Essay on Man

Summary

Pope begins by noting that man’s knowledge is severely limited, but that he is perfectly designed for his place in the Great Chain of Being. In fact, our happiness depends on our ignorance of the future and the consequent hope we have in God. Seeking knowledge beyond ourselves is prideful, and judging God for the way He has made us is worse. After all, the natural world contains many imperfections and causes great pain to man; why should the world of humanity be any different? We should not seek for perfections we lack, either those possessed by the angels or those belonging to the beasts, for to have either would make us miserable. When a man is compared to God’s other creatures, he exceeds the others in no capacity other than reason, which alone makes him the head over the animals. It is, after all, foolish to wish to alter the order of things God has made sense to change the least part would be to destroy the whole. We must, therefore, submit ourselves to God and acknowledge that He has ordered things perfectly, though we may not comprehend His ordering.

Since man is incapable of comprehending the purposes of God, he should concentrate on knowing himself. When he studies humanity, he finds that man is both great and powerless, wise and foolish, and in all ways sadly limited. The essence of human nature involves two principles, self-love and reason; both can be evil or good depending on how they are used, and either one is futile apart from the other. Both, however, are intended for the cultivation of virtue. Though we are drawn to vice, God brings good even from our follies; this is true of individuals and societies, and for those in all conditions of life.

The entire universe is at bottom a single society, within which instinct and reason function for the good of all. Instinct predominates among the beasts, while reason is more central to the life of man. Man in the state of nature operates primarily by instinct and is thus inferior to man governed by reason. Pope then discusses the origin of good government and true religion from the principle of love, while noting that tyranny and superstition grow out of the principle of fear. True self-love will thus promote social good as well as individual good.

Happiness is not an individual truth, but a social one and God intends all to be happy. Because the distribution of worldly good is unequal, happiness cannot depend on these. God, instead, promotes the happiness of all through the distribution of hope and fear. The virtuous man will be happier than the evil man, despite the fact that the wicked sometimes prosper while the righteous suffer. After all, God governs by general rather than particular laws, and we should not expect Him to make exceptions to His laws of Providence for the sake of individuals. In fact, we are not even in a position to judge which men are good and which are not; in any case, however, those who are truly good must also be the happiest of men. Riches, along with honor, fame, nobility, and talent do not coincide with happiness; in fact, those who possess these in greatest quantity are often the most miserable. Virtue, on the other hand, produces true happiness, but only if it is universal in scope and duration. This can only occur when we submit to the order of Providence, for this life and for the life to come.