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Above the Power of Human Nature: Defoe, Necessity, and Natural Law.

The article discusses seventeenth and eighteenth-century British author Daniel Defoe, exploring his beliefs regarding necessity and natural law, focusing particularly on how self-preservation can be a motivator of behavior in the 1697 work "Essay upon Projects," his 1704-1712 periodical "Review," an...

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Published in:Eighteenth Century: Theory & Interpretation Vol. 60; no. 1; pp. 1 - 22
Main Author: Peterson, Nathan
Format: Article
Published: University of Pennsylvania Press Spring2019
Subjects:
Defoe, Daniel, ca. 1661-1731
Natural law
Necessity (Philosophy)
Self-preservation
Moll Flanders (Book : Defoe)
Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress (Book)
Essay Upon Projects, An (Book)
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:The article discusses seventeenth and eighteenth-century British author Daniel Defoe, exploring his beliefs regarding necessity and natural law, focusing particularly on how self-preservation can be a motivator of behavior in the 1697 work "Essay upon Projects," his 1704-1712 periodical "Review," and novels including the 1722 "Moll Flanders" and 1724 "Roxana." Topics include autonomy, self-fashioning, social progress, Defoe's use of dialectic arguments, and the influence of economics on behavior.