SOURCE: Wolf, Richard B. “Shaftesbury's Wit in A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm.” Modern Philology 86, no. 1 (August 1988): 46-53.

In the essay below, Wolf discusses Shaftesbury's ironic wit, focusing particularly on his use of paradox and the conceit, which he says are used to attack dogmatists.

Comparing his reaction to Characteristics with his earlier response to the French translation of A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm, Leibnitz observed that the third earl of Shaftesbury “s'etoit merveilleusement corrigé dans le progrès de ses meditations, et que d'un Lucien il etoit devenu un Platon.”¹ Leibnitz's observation has also turned out to be descriptive of the development of Shaftesbury's critical reputation. The philosopher has come almost wholly to eclipse the satirist.

Apart from lamenting his affected prose, most students of Shaftesbury have ignored his art to concentrate on his thought. Although a few critics have examined his handling of the dialogue form in The Moralists...