Things I learned in 16th Century British Literature: Lesson 1

Artists have long been philosophers, seeking to maintain God’s relevance beside the Natural World’s opposition to Religion

From my class notes:
Boerhaave sought to marry theology to botany, medicine, and chemistry.

Christian thought ought to take back modernism relativity and stop identifying with constructionist tradition.

But imitation in Christianity i.e. Thomas Aquinas. (How would Johnson’s approach to common-places effect idea of relative morality?)

Boorhaave cures himself at age 12. As a Christian, meant to bear pain with patience, but also labour: help to improve the world.

In an age of rising novel, Johnson concerned about how one can come to empathize with “mixed” character.
Biography more about imitation. Elements of life as instructive
Observation. A medicine application “empiricism” from observation.
Johnson to weld cure with curiosity. Curiosity as a value.
Cure is an antiauthoritarian strain.

What I learned: Curiosity may not be a stoic value, but it can be a religious one. Art, science, and religion do not negate, but rather, may depend on one another.