Tagged: analect

Analects of the Core: Aristotle on democracy

December 3, 2010 at 12:30 pm

In anticipation of the debate on democracy being presented in CC101, consider this point made by Aristotle in Politics: In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme. Is there any way this can be critiqued?  Offer your […]

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Analects of the Core: Malinowski on the false picture of natives

December 2, 2010 at 7:34 am

In honor of CC203’s examination of the seminal ethnography by Bronislaw Malinowski: The time when we could tolerate accounts presenting us the native as a distorted, childish caricature of a human being are gone. This picture is false, and like many other falsehood, it has been killed by Science. – Argonauts of the Western Pacific

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Analects of the Core: Descartes on plausible philosophy

December 1, 2010 at 5:19 pm

Je ne dirai rien de la philosophie, sinon que, voyant qu’elle a été cultivée par les plus excellents esprits qui aient vécu depuis plusieurs siècles, et que néanmoins il ne s’y trouve encore aucune chose dont on ne dispute, et par conséquent qui ne soit douteuse, je n’avois point assez de présomption pour espérer d’y […]

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Analects of the Core: Milton on perception

November 19, 2010 at 4:19 pm

The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. — from Paradise Lost by John Milton, Book I, ll. 254-5. Today’s analect was suggested by Tom Farndon (Core ’10, CAS/SMG ’12), who writes: “The Core reminds us that perception is our most powerful tool, endowing […]

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Analects of the Core: Durkheim on faith and knowledge

November 17, 2010 at 12:08 pm

On the relationship between religious faith and knowledge: Knowledge does not have the destructive power with which it is credited, but it is the only weapon that allows us to struggle against the dissolution from which it itself results.  It is not by gagging science that one may restore authority to vanished traditions; we shall […]

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Analects of the Core: Weber on religion’s significance in society

November 16, 2010 at 10:32 am

Denn obwohl der moderne Mensch im ganzen selbst beim besten Willen nicht imstande zu sein pflegt, sich die Bedeutung, welche religiöse Bewußtseinsinhalte auf die Lebensführung, die Kultur und die Volkscharaktere gehabt haben, so groß vorzustellen, wie sie tatsächlich gewesen ist For sure, even with the best will, the modern person seems generally unable to imagine […]

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Analects of the Core: Smith on quantitative politics

November 15, 2010 at 6:04 pm

I have no great faith in political arithmetick — Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book 4, Chapter 5. Today’s Analect was suggested by Tom Farndon (Core ’10, CAS ’12). Tom writes: For those looking for a deeper explanation as to the processes behind quantitative reasoning in […]

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