(Y1 W44) Separation of Church (Authority) and State (Authority)

The Lifted Veil - George Eliot: An old man predicts his upcoming death and looks back over his life. Was a second child, unloved by his father who didn't understand his sensitive nature. But he was a "poet without a poet's voice". Visited in school by his father when he starts having visions of things to come, including meeting a young girl. He later meets the girl - Bertha - and faints. She is the neighbor's niece who is expected to be engaged to his brother. The boy becomes infatuated with her though, partly because she's the only one whose mind he can't read (literally). She doesn't help much by frequently (sarcastically) flirting with him. He then has a vision of a "moment of hell" where they're married in the future and she hates him. His brother dies and he ends up marrying her. He stays "in her power" because he can't see beyond "the veil" to read her mind, always imagining it to be something of great depth. Later the veil is lifted and he sees into her mind that "the darkness had hidden no landscape from [me], but only a blank prosaic wall"; yep, she really is a horrible person. They slowly grow apart. When their maid lays dying she reveals Bertha was planning to kill him. They've since lived separately. Beautiful writing; horrible people! I wasn't quite as shocked by the ending as maybe Eliot's contemporary readers might have been. Here's a lesson to young men overly taken with a pretty face: if anyone ever says something like, "a little quiet contempt contributes greatly to the elegance of life," RUN! Don't stop to try and figure it out (same goes for the girls).

Pericles - Plutarch: We want to study great men because they teach us virtue. Pericles born of the noblest birth on both sides around the time of the Persian wars. Early on given "weight" and elevated in Athens by Anaxagoras. Some say he was pompous. He joined the "party of the people" and then intentionally became aloof because "in intimate familiarity an exterior of gravity is hard to maintain". Superior orator, out-spoke Thucydides. Rivalry with him and Cimon that later balanced Athens' two parties: party of the People and party of the Few. He "let loose the reins of the people" so they would like him and later sent Athenians out to colonize to "discharge the city of an idle...busy, meddling crowd". He built great public buildings and works amid accusations. Finally threw out his rival, Thucydides, and held all power. Then he became more strict. He had a "manifest freedom from every kind of corruption". Tensions rose with Lacedaemonians. Pericles had success in war but wouldn't let it become lust for Athenian foreign conquests. Peloponnesian war broke out after he conquered the Samians, largely because of Pericles. Lacedaemonians invade Athenian territory. Pericles waits, then sends fleet to Peloponnese and attacks. Plague takes Athens, and elsewhere. Athenians oust Pericles and later want him back. The plague gets him too. People praised him for his moderation, purity in stressful times, "'for', said he, 'no Athenian, through my means, ever wore mourning'". This bio was much more subtle and intricate than previous ones we've read from Plutarch. One common character lesson Plutarch has emphasized is the ability to stay calm and principled in incredibly stressful times. Knowing it's a virtue is easy, but being able to actually pull it off can get you a spot in Plutarch's hall of fame.

A Letter Concerning Toleration - John Locke: Specifically, the letter addresses "mutual toleration of Christians in their different professions of religion", which is, to him, the true mark of a church. True religion is about "regulating of men's lives according to the rules of virtue and piety...[men] make war upon [their] own lusts and vices". It is a mistake, therefore, to persecute in the name of religion. "I esteem it above all things necessary to distinguish exactly the business of civil government from that of religion and to settle the just bounds that lie between the one and the other." Civil government is about outward things, specifically protection of property and civil rights; "religion consists in the inward persuasion of the mind". Church is a free and and voluntary society for the public worship of God and the salvation of souls. Nobody is born a member of a church. Churches are free to make/enforce their own laws, which should only concern the two ends of worship and salvation, so force is never needed. The Christian church is supposed to be persecuted, not do the persecuting. The church therefore is utterly distinct from the government as any voluntary association is. There is nowhere for rulers to appeal to for "authoritative" interpretations of Christianity. Church rites that violate civil laws are already illegal, all else should stay legal. Israel was a special case because God himself was the ruler. Government can't inhibit preaching if no civil rights violated. What of laws that force you to violate your conscience? Obey your conscience always. Jews, Muslims, Pagans to be tolerated, but not atheists because God is the basis of all contracts, etc. Not being tolerant of other religious viewpoints is what caused the religious wars, not the diversity of opinion. Heresy is separation made over something not explicitly in the Scriptures. Schism is separation based on worship practice. (Mostly) great display of religious toleration and what lead to the idea in the West. It's not an accident that it's a Protestant with a Calvinist background that is writing this. He's talking about a distinction between the sphere of church authority and the sphere of state authority. Modern secularists can mistakenly read him as making a distinction between "Christianity in toto" and "the secular state" (which, reading what he says about atheists should dispel, though it's shocking for different reasons!). He's quite (and admirably) consistent with our earlier readings of his on state from a few weeks ago, but his methodology implies that the bible has no input on the operations of the state, which it does. His heresy definition seems way too strict - anyone leaving one church for another would be a heretic! 

Federalist Papers #67-69 - Alexander Hamilton: 67) Executive branch has received great criticism likening it to the British monarchy. One complaint is that the president appoints stand-in senators during recesses. But these appointments expire at the end of their next session. The president's ordinary powers of appointments are shared with the Senate. 68) The means by which the president is himself appointed to office is the least criticized. The people of the various states choose their own electors. Candidate with majority of votes is president. VP chosen in the same way. 69) Characteristics of the executive. Single man elected for 4 years, open to being re-elected ad infinitum. He can be impeached, removed, punished (unlike British king). Is limited in influencing bills, military, granting pardons. He can receive ambassadors, appoints both them and judges, but only jointly with Senate. He possesses "more or less power than the governor of New York" does. And "there is no pretense for the parallel...between him and the king of Great Britain". Reading this you can see them starting with monarchy as a model for the presidency, then limiting it where they saw abuse. Other changes from what's defended here include means of election and limitations on president/VP terms.

Motions of the Heart - William Harvey, Ch. VI-XI: VI) Most anatomists restrict their investigations to deceased humans. Had they worked with live animals, these matters would be cleared up. The fetal heart is different from the adult. VII) Consumed water passes through the liver, kidneys, bladder without a "pulse" pushing it. Valves in the heart prevent two-way passage of blood. VIII) Here's a novel idea concerning the quantity of blood, though it may be unpopular: blood is not ever-generated anew, it circulates and recycles "to recover its state of excellence or perfection". Arteries carry blood from the heart to the body, veins actually bring it back to the heart (contrary to what's currently thought). IX) He calculates that the amount of blood pumped by the heart in a given time far exceeds the input needed to make the blood. The standing amount of blood in a body can be demonstrated by how fast butchers can drain blood from animals. The heart keeps pumping blood after the lungs fail in a dying person, which is why you see air in the arteries after death. X) One can initiate two kinds of death in a snake heart: "extinction from deficiency (of blood) and suffocation from excess". XI) Ligatures (tourniquets) can be used to demonstrate the prevention of circulation in animals and humans. Such a basic observation overlooked because everyone was looking at only one species (human) and thus only one state (deceased), as opposed to live animals. Surely the car's engine looks different after it's broken than when it works. I enjoy this, but parts make me queasy!

On the Nature of Things - Lucretius, Book VI: We must be rid of the fear of sickness and death by "the aspect and laws of nature". Thunder comes from clouds through seeds of fire from the sun; all things are heated by motion. Thunderbolts consist of "small and smooth elements" that "break or pull the knots and untie the bonds of union". They don't come from gods. Clouds form by aggregates and mix with water, releasing rain caused by wind or their own density. Earthquakes come from "air gathering" in subterranean caverns. Volcanoes come from wind and air heating rocks in mountains. The Nile rises and falls from winds or excessive rains. Hot springs and toxic lakes come from noxious seeds. Magnetism works by opening a void between "magnetic rock" and metal, through which the metal is pulled/pushed. Disease comes from "seeds...conducing to disease and death" that rise up in clouds and blow away, therefore varying between climates. Plague can be so harassing that we forget about the gods. He seemed to peter out at the end. I guess it wasn't the bang I was expecting.

Here's next week's readings:

1. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare  (GBWW Vol. 24, pp. 406-433)
2. “Fabius” by Plutarch (GBWW Vol. 13, pp. 141-154)
3. “The Study of Mathematics” by Bertrand Russell (GGB Vol. 9, pp. 84-94)
4. Federalist #70-74 (GBWW Vol. 40, pp. 210-222)
5. An Anatomical Disquisition on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals by William Harvey, Chapters XII-XVII (GBWW Vol. 26, pp. 292-304)
6. Protagoras by Plato (GBWW Vol. 6, pp. 38-64)