Assignment #4 Response

The philosophical work “An Essay on Man” by Alexander Pope personally felt like a challenging reading in which I did not grasp the main points of part of the reading. However, during the class time spent talking about this poem, I got to understand most of what Alexander Pope was trying to portray. The main idea from this reading I found very interesting was that we, as humans, ignore faith and leave everything to hope. Hope has become a routine and just living life as it comes without knowing what is coming next because if we had any idea of what the future holds then there will be no excitement nor experiences vivid in our lives which we can go back to in the future and remember as anecdotes. The change in the era in which this reading takes place is essential as it is when the world shifts from believing that everything is happening because of God to the whole era of the Enlightenment, where people are starting to find the reason behind it all. During this shift in time, it is important to bring back the idea that how can one believe in God when injustice and evil exist which is a point that Alexander Pope brings. The Scientific era was able to bring reasons and proper judgment as to why things are the way they are, that even when God exists, there will be injustice and evil throughout. The last point that stuck to me from this poem, was the idea of ‘pride’ and its relation to nature. Pope goes on to list earthquakes and many of the natural disasters that exist on earth and how people decide to go on and blame this on God because humans are full of pride and would rather have someone to blame rather than take the fault for themselves. I would like to assume that this reading made people realize all the faults humans have and how that affects the earth and the way that the scientific era impacted the world in making more sense behind the actions.