Characteristicks, of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times &c.
| Characteristicks | ||
 at the College of William & Mary. |
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| Author | Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury | |
| Date | Unknown | |
| Edition | Precise edition unknown | |
| Language | English | |
by Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury
Born Feb. 26, 1671, in London, England; Died Feb. 15, 1713, in Chiaia, Italy. [1]
The firstborn son to the 2nd Earl of Shaftesbury of the same name, Cooper was a pupil of John Locke’s in the early 1670s, a decade later embarked on a tour of continental Europe, touring France and the Low Countries.[2] Cooper also spent a year in Italy during the trip, and was forced to return to England through Central Europe rather than the quicker route through France due to hostilities between that country and England following the expulsion of James II in 1688.[3]
Once he returned to England, he began a 3-year stint in the House of Commons from 1695-1698.[4] Though his career there was largely uneventful, it is noteworthy for his support of the Treason Bill, which provided legal counsel for those accused of the crime.[5] When Cooper rose to speak in favor of the bill, he either feigned fright at speaking to the assembly or was actually frightened, and had to take a moment to compose himself in front of the body.[6] Once ready, he then spoke of the need for the accused to have counsel in front of the judges trying their case, because he, innocent and not even accused of treason, as well as a Member of Parliament, was still placed in a state of fright when compelled to speak before their authority.[7] The bill passed in no small part due to this rhetorical flourish. Afterwards, he refused to stand for the House of Commons again, and instead stepped down as the body dissolved. A year later, in 1699, his father, the 2nd Earl of Shaftesbury, died, and Cooper gained his seat in the House of Lords, where he served actively until William III’s death in 1702, and in a more passive role thereafter.[8]
Cooper was single most of his life, which gave rise to questions regarding his sexuality that his own writings do not dispel.[9] He did, however, recognize his duty to his family to further his line, as evidenced by a letter to his brother, Maurice, in 1705.[10] In 1709, he married a Jane Ewer, and by 1711 she bore him a son, who would become Anthony Ashley Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury.[11] In the middle of 1711 he left England for good, and late that year established a residence in Chiaia, Italy. He lived there until his death in 1713.[12] His remains were returned to England and interred in the chapel of Wimborne St. Giles.[13]
Manuscript
The work itself is an edited collection of Cooper's more influential essays. [14]
The First Edition was published in 1711 while Cooper still lived, and the revised Second Edition was released in 1714, over a year after his death.[15] Over the next 60 years, nine more editions surfaced in England.[16] The work itself was intended to serve as a guide to the reader on how to live a morally sound life, and covers a myriad of topics, from masculinity to the arts.[17] Containing nearly a quarter-million words, the manuscript itself is often split into three volumes.[18] The first volume contains what amounts to a foundation of principles that are discussed in more depth in the second volume. The third volume then contains meandering writings intended to clarify the first two volumes.[19] The work is notable for both its novel approach in addressing moralistic thinking and its influence on future philosophers. Cooper's work was one of the first of its kind to explore moral principles divorced from the typical Christian framework that often accompanied it.[20] Instead, Cooper framed his justification for moral principles based on natural propensities for affection between individuals.[21] The work itself influenced many prominent philosophers of later generations, including David Hume and, to a lesser extent, Immanuel Kant.[22] The original Second Edition contains multiple engravings in the second volume, included for illustrative and demonstrative purposes, which have been included or omitted in various other iterations of the series.[23]
Multiple and distinct versions of the work exist, each with its own merits and drawbacks. The most recent version, published in 1999 and known as the Ayres version, contains an influential foreword by the editor explaining key concepts in the manuscript and providing context for the essays within.[24] This version, however, also lacks clarity with respect to the engravings that Cooper included in the second volume of the manuscript, which are very useful illustrations of the propositions made within.[25] More specifically, critics state that the cross-referencing system used in the Ayres version to pair the engravings with their appropriate page of text is overly complex and occasionally unclear.[26] This complexity, which some, including Isabel Rivers of St. Hughes College at Oxford, refer to as "cavalier", and "damaging" to the overall work, can be traced to the decision to condense the manuscript's three volumes into two.[27] The manuscript also abandons the typographical conventions common in 1711 when the first edition was published.[28]
