(Y1 W46) Call Me Ishmael

We get to finish another volume this week, this time it's the tenth volume of the GGB set (philosophy). Not to fear, there's still lots left in the big set. Whew!

Moby Dick - Herman Melville, Ch. 1-15: When Ishmael gets depressed, he goes to sea. He arrives in New Bedford and stays at the Spouter Inn, but the only bed available is one he can share with a harpooner. When he's in bed the harpooner comes in and Ishmael realizes he's a savage from the south Pacific - Queequeg's his name. He stays anyway (reluctantly) and goes to a local church the next morning (Queequeg's there also) where he hears a sermon on Jonah and the whale - highlighting the sin of all men and the responsibilities of the shepherds of God's people. Ishmael soon becomes good friends with Queequeg, sharing his pagan rituals with him because it's what Jesus would want. Queequeg tells how he was a prince on his island but stole aboard a passing ship because he wanted to see Christendom and learn its ways to benefit his people. When he sees how horrible the sailors act, he doesn't want anything more to do with Christianity. He goes with Ishmael aboard a ship to Nantucket when a sailor (angered at Queequeg) goes overboard. Queequeg dives in and saves him. They arrive in Nantucket and stay at an inn run by the last inn-keeper's cousin. Beautifully written. Flows better (I think) than Billy Budd. I'm trying to figure out what he's saying about Christianity. The sermon painted it in a favorable light, then everything with Queequeg (and Ishmael's responses) went the other direction. I'm wondering if the Jonah sermon is going to come back later.

Fabius and Pericles Compared - Plutarch: Pericles ruled in a time of peace and prosperity, Fabius in the most difficult of times. Pericles built and adorned, Fabius held up. Fabius had "strength of purpose more than ordinary". Pericles won more battles, but no action can be compared to Fabius' rescue of Minucius. Fabius was outstretched by Hannibal, Pericles had no such rival. Pericles had greater foresight of failure than Fabius. Both were unyielding to enemies. Pericles had an incorruptible nature, Fabius ransomed his troops with his own money. Pericles erected more great structures than Rome ever has. Good comparison as far as one can, it seems. Again, where's Hannibal?

The Energies of Man - William James: There's something real, but unexplainable in the idea of a "second wind". We all have untapped energy ("power") deposits that come out upon meeting with certain stimuli. Maximizing our everyday energy is a personal and national goal. Main questions: "1) What are the limits of human faculty in various directions? 2) By what diversity of means...may the faculties be stimulated to their best results?" Most people only use a fraction of their power habitually. "Habit neurosis" makes us stop activities. Stimuli to overcome this includes excitements, ideas, efforts. Certain ascetic practices (like Yoga) can habitually train us to use more of our power. You see early glimpses of things as diverse as the self-help movement and evolutionary psychology here. It is an interesting and worthwhile observation about "maximizing our potentials". It's also odd to see that even as early as the late 19th century, the intelligentsia is already running past naturalism to mysticism. Would they say that the mystic practices suggested fit comfortably into a naturalistic worldview...as natural phenomena?

Federalist Papers #75-77 - Alexander Hamilton: 75) The power to make treaties (executive with the advice and consent of the Senate) falls under neither the executive nor the Senate's stated duties - so, this combined approach is best. If the Senate has the power alone, the executive is taken out of foreign negotiations. The nature of treaties is better suited to one man, not a group. 76) If nominations of ambassadors, judges, etc. were left to the people it would be too much to ever get done. President wouldn't be tempted by bargaining in the way Senate members would be. Option for Senate to override executive is a good check on him. 77) Cooperation of appointments would give stability to administration. Changes due to new administration won't be so chaotic then. This setup restrains the executive, it doesn't give him extra power over the Senate. Another section exemplifying their concern for checks on potential corruption/incompetency.

On the Loadstone - William Gilbert, Preface and Book I: Not much known about the loadstone (magnet), though it's been consistently mentioned by philosophers since antiquity. Most of what they say is wrong, except for the mere fact of the magnet's attraction to iron. Magnets are dug up all over the world. A magnet has two poles by nature that are best discovered when the magnet is a sphere. The poles are north (N) and south (S), like those of the earth. The N of one attracts the S of another. Cut a magnet in half and a new N and S appear - each magnet retaining two poles. It attracts iron as well as smelted metal. Iron is the best, most available metal in the world. Iron can be magnetized, but can weakly attract other iron anyway. Most medical claims for magnets are wrong - except steel powder can serve as a "remedy in diseases arising from humour". Magnets and iron are one and the same thing. Earth is a giant magnet and spins in its orbit because of its magnetic properties. The magnet "contains the supreme excellencies of the globe". Good reasoning so far, even if his presentation is a bit pompous. Only a few experiments are given and the discussion isn't so dense...so far.

St. Thomas Aquinas - Henry Adams: He was born in 1226 or 1227 of Norman and Swabian families - "in him the two most energetic strains in Europe met". His Summa was never finished, like the Beauvais Cathedral. He was a Dominican who undertook to build a "Church Intellectual". He's been sainted and the Summa is now official Catholic doctrine. He built his new structure on Augustine and Aristotle. Said God must be concrete, not merely a human  thought, so He must be proved by the senses. Needed an "intelligent fixed motor" at the source of all things. At the foundation was evidence of design. God is Thought, Love actualized in the Trinity. God is the only real cause, no real secondary causes. A person is created anew - mind and matter at once; a fusion of unity/universal with multiplicity/individual. "The soul is measured by matter", thus angels are universals. What is man? Man is not an automaton. God is free before he acts. Society insists on both man's freedom and God's/reality's unity. Man not "free" in that he is unrestrained - lest he be God. Man "reflects" and thus acts as agent, but is impressed upon by God. God gives more "energy" (i.e. grace) to some. Hard not to call it pantheistic. Science itself seeks a pantheistic unity in its pursuit of unified principles. Thomas's work is reflected in the architecture of his day. Since then philosophy/theology has become disjointed by learning more about the complex world around us. I agree on the last part, but not necessarily on the cause. Like Santayana, Adams had complex and sometimes vague imagery. It makes one admire the lofty system Thomas created, but a bit cautious when you see the risks involved.

Here's this week's readings:

1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Ch. 16-22  (GBWW Vol. 48, pp. 31-48)
2. “Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol” by Edmund Burke (GGB Vol. 7, pp. 237-271)
3. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume, Sections I-III (GBWW Vol. 33, pp. 451-458)
4. Federalist #78-79 (GBWW Vol. 40, pp. 229-234)
5. On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies by William Gilbert, Book II, Chapters 1-7 (GBWW Vol. 26, pp. 26-43)
6. The Politics of Aristotle, Book I (GBWW Vol. 8, pp. 445-455)