(Y1 W49) Goodbye America - Don't Screw It Up

Happy mid-December winter lull, especially for those in white and snowy parts. Once again, I'm trying to lessen the amount of text (summary) for each entry in a long-term effort to make this more manageable. It's okay, I'm keeping my own personal notes while I read (though, I'm trying to shorten those as well).

Moby Dick - Herman Melville, Ch. 40-52: "Fish stories" told about Moby Dick are revealed. Ahab sees Moby Dick as the incarnation of all the evil that eats away at him from the inside. The men lower their boats and give chase to a whale, but a boat is accidentally overrun by their ship in the chase. They pass by another ship, but don't interact with them. A story is then told of the Town-Ho's encounter with Moby Dick where he ate one of their mates in the midst of a mutiny. Melville really loves the ocean and gives himself the liberty to explain everything he thinks needs explaining. It's almost more non-fiction than it is fiction.

The Farewell Address - George Washington: Here, I'm informing everyone that I'll be retiring to private life and not seeking a third term of election. The unity of the nation must be maintained - a "main prop of your liberty". Live contently under the new Constitution and resist the "spirit of party" that divides people. Resist also the "spirit of encroachment" of one part of government into another. National morality is essential and religious piety is essential to that. Promote schools, avoid debt, cultivate peace with other nations but avoid their affairs. His fatigue with public life really comes through. I wonder what he'd say about America's involvements in foreign affairs over the last century or so.

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - David Hume, Sect. VIII-IX: In the debate over "liberty and necessity" all really agree with each other, only they use ambiguous terms. Idea of a necessity between cause and effect arises from ideas we create from the observed uniformity in nature. Liberty = power of willfully acting. If God made man, then either man is good (because God is good) or God is guilty of man's crimes. Answering that God allows the best possible world, which includes evil, is uncomforting. Animals learn from experience without using reason, so do children, men, and philosophers. Saying a solution to the problem of evil is uncomforting is not the same as saying it's wrong. I must have missed his solution on genuine liberty. Is he saying there's no true liberty, and God is guilty because we're determined by Him or because God's omniscient? Omniscience is not determinism.

Federalist Papers #82, 83 - Alexander Hamilton: 82) On the question of concurrent jurisdiction of federal and state courts: "States will retain all preexisting authorities which may not be exclusively delegated to the federal head." Only three cases where that occurs. 83) Some object to the Constitution over "the want of a constitutional provision for the trial by jury in civil cases." But silence on this point doesn't mean restriction; the legislative can still adopt juries or not. I'm no legal expert and so I'm getting a little lost in some of these later papers, but it does seem like the "leaving it open" clause is itself susceptible to mischief.

On the Loadstone - William Gilbert, Book III: Now to set forth the "causes and efficiencies" of the loadstone. The directive force ("verticity") is distributed equally both ways to the poles and produces the magnetic movement. Iron rubbed in one part receives magneticism in the whole in the opposite verticity. Supposed contrary movement of two magnets is really a tendency towards union. Magnet's verticity can be established during smelting process. There is only a true north and south in magnets; no east, west, etc. The south part of a magnet increases the strength of the north. Porta has this crazy idea that magnets' energy comes from particle exchange. Interesting. I assume this section is quite helpful to those involved in such matters.

Politics - Aristotle, Book III: A state is a composite of citizens. Citizens are those who share in a common "indefinite office". State seeks "the purposes of life", is defined by its constitution, and appropriate virtue of a citizen is relative to that (i.e. different kinds of states require different citizens). Three true kinds of government: royalty, aristocracy, constitutional government (their respective perversions: tyranny, oligarchy, democracy). The end of political science is justice. Five types of monarchy considered. Need good laws, but someone to override them when they "miss the mark". All rulers should have the same education/habits. Heavy discussion on monarchy; little on democracy. The "overrider" aspect is what Locke and the founding fathers have been emphasizing as part of the executive office. Would have liked to see him go a bit more into his fear of rule of law.

Here's this week's readings:

1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Ch. 55-75  (GBWW Vol. 48, pp. 120-154)
2. “First Inaugural Address” by Abraham Lincoln (GGB Vol. 6, pp. 747-755)
3. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume, Sections X-XII (GBWW Vol. 33, pp. 488-509)
4. Federalist #84-85 (GBWW Vol. 40, pp. 251-259)
5. On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies by William Gilbert, Book IV (GBWW Vol. 26, pp. 77-91)
6. The Politics of Aristotle, Book IV (GBWW Vol. 8, pp. 487-502)