Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2017, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (1): 61-93.

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Transformation of Tradition and Reconstruction of Individual: Robinson Crusoe’s Departure, Reform and Return

YANG Lu   

  1. School of Sociology, China University of Political Science and Law
  • Online:2017-01-20 Published:2017-01-20

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Abstract:

Daniel Defoe was one of the great thinkers of the early modern period. His first fiction, Robinson Crusoe, is not a mere narration of adventures but an attempt to find a way out of the dilemma of modern individuals. Defoe witnessed the moral degeneration in society from Skepticism, Deism to Atheism at the end of the 17th century. Men neither observed their obedience to God, nor to their own fathers and other social authorities. Defoe's Robinson Crusoe was a man who was willful and possessed very few notions of religion, and who left home against the wishes of his parents in pursuit of sea adventure. After years of hardship in a desolate island, Robinson had his transformation and returned to society as a sociable and religious tradesman. By reviewing Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, this paper attempts to examine the spiritual crisis afflicting the West in the early modern times. In Defoe's view, confronted with the decline of Christianity, man could hardly be able to treat his families and other fellows with compassion when he could not move his affections with all his heart towards God. Robinson's dilemma was not his own but a reflection of modern mankind's internal tension between rational knowledge and divine revelation. Defoe believed that modern men not only were capable to attend human affairs by way of the cause-effect law but also capable to listen to the voice of Providence in the prodigies of nature. He thought it was not commendable to pursue a common law of exact justice, instead, a chancery law of conscience on principle of equity should be the law that everyone ought to obey. Hence, men's natural inclinations would not be indulged when under the influence of hypochondriac fancies, nor would they be oppressed as vices as by medieval Christianity, instead, they would be carried on in a regular way in the commercial world. Similarly, men's knowledge would not lead to Skepticism or Egoism, on the contrary they would submit themselves to the divine law through conscience. These are the remedies offered by Defoe for the early modern society. Studying Defoe helps us to gain a better understanding of the early modern period as well as the rise of individuality in the West.

Key words: nature, modern individual, reason, revelation