(Y1 W52) One Year Down!

I hope everyone is making the most of their precious-few hours of 2013 left. What better way to use the time than reading and thinking about the Great Books? For me, this first year has been full of ups and downs: the ups stemming from the rewards of reading; the downs from the costs of spending the time to do it. So, my New Year's resolution for the Great Books is to find creative way to minimize the costs. We'll see how it goes. One year down, six to go. Happy New Year!

Moby Dick - Herman Melville, Ch. 93-101: Jolly young Pip is traumatized by being abandoned in the ocean for a time. The try-works (kiln) are started up on deck giving a crazed image of a ship that "seems material counterpart of her monomaniac commander's soul". The men compare doubloon's image of mountains to Ahab, take them to be signs of Moby Dick's forthcoming appearance. They meet an English ship that encountered Moby Dick. The mangled, one-armed captain thinks it's foolish to seek him again: "Ain't one limb enough?" Ahab leaves in a huff. Very "literary" in that Melville feels complete freedom to abandon plot and use any related discussion as a device to highlight something about Ahab, but when he returns to plot - like with the encounter with the English ship - what a device it becomes! Such a contrast between the two captains put in the exact same situation.

The United States in 1800 - Henry Adams: U.S. was still uncivilized, sparse, and provincial in 1800. It looked "sad" to outsiders, but Americans saw only potential in the wilderness - "victory" through a successful economy. New spirit that sought economic potential (read: "the American Dream") had replaced older "missions" of original colonies (i.e. virtue, communal love, etc.). Outcome seen in list of men who were raised humbly yet transformed the world - "all their inventions transmuted the democratic instinct into a practical and tangible shape". Beautifully written, yet must be read slowly to do the word-pictures justice (for me at least). I want to agree with his commentary on the history, but my skeptical side makes me wary of jumping to conclusions, especially when he's basing his conclusions on things like Jefferson's secret inner life (which apparently isn't so secret).

Rules for the Direction of the Mind - Rene Descartes, Rule I-XI: End of study is sound and correct judgement on all things considered. Education should be integrated, limited by student's potential. Conclusions to be sought by deduction/intuition, which can bring certainty. Proper method of thinking consists entirely of ordering conclusions: from simplest (surest) to more complex in one "continuous movement". Such habits built by understanding simple everyday truths "clearly and distinctly". You can see his bias towards mathematics. How much is a method like this thwarted by the contingencies of the physical world? It's easy to see where postmoderns poke holes in his quest for certainty. Some useful comments on education though.

Sanity of True Genius - Charles Lamb: Contrary to what some people think, the greatest wits are always the sanest writers. Dull wits explore the unnatural, explicate nonsense using realistic images from their passive imaginations. Great wits use active imaginations to take us far away in appearance, yet "we are at home, and upon acquaintable ground". Great anti-Romantic depiction of the mind. It's also very at-home with a teleological view of the mind's functioning: efficiency of thought is, like all proper functioning, more in-line with the reality of the function's goal than not.

On the Loadstone - William Gilbert, Book VI: What of the earth as a loadstone? Its magnetic axis remains invariable, despite what some believe. Idea of heavenly "spheres" revolving around the earth every 24 hours is vastly more inefficient/unlikely than the simple idea of earth itself rotating. Earth rotates in a circle - diurnal motion due to its magnetic energy. Planets, moon, stars move similarly. Great reasoning. Doesn't seem to have much to do with magnetism though. If you remove his hypothesis that magnetism causes the earth's rotation, this chapter is totally unconnected to the rest. Good-bye, Gilbert.

Politics - Aristotle, Book VI: What are the types of organization among democracies and other forms of government? For democracy, chief differences due to population type or the efficiency of different combinations of the democratic characteristics. Basis of democracy is: liberty; all living as they like; payment for services. Best democracy is one for agrarian society; second-best for pastoral people. Democracy where "all share alike" is difficult to make work. Must make laws that will preserve the state. Oligarchies: best is like constitutional government. Its preservation depends on good order. All states need to fill essential offices. Seems that ancient Greek city-states were a perfect laboratory to observe these different forms of government. Much like the U.S. founding father's political ideas, these seem based on experience more than simple genius insight into the consequences of political variables.

Here's the first readings for 2014:

1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Ch. 102-132  (GBWW Vol. 48, pp. 204-246)
2. “Of Repentance” by Michel de Montaigne (GBWW Vol. 23, pp. 429-436)
3. Rules for the Direction of the Mind by René Descartes, XII-XVI (GBWW Vol. 28, pp. 240-257;  Here is a volume containing the entire text.)
4. “Of Seditions and Troubles” by Francis Bacon (GGB Vol. 7, pp. 12-17)
5. “Probability” by Pierre Simon de Laplace (GGB Vol. 9, pp. 325-338; Chapters I-IV of A Philosophical Essay on Probability)
6. The Politics of Aristotle, Book VII (GBWW Vol. 8, pp. 527-542)