The Brobdingnagian Learning and Its Limits

The intellectual achievements of the Brobdingnagians in mathematics, history, and morality, and their rejection of abstract philosophy.

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The King's Library

The Royal Library The Size of the Collection The king's library is the largest in the kingdom, containing about a thousand volumes. The books are placed in a gallery twelve hundred feet long. Gulliver borrows books to read. The Method of Reading Because the books are so large, the queen's joiner builds a movable ladder for Gulliver. He walks up and down the steps to read the pages. The books are as thick as pasteboard, and he can turn the leaves with both hands. The Content The Brobdingnagians excel in morality, history, poetry, and mathematics. Their style is clear, masculine, and smooth. They avoid unnecessary words. Gulliver peruses many books, especially history and morality.

The Treatise on Human Weakness

The Moral Philosophy The Book's Argument Glumdalclitch's governess owns a little old treatise on the weakness of human kind. The author argues that man is diminutive, contemptible, and helpless; that nature has degenerated; and that ancient men were giants. He uses this to draw moral applications. Gulliver's Reaction Gulliver reflects that this talent of drawing lectures in morality from the quarrels we raise with nature is universal. He thinks that the author's complaints are as ill-grounded in Brobdingnag as in England. The Satirical Point Swift is poking fun at moralists who see human nature as degenerate. The Brobdingnagian treatise is a parody of such works. The irony is that the Brobdingnagians themselves are physically huge, yet they also complain about smallness.

The Limits of Mathematics and Law

The Practical Science The Use of Mathematics The Brobdingnagians apply mathematics to agriculture and mechanical arts. They have no use for abstract ideas, entities, or transcendentals. Gulliver cannot drive these concepts into their heads. The Law of Twenty-Two Letters No law may exceed the number of letters in the alphabet. Laws are expressed in plain terms with only one interpretation. Commenting on a law is a capital crime. This ensures clarity and prevents legal chicanery. The Contrast with Europe Gulliver finds these practices primitive, but the reader may see them as sensible. The Brobdingnagians have no need for the complex legal systems of Europe. Their learning is practical and limited, but it serves their society well.

1704, during the stay

during the Brobdingnag stay, chapter 7

during the Brobdingnag stay, chapter 7