1. 02 May 2006

    947 days ago

    We are great fools. “He has spent his life in idleness,” we say; “I have done nothing today.” What, have you not lived? That is not only the fundamental but the most illustrious of your occupations. “If I had been placed in a position to manage great affairs, I would have shown what I could do.” Have you been able to think out and manage your own life? You have done the greatest task of all… To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately.

    Michel de Montaigne

  2. In search of God & Self

    Donald Wilcox

    947 days ago

    One of the books for my class on Renaissance and Reformation, a good look at 12th to 15th century Europe. For whatever reason I don’t take notes for my schoolwork nearly as well as I do in reading books of my own choosing, and so I’ll just leave you with the last paragraph of the conclusion. The money quote, mentioning this.

    “To live appropriately.” Could a phrase more aptly capture the spirit of an age? It joins the ethical and social concerns of the Renaissance with the introspective force of the Reformation. The Renaissance taught that man is a social being whose own inner life grows by touching the lives of others. The Reformation taught that he has overwhelming power in his inner life; man is a person before he is a member of society, and he must seek fulfillment first as a person. These two perspectives are not easy to blend into a single system. Yet life depends on each, and by calling us to live appropriately, Montaigne summarizes in full measure the wisdom of both the Renaissance and the Reformation.

  3. 01 April 2006

    Utopia

    Thomas More

    978 days ago

    The book in which the term utopia was first turned, a look at what was wrong with 16th century english society and how the hidden society of Utopos was better.

    The book is a set of conversations between Raphael Hythloday (“peddler of nonsense”), a traveler who chanced upon the hidden society of Utopos and lived among it’s peoples for 5 years, and Thomas More, the author fictionalized within his own work.

    Utopos is a society in which everybody is equal, everybody is made equal by the abolition of private property. Everyone has what they need drawn from the collective labor of the Utopians, so how could they possibly want anything more?

    There are a few disturbing aspects to the society, thus the dubbing of the greek “u-topia” and “eu-topia” meaning no place and godly place. The thing about More’s Utopia is that there’s no way to get from here to there – ‘the institutions cannot be introduced unless they have already been introduced’ xv.

    But actually, my dear More (to tell you what I really think), it seems to me that wherever there is private property, where everything is measured in terms of money, it is hardly ever possible for the common good to be served with justice and prosperity, unless you think justice is served when all the best things go to the worst people or that happiness is possible with everything is shared among very few, who themselves are not entirely happy, while the rest are plunged into misery. Hythloday, 46

    For why should anyone be suspected of asking too much if he is certain the will never lack anything? Certainly fear of want makes all kinds of animals greedy and rapacious, but only mankind is made so by pride, which makes them consider their own glory enhanced if they excel others in displaying superfluous possessions; in the Utopian scheme of things there is no place for all for such a vice. 68

    Indeed they are amazed that any mortal can take delight in the dubious sparkle of a tiny gem or precious stone when he can look at a star or even at the sun, or how anyone could be so insane as to imagine that he is nobler because of fine-spun woolen thread, since that wool (however fine-spun) was once worn by a sheep, which was at the same time nothing more than a sheep. 78

    The utopian understanding of god:

    unknown, eternal, infinite, inexplicable, diffused throughout this whole universe not physically but by his power, in a manner that is beyond human comprehension. 116

    From my observation and experience of all the flourishing nations everywhere, what is taking place, so help me god, is nothing but a conspiracy of the rich, as it were, who look out for themselves under the pretext of serving the commonwealth. 132

  4. 24 March 2006

    987 days ago

    Nay, further, whereas the Church of Christ was founded in blood, confirmed by blood, and augmented by blood, now, as if Christ, who after his wonted manner defends his people, were lost, they govern all by the sword. And whereas war is so savage a thing that it rather benefits beasts than men, so outrageous that the very poets feigned it came from the Furies, so pestilent that it corrupts all men’s manners, so unjust that it is best executed by the word of men, so wicked that it has no agreement with Christ and yet, omitting all the other, they make this their only business…

    Erasmus

  5. 21 February 2006

    The Prince

    Machiavelli

    1017 days ago

    A Renaissance take on how to seize and maintain power over a principality. Taking a historical look at the book, nobody really knows whether Machiavelli is being serious or pandering to his friends in high places, he needed to get a job. He sets out a treelike structure, if this then that. Straightforward, but also ambiguous. It’s a short and simple book, on the first page Machiavelli notes he won’t be wasting any words on decoration.

    People should either be caressed or crushed. 9

    So too, in politics, for if you foresee problems while they are far off (which only a prudent man is able to do) they can easily be dealt with; but when, because you have failed to see them coming, you allow them to grow to the point that anyone can recognize them, then it is too late to do anything. 10

    Transfer of power, 33.

    a powerful and courageous prince will overcome all such difficulties by giving at one time hope to his subjects that the evil will not be for long, at another time fear of the cruelty of the enemy, then preserving himself adroitly from those subjects who seem to him to be too bold. 35

    In short, someone else’s armor either falls off, or it weighs you down, or it trips you up. 44

    A ruler then, should have no other concern, no other thought, should pat attention to nothing aside from war, military institutions, and the training of his soldiers. 45

    Since a ruler, then, needs to know how to make good use of beastly qualities, he should take as his models among the animals both the fox and the lion, for the lion does not know how to avoid traps, and the fox is easily overpowered by wolves. 54

    Therefore, many conclude a wise ruler will, when he has the opportunity, secretly foster opposition to his rule, so that when he has put down his opponents, he will be in a more powerful position. 65

    The choice of servants is of no little importance to a prince, and they are good or not according to the discrimination of the prince. And the first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing the men he has around him; and when they are capable and faithful he may always be considered wise, because he has known how to recognize the capable and to keep them faithful. But when they are otherwise one cannot form a good opinion of him, for the prime error which he made was in choosing them. 70

    I do think, however, that it is better to be headstrong then cautious, for fortune is a lady. It is necessary, if you want to master her, to beat and strike her. And one sees she more often submits to those who act boldly then to those who proceed in a calculating fashion. Moreover, since she is a lady, she smiles on the young, for they are less cautious, more ruthless, and overcome her with their boldness. 77

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