires yes, but a significant aspect of a psychiatric diagnosis is the interpretations of a individuals behaviors to understand their state of mind. If anything, the premedical curriculum beats the intuition out of you through forcing the repeated regurgitation of strict unequivocal facts such as knowing the enzyme that catalyzes the rate limiting step in the citric acid cycle.

Delusion

Can delusion be conceptualized as an embedded mind state in the individual before the grammatical form of the word, "delusional" existed?

Or when the mid-night Hour is told,
And drooping Lids thou still do'st waking hold,
Thy fond Delusions cheat the Eyes;
Before 'em antic Spectres dance,
 -Pg 23 Anne Finch

We have here a different kind of misinterpretation of the insane, something equally madness as defined by a multitude, but a multitude in ones, ending though, with the same old confirmation of a half-truth. Maria and Yorick walk in together, each supporting the other's delusion.
-Pg. 104 Madness of the Multitude

    A common theme with delusion in the 18th century is it's association with the sensory. It is often conceptualized as being separate from the sensory, however having a downstream effect on it. We also notice when delusion exists separate from the individual. The poem by Finch supports this commonality. "Thy fond Delusions" implies that the individual is in possession of them, rather them being a mind state embedded in the person. Possession of a mind state denotes separation because to possess something, there must be a boundary between the individual and the mind state. I am running into a difficulty with this concept in my paper, while curiosity is described as if embedded in the individual (ie. she is curious); the word that would describe an embedded delusion is "delusional" (as in she is delusional) however the OED doesn't site this word as being used until 1871. The thesis of my final paper rests on the crux that mind states can be framed as embedded and separate from the individual. In curiosity, the grammatical form of the word suggested it's embedded or separateness. I wonder, if I could use the grammatical style used when it is addressed to indicate a state of embedded or separateness.
     The description of delusion follows a description of dreams. Dreams we know, occur in the mind, separate from the senses. There is a contrast between the delusion and dream in the poem because of the word "Or"; however it is not the realm of functioning that seems to be contrasted, but rather the state of consciousness. In dreams, the individual is intruded by shadows during sleep, however during delusion this occurs when "thou still do'st waking hold". "Thy fond Delusions cheat the Eyes" implies that delusions are separate from the eyes, the sensory component, because they are able to perform an action on them, cheat them. Delusion is being framed as separate from the individual and from the sensory.

Final Paper Skeleton

Final Paper Skeleton

Thesis-ish: Contrasting the processes of curiosity and delusion when framed as separate vs. embedded in the subject in the 18th century literature.

Curiosity
-functions within the realm of sensorial:
       -came from an object
       -often associated with senses
-something from the 2ndary readings
-mind states which function within the sensorial will fade with time unless the stimulus changes, curiosity perpetuates itself because of the bi-directionality of the changes between the subject and curiosity
-analogously repeated sensory stimulation causes desensitization of receptor (separate function)
-In Fantomina: processes of curiosity were framed by grammatically separating or embedding the subject and curiosity
-quote from Fantomina about Passion changing the object.

Curiosity as Separate
(ex. her curiosity, a curiosity in her)
-curiosity doesn't change the individual, individual does not change curiosity
-elicits reflexive actions
-intensity of mind state fades over time
-Bauplasir
-Fantomina at first

Curiosity as Embedded
(ex. curious woman)
-curiosity changes individual, individual changes curiosity (bidirectional effect)
-elicits reflective actions
-high intensity of mind state maintained
-Fantomina in the end

Delusion
-DEFINE: a strongly held belief that results in perceptions skewed significantly from those experienced by the majority.
-functions within the realm of ideas:
     -separation between reason and senses in 18th cent. lit
-something from ECCO
-repeated stimulus from mind states that function within the realm of ideas will strengthen idea
-analogous to neuronal networks in brain, learning strengthened by repeated stimuli
-In Female Quixote: processes of delusion were framed by functionally separating or embedding the actions of the subject and the idea/mind state

Delusion as Separate: (frame Arabella's actions as separate from actions of delusion)
-idea changes the individual, individual changes the idea (bidirectional effect)
-elicits reflective actions
-intensity of mind state/idea diminishes
-Arabella after/during cure

Delusion as Embedded: (frame Arabella's actions as equal to the actions of the delusion)
-idea does not change individual, individual does not change idea
-elicits reflexive actions
-intensity of mind state/idea maintained
-Arabella before cure


Conclusion: Despite these two mind states vastly contrasting realms and processes, when framed as  embedded in the subject- they both take on a highly negative force.
    

Wollstonecraft & Montagu

Not even Youth and Beauty can controul
The universal Rancour of thy Soul;
Charms that might soften Superstition's Rage,
Might humble Pride, or thaw the Ice of Age.
-pg. 190 Verses Address'd to the Imitator of Horace

Besides, the reading of novels makes women, and particularly ladies of fashion, very fond of using strong expressions and superlatives in conversation; and, through the dissipated artificial life which they lead prevents their cherishing of any strong legitimate passion, the language of passion in affected tones slips forever from their glib tongues, and every trifle produces those phosphoric bursts which only mimic in the dark the flame of passion.
-pg 275 A Vintication of the Rights of Woman

Tristram Shandy and Spacks

Is the post-modern transition Spacks notes in the use of the word "boring", wherein it becomes a description of an object rather than a subject, observable in other mind states as well?


She is a dreadfully boring woman... The notion that boredom inheres in the consciousness of its experiencer appears to have vanished. Now to call something boring describes an object rather than a subject....A new form of moralizing directs opprobrium toward the cause rather than the victim of boredom.
-Boredom Pg. 22


"Let CONSCIENCE determine the matter upon these reports;--- and then if the heart condemns thee not, which is the case the Apostle supposes,---the rule will be infallible"
[Here Dr. Slop fell asleep]
-Tristram Shandy Pg. 109


Spacks describes a change in the use of the use of the word "boring" that I found similar to changes in the usages of the words "psychosis", "curiosity", "delusion" throughout the semester. She describes them differently; however I think in essence we may be describing the same thing. My papers described a transisiton where psychosis went from being a description of what I call a "process" (where the person is separate from psychosis) to a "mind state" (where the person is indiscernable from the psychosis). We see a change, a person no longer has a psychosis, they are psychotic. Spacks shows an post-modern example where a woman IS bording, opposed to the previous uses of the word we saw in Rambler and Idler where an individual were talking about their experience of being bored. When she states that the word becomes a description of an object rather than a subject, I believe she means in the philosophical sense, rather than the grammatical sense. I explored further the ideas of subject and objects in philosophy; objects are thought of as "entities" and subjects are "observers". In the first post-modern use boring is an intrinsic property of the entity, however in the latter use boring is something the subject observes. When I was describing psychosis as "process" I was specifically noting the distinction separation between the person and the phenomena, in this example the mind state is also describing a subject. When I describe psychosis as a "mind state", I meant to denote the inseparability of the person from the mind state (ex. they ARE psychotic), in this example psychosis is describing an object (one that is intrinsically psychotic). Spacks goes on to describe some of the troubling implications of this switch, when "boring" comes to describe a object rather than a subject; I have seen parallels of this manifestation when many other mind states (specifically psychosis, delusion, and curiosity) are used to describe objects rather than subjects. I wonder if also her criteria concerning the reasons for this change would be explain the factors leading to similar transitions in other mind states.
In the quote from Tristram Shandy, we would have to project the idea that Dr. Slop being bored was the result of his sleep because it isn't expressly said; however if we take that assumption, we see boredom functioning similarly to descriptions in Ramblr and Idler where it is describing a subject, or an external thing that performs a function on the subject.

Draft Paper #2

Organizing principals are used to contextualize and understand experiences. The products of an organizing principal include, but are not limited to, our perception of character traits, passions and emotions. The products of an organizing principal can not be used to undermine it because they are dependent and inextricable from the organizing principal; often they functioning to validate it because the experiences are organizing according to the same ideas and thus agree thematically across perceptions. However, the foundations of an organizing principal are ideas. In Charlotte Lennox’s novel, The Female Quixote, Arabella uses ideas from antique romance novels as the foundation for her organizing principals. The doctor’s “cure” is successful because it acknowledges the products of Arabella’s organizing principals as existing separately and functioning differently in her from the organizing principal and ideas which are its foundations. The doctor identifies Arabella’s organizing principal as existing separately from her by personifying it as a subject capable of actions and feelings. The doctor acknowledges a difference between the functions of the products and foundation of her organizing principal because he engages them differently; validating and avoiding challenging the products, carefully monitoring her emotions to retract or redirect the intentions of his words when she perceives these to be in question, while still framing the debate to challenging the foundation, her ideas.

1. Attempts first to understand and validate Arabella's emotions
2. Specifically addresses Arabella's as having "Imaginings"
3. Does not proceeds to engage in challenging her when
     -intrinsic values of morality (virtue, judgement) become subject of question (374)
     -passions or desire become subject of question (370)
4. Backtracks/Retracts/becomes submissive
     -when she perceives judgement of her passions
     -when she perceives judgement of her
5. Specifically frames question to address causal relation between actions or "reason".
6. Contrast with Mr. Glansville: eventually commits to organizing principal because unable to separate emotions from causal relation between actions
7. Contrast with Mrs. Glansville: doesn't succumb to organizing principal but unwilling to mindfully navigate Arabella's emotions to refocus questions on causal relation between actions.

Conclusion: Passions/emotions/morality function in a realm separate from reason, though they are effected by it and thought/ideas can be manipulated separately.

Tristram Shandy and Jonathan Swift

How is our attention maintained by movement and misfortune?

My Tristram's misfortunes came nine months before ever he came into the world.
-Laurence Sterne Pg. 11 (Chp. 3)

Sweepings from Butchers Stalls, Dung, Guts and Blood,
Drown'd Puppies, stinking Sprats, all drench'd in Mud,
Dead Cats and Turnep- Tops come tumbling down the
Flood.
-Jonathan Swift, A Description of a City Shower

It both pieces, A Description of a City Shower and Tristram Shandy, the author continuously moves us from one misfortune/horror to another. Swift not only uses strong verbs (ie. drench'd, tumbling), but also words that are the noun (ie. sweepings) or adjective (drown'd) forms of verbs to sustain a sense of movement throughout the piece. This movement is not random, it takes us from one visceral image to another, the butcher stalls, the guts and blood. Somehow, these two things together function very well to sustain our attention, or at least mine. I see a similar pattern in Tristram Shandy, while perhaps not as horrifying (yet). In this story, we are continuously transported forward and backward in time. The story's progress is not chronological, but rather motivated by movement from one misfortunes to another. This concept draws to mind a neuroscience concept. The tectal system in the brain functions to draw our attention to movements of visual stimuli, there are structures called the superior colliculus mediate this function. Perhaps the method of attention focusing used by these authors draws it's ability from the connection between movement and attention present in other sensory systems.

Johnson and Lennox

Is Johnson's description of the effect reading novels produces in the individual similar to the function of monomania or delusion? Is this interpretation of Johnson's quote supported in The Female Quixote?

But if the power of example is so great, as to take possession of the memory by a kind of violence, and produce effects almost without the intervention of the will, care ought to be taken that, when the choice is unrestrained, the best examples only should be exhibited; and that which is likely to operate so strongly, should not be mischievous or uncertain in its effects.
-Johnson

...her imagination, always prepossessed with the same fantastic Ideas, made her stumble upon another Mistake, equally absurd and ridiculous.
-Lennox Pg. 21

     The Oxford English Dictionary contains two distinct descriptions of monomania: a form of mental illness characterized by a single pattern of repetitive and intrusive thoughts or actions and an exaggerated or fanatical enthusiasm for or devotion to one subject; an obsession, craze. The first description matches closely with our clinical description of obsession whereas the latter is more aligned to our colloquial usage of the word obsession. Both clinical and colloquial obsession augment the affects of individuals. In clinical obsession, the individual experiences a great amount of anxiety, whereas in fanatical obsession the obsession has a myriad of positive effects on the affect of the individual. While the individual may be conscious of an obsession, they often have little control over the effect it elicits in them. They perceive the effects of the obsession as personal, and do not expect others to share their experience. The description of delusion in the OED states that it is anything that deceives the mind with a false impression; a deception; a fixed false opinion or belief with regard to objective things. Delusions augment the perceptions of the individual. Furthermore, by definition, the individual has neither control nor awareness of the effect the delusion. The perceptive lens caused by a delusion are not experienced as unique to themselves, rather they expect others to share their experience.
       Johnson's specific phrase, "as to take possession of the the memory by a kind of violence" suggests that the specific function of the novels on readers is some augmentation of their perception, rather than their affect. The phrase "prepossessed with the same fantastic Ideas" suggests also that it is Arabella's perceptions that are being augmented by her delusion. The interpretation of Johnson's quote to mean that reading functions somewhat similarly to delusion is supported by the selected quote from Lennox.

Monomania and The Female Don Quixote

"How is our diagnosis of others as monomaniacal dependent on the degree to which their organizing principle challenges our personal reality?"


What else lurks behind these solipsistic modes of existence? What explain the common need to hide behind a system or an ideology?
-Pg. 5

My monomaniacs are all melancholics who can only abide the world if it is ruled by an all-consuming, highly abstract and exalted set of principals.
-Pg. 3

While investigating different manifestations of monomania, I discovered that each one of its enactments is part of an abstract, autonomous desire to reorganize the world according to a long-lost model of wholeness.
-Pg 3


First, I would like to challenge the validity of this authors representation of monomania because a number of sweeping generalizations and assertions (from an individual outside observer onto a group) are made without sufficient textual support aside from the arbitrarily sprinkled references to archaic practically obsolete psychological literature (ex. Freud). This representation is derisive, othering, mindlessly supportive of the status quo and blind to not only the experience of monomania but also the notion that these "pathological, perverse, or poorly disguised maneuvers" are variations of intrinsic human processes that allow us to organize and understand our individual and deeply personal experiences.

[On Piet Mondrian's art] ...he chose to strike out against the real with the absolutism of his vertical and horizontal lines. But the real always ended up resurfacing: despite the grids that framed Mondrian's monochromatic tones with ever increasing urgency, despite the "hairshirts and self-chastisements. . . the arbitrary merely form[ed] again."
-Pg. 1

In the ensuing manifestations of the idée fixe (agorophobia, misanthropy, art as substitute for life, hypochondria), the world falls into place because it seems guided by a divine plan, a firm an meaningful teleology. Freud explains these types of rituals in "Obsessive Actions and Religious Practices," in which he finds the latter to be "full of significant and symbolic meaning," he sees the former, divorced from tradition and thoroughly independent from the way society is run, as "the half-comic, half-tragic travesty of a private religion."
-Pg. 3

Mondrian's explanation of his art, quote taken from a letter:
I construct lines and color combinations on a flat surface, in order to express general beauty with the utmost awareness. Nature (or, that which I see) inspires me, puts me, as with any painter, in an emotional state so that an urge comes about to make something, but I want to come as close as possible to the truth and abstract everything from that, until I reach the foundation (still just an external foundation!) of things… I believe it is possible that, through horizontal and vertical lines constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition, and brought to harmony and rhythm, these basic forms of beauty, supplemented if necessary by other direct lines or curves, can become a work of art, as strong as it is true.

Mondrian's art has symbolic meaning to him, it is highly intuitive however this author represents it as arbitrary as if fact. Why do we prioritize the interpretation of the observer? Why is the private religion chastised but the traditional sanctified? The private religion is based on a reality which the outsider does not share or understand thus they label it as arbitrary, but does that really make it so? If so, how many people have to share a belief before is stops being arbitrary? 

Let us compare Mondrian's art to Einstein's theory of relativity. Would we label Einstein as a monomaniac? He devoted his entire life to developing a theory of the universe as ruled by an all-consuming, highly abstract and exalted set of principals. E=mc^2 This theory literally states that energy is the same as mass, the speed of light functions as a constant. Is he not a monomaniac because his unifying principal is true, or rather that we all believe it to be true?  I venture to argue that most people's belief in this theory does not stem from their ability to reiterate the proof that allowed Einstein to arrive at this conclusion. Thus, our belief in this theorem to be true is at least in part due to our indoctrination into scientific materialism. If Mondrian's philosophy of art became foundational for some reason and we all could see what he saw, would he still be a monomaniac?

I do not mean to argue monomania does not exist, however I take affront to the derisive tone the author uses to discuss it the use of abstract artists as exemplars. Perhaps art, especially abstract art, is more than merely the byproduct of "a sterile laboratory" which allows the artist to simultaneously inflict and lick their own wounds. Perhaps, one of the functions of art is to expand that which can be seen, that which is experienced, by creating a new system of organization. 

In Fantomina, as curiosity transitions from a psychological process to a mental state the characteristic becomes indivisible from the character results in a loss of agency.

Introduction: open with description of “genius” as exemplar of this transition in modern day usage.

One: explain criteria for curiosity as a psychological process and evidence of this criteria met in text.

Two: explain criteria for curiosity as a mental state and evidence of this criteria met in text.

Three: outline the young lady’s expression of curiosity. Show in text evidence that in her curiosity transitions in it’s expression, from psychological process to mental state, specifically how divisible the characteristic is from the charter. Show how this process can be imposed externally.

Four: outline Beauplasir’s expression of curiosity and provide examples of it’s stagnant dynamic.

Four: contrast Beauplasir’s loss of agency in the end, or lack thereof, against the young lady’s loss of agency, against the young lady’s agency in the beginning.


Conclusion: reiterate the idea that when a characteristic transitions from a psychological process to a mental state, the character becomes indivisible from the characteristic and experiences a loss of agency. 

Fantomania and Inspecing and Spectating: Monsters, Rarities, and Investigations

In Fantomania, does Haywood portray sexual inquiry as an impertinent disruption of the status quo or an opportunity for licensed transgression? 


“She could not forbear laughing heartily to think of the Tricks she has play’d him, and applauding her own Strength of Genius, and Force of Resolution, which by such unthought-of Ways could triumph over her lover’s Inconsistency...”
-Pg 283 Fantomania

“By analyzing the prose fictions by Aphra Behn, Delariviere Manly and Eliza Haywood… this chapter shows that early modern literature shifts from portraying sexual inquiry as an impertinent disruption of the status quo to providing it as an opportunity for licensed transgression.”
-Pg 21 Inspecting and Spectating: Monsters, Rarities, and Investigations

   

    At first reading the second quote I was perplexed. What does it mean to use curiosity as a “opportunity for licensed transgression”? I certainly did not finish Fantomania and feel that curiosity was being condoned to any degree, it did not allow the lady to conquer her lover nor lead her to anything but ruin. Honestly, I immediately thought of the scene in Mean Girls where a teacher was giving a sexual education lesson and stated, “Don’t have sex or you will get pregnant and die.” It seemed like a similar message was being related in this text, “Don’t be curious or you will get pregnant and be sent to a nunnery.”
    Throughout Fantomania curiosity very much retains it’s early connotations. It was used to explore knowledge which one really had no business exploring eg. the experiences of a prostitute. It was not a disciplined practice rather the whims of young girl. The individual who was curious was not a highly respected member of society nor a scholar. Interestingly, we see curiosity conceptualized as both lust and greed.
     The lust which Beausplaisir experiences is heavily dependent on the novelty, the uncovering of that which was unseen, it was curiosity as lust. After this curiosity was satiated it abated.However, the curiosity in the Young Lady functions more according to curiosity as greed, as she goes to greater and greater lengths to satiate it. 
     I was taken back by the ending and immediately presumed the author meant only to equate curiosity with a failed attempt to challenge the status quo. However, I suppose this ending may have been used because of societal restraints on how Haywood could explicitly portray female sexuality. Haywood tacitly implies throughout the bulk of the story that curiosity could be used to gain control over men and even over love itself, as illustrated in the first quote. Curiosity allowed the Young Girl to become an agent in her own sexuality, rather than an object as was the norm during the time. The Young Lady manipulates Beausplaisir's curiosity, successfully for a period of time, to make the man fulfill her wishes. Haywood did use curiosity as an opportunity for licensed transgression but it was insinuated in a subtle insidious way. It's as if she means the exact opposite of what she is saying explicitly, like the box office ticket seller telling their friend, "You should not sneak into the theater through the back door that employees leave unlocked to take smoke breaks." This text is a unique example of a literary snap shot taken mid stride during the transition between conceptions and perceptions of curiosity. 

Crusoe and The New Science

Are Crusoe’s perceptions of events twisted by the “Idols” Bacon mentions in his essay The New Science and does the character’s insight into these idols allow him to correct for their influence on his understanding of the event as Bacon asserts it can?


I was exceedingly surpriz’d with the Print of a Man’s naked Foot on the Shore… I came Home to my Fortification, not feeling, as we say, the Ground I went on, but terrify’d to the last Degree...mistaking every Bush and Tree and fancying every Stump at Distance to be a Man… I fancy’d it must be the Devil; and Reason joyn’d in with me upon this Supposition.
Robinson Crusoe Pg. 112
Oh what ridiculous Resolution Men take, when possess’d with Fear! It deprives them of the Use of those Means which Reason offers for their Relief.
Robinson Crusoe Pg. 115

The idols and false notions which are now in possession of the human understanding, and have taken deep root therein, not only so beset men’s minds that truth can hardly find entrance, but even after entrance obtained, they will again in the very insaturation of the sciences meet and trouble us, unless men being forewarned of the danger fortify themselves as far as may be against their assaults.
Portable Enlightenment Reader Pg. 41

   
    When Crusoe comes upon the imprint of a foot, his understanding of the event is entirely twisted by the fear he experiences. His perception of the cause of the footprint is wildly illogical and even his perception of physical objects around him seems to be highly perturbed. He concludes the maker of the footprint to be the devil himself and is able to support this assertion with reason.
    Crusoe’s perceptions and resulting assertions seem to follow the model that Bacon categorized when he described the four “Idols” which can take possession of the human understanding. According to his distinctions I believe Bacon would categorize the “Idol” in this case as The Idol of the Cave, or the idols of the individual man. It asserts the ways in which the each man’s individual mind can color and refract experiences.
    Bacon takes a second step though and asserts further that by understanding the ways our own individual minds can refract and bend experiences, we can accommodate and correct for our perceptions. However, the process which Bacon describes for adjusting for our individual bias to come closer to the truth is not actualized by Crusoe. We notice that at an early point Crusoe acknowledges his faculties for reason were highly influenced by his fear. His preceding actions and thoughts continue to revolve around the acknowledged flawed belief. It wasn’t until Crusoe essentially rested and exausted his mind of worry naturally that he was able to come to a more plausible conclusion concerning the cause of the foot imprint.
    This brings us to question the second assertion that Bacon makes. Specifically, does the acknowledgment of our biases actually allow us to correct for their effect on our perception and reason? If novels can be used to come to some understanding of the experiences people faced during an era of time, we may be able to draw evidence  from this piece that Bacon’s second second assertion does not hold true. During the 18th century, it seems to have required more to uncolor  perceptions from their biases than mere acknowledgement of said biases. 

Crusoe & Epistomologies of the Eye

What degree of subjectivity does Defoe acknowledge in the telling of this story and how does the rigidity or fluidity of these epistemic virtues depend on their intended means?

    The Wonders of this Man’s Life exceed all that (he thinks) is to be found existent; the Life of one Man being scarce capable of a greater Variety.
    The Story is told with Modesty, with Seriousness and with a religious Application of Events to the Uses to which wise Men always apply them (viz.) to the instruction of others by this Example....
    The Editor believes the thing to be a just History of Fact; neither is there any Appearance of Fiction in it: And whoever things, because all such things are dispatch’d, that the Improvement of it, as well to the Diversion, as to the Instruction of the Reader, will be the same....
Robinson Crusoe Pg. 3

Within science, the specific values and related techniques of the self in question may contrast sharply ... This is why the rhetoric of alchemists, Paracelsians and other early modern reformers of knowledge and society rings so strangely in modern (or even eighteenth-century) ears. These visionaries sought wisdom, not just truth, and enlightenment, not just knowledge. Post-seventeenth-century epistemic virtues differ accordingly in their aims, content and means.
Epistomologies of the Eye Pg. 41

    Before the story even begins, the Editor explicitly states that the story contained is one of “Fact”. However, at first glance it seems as though, within even just the preface, it is already rife with subjectivity and contradictions to that statement. Immediately after stating the magnificence of the story as “greater than all others existent”, he claims the story is told with Modesty. Before reading Daston I would likely have just chalked this up as unsubtle nods to an unreliable narrator. However, using Daston’s framework we can see how the Editors epistemic virtues are a lead by the aims and mean of the Editor.
    The aims stated in the preface emphasize the importance of the “instruction of others by this Example”. The means by which the author accomplishes this is though telling an entertaining story full of wonders that “exceed all that (he thinks) is to be found existent”. It goes on further later in the preface to minimize the importance of the story actually being as factual account as adherence to a strictly factual story, as it will not change either the instruction or entertainment of the reader. The aims and means of the story are to teach by example and entertain consequently the virtues held by the author are flexible about adhering to truth or fact.