An Experiment With An Air Pump notes

An Experiment With An Air Pump

Context
The Enlightenment was a period during Western Europe’s history that took place between 1685 and 1815 and
characterised a movement towards the pursuit of knowledge through experimentation and various other tenets.
Humanism is a philosophy that gained popularity between the 14th and 16th century, mostly within the 15th century
and characterised a movement towards the classical world and especially an appreciation for literature and the arts.
The painting that the play is based o of was painted by Joseph Wright in 1768. The painting investigated the way in
which the gain of science is o set by the organic expenditure as a result of experimentation (in the painting, this is
symbolised through the bird in the vacuum). It also considers the rami cations of industrialisation and especially the
French Revolution (the way in which Science replaces Humanity, when do we go too far in terms of human and
societal cost?)
Main Question(s)
Has any progress been made from 1799-1999? If so, how and in what ways? If not, why not?
Can Humanism and Science exist without the other?
Concepts
The House:
It is important to clarify at the beginning of any essay concerning the house, what exactly it represents and why.
The House in 1799 is a symbol for scienti c progress, that is, the progress that is expected to happen in the future. It
inherits much of the Enlightenment Logic of the time, including removing some importance from Moral Decisions,
especially when it comes to deciding between Scienti c Progress and Morality.
Humanism
Not to be confused with Romanticism (although, many of the Humanists in the play are also Romanticists, but not
all of them such as Harriet who balances both Humanism and Science), Humanism is generally associated with the
study and appreciation of Literature and more Artistic pursuits. It stands in contrast to Science in its eld of study
and general Moral standings. Humanism suggests that there stands worthwhile knowledge and wisdom to be learnt
from reading Literature as well as being well versed in Literature and the Arts (Shakespeare, Poetry, Art etc).
The con ict between Humanism and Science is a major theme of this play, however, it is not as simple as a ‘good’ side
versus the ‘bad’ side (which i’ll explain more later)
Romanticism
Not to be confused with Humanism, Romanticism refers to the period after the Enlightenment (~1800-1850, was
partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution) and placed emphasis on appreciation of Nature and individualism.
Characters who partake in this ideology are Maria and Susannah.
Enlightenment
The Enlightenment (~1685-1815) was a period in western Europe’s history that centred particularly heavily on the
pursuit of knowledge through logical reasoning (“the systematic study of the understanding, the passions and the
process of moral judgments” that fused “mental and moral philosophy in a single science” James Schmidt quoting
John Robertson).

Essay Plan for Signi cance of Harriet’s Play

1.) The play is a symbolic attempt to facilitate cooperation between the scienti c, Enlightenment realm and the
Romantic realm of the Humanities: speci cally, Harriet tries to suggest that Art and Literature can comment on
scienti c thinking, by o ering a praise of scienti c and technological progress.
 g y g p g p g
a.) Play that is valourising scienti c progress: “hymn to progress”, “Britannia” is tied to the Enlightenment
perspective.
An Experiment With An Air Pump notes
b.) “New Jerusalem”
2.) However, the scientists of the play are reluctant to engage with it. This is suggestive of the manner in which the
scienti c realm insulates itself from Romantic-style thinking.
a.)
3.) However, it becomes clear that the play does have value: in addition to praising the products of the Enlightenment,
Harriet o ers some valid cautions about the practice of science and the broader consequences of Enlightenment
thinking.
a.) Consequences of Industrialisation
i.) “Belch out hope”
ii.) Hell imagery
iii.) And her warnings are right. Mass mobilisation towards the cities, where displaced rural workers
were unable to nd jobs, started starving and progressed into mass food riots addressed in Act 1.

b.) The detrimental impacts on the working class

i.) “Not for sheep, for sheep it’s looking grim”
ii.) Medical experimentation exploits the common man: Isobel and the
“undersized fellow that won’t see out the winter.”
4.) But, despite the play’s clear-sightedness regarding the costs of Enlightenment thinking it, it is nonetheless
problematised as a vehicle for communicating such truths.
a.) The rst problem is that its ctionality compromises understanding of its important messages.
b.) Biased perspective
5.) However, it is too fast to dismiss a Romantic perspective of the world wholesale. As a meta ctive object, named
after a painting, the play is clearly allegiant to the Romantic Perspective and believes it has some worth.
a.) Title of the play and the symbolic elevation of the painting in the prologue.
b.) Verfremdungse ekt: looking with distance, the audience can see the situational irony that the
play is denigrating both sides
HOOK: The Enlightenment and Romantic period have historically been set at odds, where the latter was understood
as a recti cation of the failings of the former. While the Enlightenment brought a valorisation of an objective, logical
and scienti c approach to the world, the Romantic period rightly identi ed that such a perspective is neither totally
possible more desirable: human emotional sensitivity - as expressed through literature and art - must be allowed to act
as a moral conscience, or check and balance, upon scienti c and technological progress.
TRANSITION: In her play An Experiment With An Air Pump, Shelagh Stephenson investigates the co-operative
potential of Enlightenment and Romantic perspectives utilising the vehicle of Harriet's play: a “hymn to [scienti c
and technological] progress.”
RATIONALE: While Harriet tries to o er her play as an example of a meshed Enlightenment and Romantic
perspective - a literary praise of the developments a ected by an Enlightenment view - it is ultimately dismissed. The
watching scientists refuse to accept it as a comment on their eld, despite its pertinent warnings of the potential costs
of an Enlightenment perspective.
THESIS: Ultimately, Stephenson is pessimistic as to the capacity for literature - as an expression of Romantic
thinking - to moderate the Enlightenment mode: a failure that is to the detriment of society as a whole.

Character Correspondences and Constellations

In Air Pump, there are 2 rather obvious character constellations, the Humanists and the Scientists (and those who try
to straddle both worlds).
Humanists
The Humanists include: Harriet, Susannah, Tom, Maria and Isobel. What these characters all have in common are
their collective interest and appreciation for Literature as a meaningful method to gain knowledge and wisdom.
Scientists
The Scientists include Fenwick, Armstrong, Roget, Harriet, Ellen and Kate. What these characters have in common
with each other are the same desire and belief that the acquisition of knowledge is best done (best as in most e cient
and e ective) through objective trials and logic.
Within each constellation however, there are various nuances.
Humanism
Anversus Science
Experiment With An Air Pump notes
For instance, an obvious con ict is that between Armstrong and Fenwick. Both characters are scientists and believe
the same sort of idea, however, they di er from each other in their moral standing.
Armstrong is the extreme case of knowledge through experimentation, believing that one cannot practise science and
be completely moral at the same time. This is shown through his morally questionable emotional manipulation of
Isobel to gain a better view of her back. Prima facie, this is a completely sociopathic move; he appears to have no
concern for Isobel’s mental and physical well being further than the development of her back.
Meanwhile, Fenwick stands in contrast to Armstrong. He believes himself to stand at a moral high ground, noble in
his intentions and well meaning in his experiments, for which he certainly is. However, his failing comes at his
fundamental dissociation from the lower class from being an upper class citizen. He fails to comprehend the
reasoning for the food riots and fails to appreciate the perhaps mundane, but still useful lectures o ered by
Roget that would bene t the common person (ivory tower concept).
And another important note to mention is that Armstrong, at his roots, is a medical Doctor. His experiments are for
the wider bene t of medical knowledge, and so his experiments, while they appear immoral, are actually bene cial in
his eyes.
So what we observe from these 2 characters is that a.) Science is not and will never be completely fair to people of all
backgrounds, race, gender, economical status, age, religion and so on due to the fact that the people who work within
Science carry their own biases and so are unable to practise completely objectively. This is not a conscious decision
though, merely a fundamental part of how one thinks. Furthermore, b.) it does lack some amount of morality.
If we look into the 1999 household, we see a similar sort of character constellation between Ellen and Kate. Ellen is a
geneticist specialising in the human genome, whilst Kate’s specialty is not speci ed. During the scenes in 1999, we see
Ellen having a moral conundrum of whether or not to sell the house, while Kate encourages her to do so as she doesn’t
see any problem.
In 1999, the issues being addressed are very similar, albeit in a di erent context. As Phil points out in response to
Kate’s comment regarding Uncle Stan (a relative of Phil who had manic depression and ended up killing himself) “You
never met him. You don’t know anything about what went on in his life or what things meant to him -” The anaphora
of the accusatory secondary pronoun “You” along with the parallel structure highlights the main aw in science, that
being science is practised and ‘disabilities’ are eradicated without consideration for the people that science may e ect,
such as the “Uncle Stans” of the world.
However, the argument o ered by Tom isn’t particularly convincing either, and he is ultimately unsuccessful in trying
to educate Ellen on the possible moral qualms of her work, “So who’s going to be interested in that? Obviously the
parents to a certain extent… who’s really going to want this information? Insurance companies, Mortgage lenders.
Private health companies. Employers.”
Tom raises a very good point here. Science, even while it may have honourable intentions, ultimately it serves the
interests of those who provide the funds.
So what do we learn about science?
a.) Science is not and will never be completely fair to people of all backgrounds, race, gender, economical status, age,
religion
b.) It does lack some amount of morality
c.) Science, even while it may have honourable intentions, ultimately it serves the interests of those who provide the
funds.
Well, what does Humanity o er then?
Humanism as a concept is widely considered to be antithetical to science and warns against the “dehumanisation of
man” and the “possible consequences of scienti c intervention in man himself” (Robert L. Sinsheimer).In this play,
Humanism does appear to fail. Humanism fails to be an e ective moral restraint on Scienti c practice.
This is shown through the case of Armstrong.
Armstrong is detailed to be a well versed individual, quoting from various works of literature by the likes of
Shakespeare, “Oh reason not the need Isobel”, with relative ease. Yet, this fails to provide him with any amount of
moral standards and does nothing to prevent the murder of Isobel.
In this vein, Humanism is awed in its logic.
There are plenty of other examples where this is also the case, consider Harriet ultimately leaning towards Science
rather than Humanism, Susannah presented as almost a joke (drunk most of the time and usually the source of
Fenwick’s disregard) and so on.
An Experiment With An Air Pump notes
If then the play suggests that both Science and Humanism are awed, then is there a possible outcome one can take
the positives of both?
The answer lies within Tom, “Art and science are part of the same thing. Like waves and particles. You need both to
de ne the whole.” and this also links to the painting, where the bird is killed during a vacuum experiment.
Science cannot exist in a vacuum. That is, one cannot commit wholly to one and expect it to work completely.
As Robert L. Sinsheimer puts it, “We need the insight of the humanists. But also we must have the elixir of science
and the thrust of technology.”
Ultimately, it is suggested that we should not be searching for a con ict between Humanism and Science (and have
them act as antithetical concepts all the time), but rather it suggests a more symbiotic relationship, a yin to the yang if
you will.
(And furthermore, the idea of Science existing in a vacuum also applies to morality. Those who claim to practise
science with pure moral neutrality are lying, as anyone who does practise science will bring their own biases into the
picture, whether it is intentional or not.)
Overall, we can see the overarching idea here. Humanism and Science need each other to reach their full potential and
to universally bene t society, and it is through the failings of each era that this is shown to us. Neither time period is
able to fully comprehend this idea, with Isobel (perhaps the truest and most accurate depiction of Humanism in
action) dying, and Tom abandoning his job and allowing the house to be sold.
Regarding Scienti c progress
Ivory Tower
Although a minor topic, this is still an important concept that applies especially to Fenwick and to similar characters.
This concept suggests that those in positions of privilege or status are fundamentally unaware of the su erings and
situations of those underneath them.
This is particularly evident in Fenwick the rest of the scientists and their obliviousness towards the Food riots and the
disregard for the lectures proposed by Roget.
This concept coupled with the inherent biases of humanity in general explains why Science will never be able to act
purely logically, without any biases to taint research and experimentation.
Critics
ENLIGHTENMENT THINKING
[The play] “tests the Enlightenment meta-narrative of Science” - Gyllian Raby
De ned the enlightenment thinking as “the systematic study of the understanding, the passions and the process of
moral judgments” that fused “mental and moral philosophy in a single science” - James Schmidt quoting John
Robertson
“salvi c power of science” - James A.W. He erman
HUMANITARIAN THINKING
…warns against the “dehumanisation of man” and the “possible consequences of scienti c intervention in man
himself” - Robert L. Sinsheimer
COEXISTENCE OF HUMANISM AND SCIENCE
“Technologies… can be partially understood as formalizations i.e. as frozen moments, of the uid social interactions
constituting them, but they should also be viewed as instruments for enforcing meanings.” - Donna Harroway
“We need the insight of the humanists. But also we must have the elixir of science and the thrust of technology.” -
Robert L. Sinsheimer
CHARACTERS
“Armstrong never wavers in his conviction that scienti c progress excuses moral and legal obligations.” - Gyllian
Raby

Terminology
EkphrasticAn Experiment With An Air Pump notes
This term refers to literature that is based on a piece of art, especially one based on paintings.
Verfremdungse ekt
This is the german word for “alienating the audience”, and within literature this term refers to the act of making the
audience aware that they are inf act, reading a piece of ction (for example, when they read Harriet’s play, a play
within a play is an example of the verfremdungse ekt in action).
Fin-de-siècle
This term refers to literature that considers the implications of ‘turn of the century moments’, the expectation of a
major event and/or a social change.
Chiaroscuro
This term refers to the type of lighting that creates areas of great darkness and brightness. This type of lighting is also
referred to as high and low contrast lighting.
Essay Plans
For Science, use James Schmidt (““the systematic study of the understanding, the passions and the process of moral
judgments” that fused “mental and moral philosophy in a single science”) as the Hook and talk about how
Enlightenment Logic formed the basis for Scienti c progression. Also talk about the expectations of science versus
the possible rami cations and tendency to serve biases. Thesis: “...ultimately Stephenson questions the ability for
science to provide an objective truth and bene t to society.”
Run the argument of:
a.) Initially, science is presented to be a noble and bene cial pursuit (through characters such as Fenwick and Ellen,
New Jerusalem) (James A.W. He erman critic here “...the salvi c power of science”.)
b.) However, this is suggested to be false (Ivory tower concept, Phil’s talk about Uncle Stan, Tom’s talk about serving
economical goals rather than moral goals, Harriet’s play)
c.) Therefore in order for the rest of society to bene t, some must su er (Harriet’s play, food protests, Uncle Stans
etc)
Can also run the argument (if in 1999),
a.) Initially there appears to be some scienti c progress (via the women, specialisation of science, advancements in
technology)
b.) However, it becomes apparent that such advancements have not accrued (in this paragraph, talk about Kate’s
querulous morality)
c.) Furthermore, Fenwick’s hopes for ignorance and superstition to be quelled has failed, as seen in Phil’s
speculations.
d.) The reason for these failures is due to the commercialisation of scienti c institutes; they have been bought out by
companies and now exist solely by satisfying the appeals of a larger company, and also due to the specialisation of
science (that is, a lack of broader knowledge by all).
Thesis: “...therefore Stephenson suggests that while some progress may be made in the form of gender equality and
technological reformations, ultimately the Play is pessimistic about the existence of any meaningful progress.”
For Humanism vs Science (which is a big topic and only really recommended for Harriet’s play or similar passages),
use Donna Haroway as the Hook (“Technologies… can be partially understood as formalizations of the uid social
interactions constituting them, but they should also be viewed as instruments for enforcing meanings.”) and talk
about the di erence in logic in both Humanism and Science. Summarise the points below. Thesis: “...therefore
Stephenson suggests that rather take a wholly singular view, the better answer is to combine tenets from both.”
Run the argument:
a.) Scienti c views exist and they oppose Humanism and ultimately disregard Humanists entirely
b.) Humanism is meant to be a restriction to science but fails
c.) Since they both fail when they oppose each other, the correct answer is combine both (Robert L. Sinsheimer critic
here “We need the insight of the humanists. But also we must have the elixir of science and the thrust of
technology.”)