GB Y1 W34: Separate those powers, don't be bashful

The Iliad - Homer, Books I-III: Agamemnon won't give up captured daughter of Apollo's priest. Apollo shoots down his men, so he gives up the girl if he can have a girl of Achilles. Achilles says fine, but won't fight for them anymore, then prays to his goddess mom to convince Zeus to frustrate their efforts and come begging for him to fight again. Gods stir up everyone to fight. Menelaus (Helen's husband) and Paris (the tool that took Helen) square off, but Paris is losing and Venus whisks him off to his bed. Then she convinces Helen to sleep with him even though she thinks he's a coward. Great start to the epic fight. Sad to see that everyone is only concerned with their own reputation/vengeance. Certainly nobody has a problem talking trash about the gods.

Of Bashfulness - Plutarch: Bashfulness is a sign of a good disposition (modesty) taken to the extreme.  Bashfulness is bad because it makes you gullible to both flatterers and enemies alike. Need to learn to "just say no". His rule: make note of our failures due to bashfulness, reflect on them often, remember their "disgraceful and prejudicial effects" and we "will soon be enabled to restrain (ourselves) in like cases." Helpful for those who are bashful.  Long on examples of the bad effects, short on the remedy.

The Republic - Plato, Book VIII: Four types of alternative governments: "timocracy", oligarchy, democracy, tyranny. Each leads to the other. First - everyone at discord and seeks honor. Second - money more important than virtue and discrimination based on property/wealth arises. Third - freedom comes from rebellion by the poor. Equality eventually too broadly applied and results in anarchy ("anarchy [is called by them] 'liberty', waste 'magnificence', impudence 'courage'). Fourth - anarchy reigned in by "protector" who eventually becomes a tyrant. Nails the democratic tendency to freedom, then to anarchy. Orwell must have had the tyrant section of Book VIII opened on his desk when he wrote Animal Farm.

Federalist Papers #50, 51 - Madison or Hamilton: (Sorry, #50 should have been done last week) 50) Question of whether periodic (as opposed to happenstance) appeals to the people would be a "proper and adequate means of preventing and correcting infractions in the Constitution." No, it wouldn't. Time periods are a problem, and it's been tried in Pennsylvania and didn't work. 51) How do we maintain separation of powers? "By so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constitutive parts may, by their mutual relations be the means of keeping each other in their proper places". Each branch needs the means and motive to "resist encroachments of the others". Men are not angels, hence both the need for government, and problem of making it work. Fifty-one is probably one of the most important papers so far, giving the fundamental aim of government, problem of human governmental corruption and the U.S. Constitutional solution. The depravity of man is at the heart of it all. Ouch, I thought it was about making us look nice to other countries.

The Running-Down of the Universe - Sir Arthur Eddington: Shuffling is an example of a random act, i.e. it "can't be undone".  Two exceptions that this "random element" can't affect - single units (things in themselves) and sets of things sufficiently "shuffled" already (thermodynamic equilibrium). Everything else is subject to this random entropy, which is the only thing time can be measured by. Laws of "things in themselves" and laws of groups (second law of thermodynamics) are two different kinds of laws. Violations of the first are impossible. Violations of the second only improbable. Problem of infinity past - if we're losing "organization" in the universe (hence the "winding down"), then that implies the universe was "wound up" at some point. But he doesn't like the idea of a "bang" (Big Bang?) and won't comment on God being involved. Great discussion, just shy of the jump to information theory. Interesting how when you're talking about organization and information, God always seems to be just around the corner. Hmm.

The Process of Thought - John Dewey, Ch. XIV-XV: Whatever babies are "thinking", their chief concern is mastery of their body. A child's imitation of adults isn't mere parroting, but the whole train of reflective thought. We don't see it because we're used to the world whereas it's still experimental to them. "Play" happens when ready objects become signs for real objects (dolls for people, etc.). Play should gradually become "work", which is "interest in the adequate embodiment of a meaning" through the appropriate means - i.e. deals with the objects themselves, not stand-ins, and ends in real-world "products"/accomplishments (not to be confused with "labor", can be fun). Adults shouldn't disparage children at play, but introduce real-life (work) aspects gradually. Concrete ideas/activities refer directly to real-world things, whereas abstract ideas/activities refer to connections between these things (thoughts about thoughts). Neither is "higher", but the "higher" person is one who's mastered both aspects. This reading is pretty good, and quite helpful as far as real-world education for children is concerned. I do wonder if what he says about child's development is only partial, but at least that part looks right.


As promised, here's this week's (Week 35) readings (instead of on a separate post):

1. The Iliad of Homer, Books IV-VI  (GBWW Vol. 3, pp. 38-77)
2. “Of Youth and Age” by Francis Bacon (GGB Vol. 7, pp. 3-4)
3. Plato’s Republic, Book IX (GBWW Vol. 6, pp. 416-427)
4. Federalist #52-53 (GBWW Vol. 40, pp. 165-169)
5. “Mathematical Creation“by Henri Poincaré (GGB Vol. 9, pp. 294-304; Chapter 3 of Science and Method)
6. How We Think by John Dewey, Chapter XVI-XVII (GGB Vol. 10, pp. 185-205)