BaalChatzaf Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Among My Favorites: History of Civilization in England, by H. T. Buckle, Part 3 Smith explores Buckle’s claim that the “protective spirit” of governments has hindered the progress of civilization.My Cato Essay #82 is now up. Attentive readers will note the similarities between Buckle and Rand in the stress that both placed on the primacy of ideas in history.GhsGee, George. You have pre-empted my non-mathematical reading list for the next year and half. I am not sure whether to thank you or not.I will let you know after I read these Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 Among My Favorites: History of Civilization in England, by H. T. Buckle, Part 3 Smith explores Buckle’s claim that the “protective spirit” of governments has hindered the progress of civilization. My Cato Essay #82 is now up. Attentive readers will note the similarities between Buckle and Rand in the stress that both placed on the primacy of ideas in history. GhsGee, George. You have pre-empted my non-mathematical reading list for the next year and half. I am not sure whether to thank you or not. I will let you know after I read these In the current essay I discuss Buckle's contention that state patronage of science, philosophy and other cognitive disciplines has retarded intellectual progress in the long run. You may find that claim of particular interest. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 George, I found an old tape of your sold by LF Books copyright 1990: "The Good, The Bad, & The Puritans." I don't have time to listen to it now. Should be interesting.--Brant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted June 25, 2013 Author Share Posted June 25, 2013 Among My Favorites: History of Civilization in England, by H. T. Buckle, Part 4 Smith discusses Buckle’s claim that Adam Smith was one of the most brilliant and influential thinkers in the history of the modern world. My Cato Essay #83 is now up. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 Herbert Spencer, Henry George, and the Land Question, Part 1 Smith discusses Henry George’s allegation that Spencer’s later views on land ownership were intellectually dishonest. My Cato Essay #84 is now up. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 Herbert Spencer, Henry George, and the Land Question, Part 2 Smith discusses the mutual misunderstandings of Spencer and George, and George’s effective criticism of Spencer’s weak defense of private property. My Cato Essay #85 is now up. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merjet Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 GHS, I hope you are getting some of that revenue (link) for 85 essays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Herbert Spencer, Henry George, and the Land Question, Part 3 Smith explains Herbert Spencer’s fundamental objection to the private ownership of land. My Cato Essay #86 is now up. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Herbert Spencer, Henry George, and the Land Question, Part 4 Smith explains and criticizes two more of Spencer’s arguments against private property in land. My Cato Essay #87 is now up. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted July 30, 2013 Author Share Posted July 30, 2013 Herbert Spencer, Henry George, and the Land Question, Part 5 Smith discusses some criticisms by Auberon Herbert and Thomas Hodgskin of Spencer’s position on land. My Cato Essay #88 is now up. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted August 6, 2013 Author Share Posted August 6, 2013 Herbert Spencer, Henry George, and the Land Question, Part 6 Smith begins his in-depth examination of Spencer’s fundamental objection to the private ownership of land. My Cato Essay #89 is now up. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 Thomas Hodgskin Versus Herbert Spencer, Part 1 Smith discusses the common allegation that Spencer took many of his ideas from Hodgskin without acknowledging their source. My Cato Essay #90 is now up. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted August 23, 2013 Author Share Posted August 23, 2013 Thomas Hodgskin Versus Herbert Spencer, Part 2 Smith explains why Hodgskin viewed property rights as natural. My Cato Essay #91 was posted on Tuesday. It discusses how Hodgskin (1832) linked the idea of property rights to our sense of individuality. His blending of the moral and the psychological sounds very modern in spots -- the sort of thing many O'ist types will appreciate. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted September 3, 2013 Author Share Posted September 3, 2013 A Gossipy Interlude: George Eliot, Herbert Spencer, and John Chapman, Part 1 Smith discusses the complex personal relationships among three leading classical liberals in Victorian England. My Cato Essay #93 is now up. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 You're turning out a staggering amount of material, George. I assume it's not all off the top of your head (just most of it), that you pull books off your shelves to check on stuff. Since I should be in awe, I am.--Brant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted September 3, 2013 Author Share Posted September 3, 2013 You're turning out a staggering amount of material, George. I assume it's not all off the top of your head (just most of it), that you pull books off your shelves to check on stuff. Since I should be in awe, I am. --Brant Thanks. I choose topics according to whim, i.e., according to whatever interests me at the time. And though I normally have a pretty thorough knowledge of my topics beforehand , I always do considerable background reading (or rereading) for 3 or 4 days every week. I then spend around a day taking notes and typing in the quotations I want to use, and then another day writing the final draft. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Jesus! A whim-worshiper!--Brantoh, wait, I forgot, I'm not an Objectivist (admiration restored) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samson Corwell Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 And it was Mistress #1, Elisabeth, who frequently flew into a rage when John spent time in Marians room at unusual hours, sometimes for the ostensible purpose of taking German lessons from Marian.Riiiight. They were studying German together. *Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.*I read George Eliot's Silas Marner over the summer of 2011 for English class going into my senior year in high school. Touching book. With the novel's emphasis on interconnectedness and interpersonal relationships, it's not hard to realize that she was longing for a return to a period with a greater sense of community and "the sacred". I know she was an admirer of Auguste Comte, so I can only conclude that he longed for a return to the time when religion was the social glue and that this is the sense of what the non-Marxist socialists of the day wanted. (I think it's more than that that influenced Comte since his wife's death seemed to have impacted him negatively.)ETA: Auguste Comte was an oddball. I feel that his system wasn't so much about "living for others" as it was about service to an ideal or something like that. In my mind, any kind of approach that is characterized as "living for others" as those three words strike me wouldn't be so Goddamn paradoxical. Comte's positivism was a monster with the humanity sucked out of it. Not very "altruistic", if you ask me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Thanks for this George. Eliot is a heroine of mine and it is beyond great to know that besides her genius, she could also pull the lads! I think Lewes was a lucky man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted September 3, 2013 Author Share Posted September 3, 2013 And it was Mistress #1, Elisabeth, who frequently flew into a rage when John spent time in Marians room at unusual hours, sometimes for the ostensible purpose of taking German lessons from Marian.Riiiight. They were studying German together. *Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.* I read George Eliot's Silas Marner over the summer of 2011 for English class going into my senior year in high school. Touching book. With the novel's emphasis on interconnectedness and interpersonal relationships, it's not hard to realize that she was longing for a return to a period with a greater sense of community and "the sacred". I know she was an admirer of Auguste Comte, so I can only conclude that he longed for a return to the time when religion was the social glue and that this is the sense of what the non-Marxist socialists of the day wanted. (I think it's more than that that influenced Comte since his wife's death seemed to have impacted him negatively.) ETA: Auguste Comte was an oddball. I feel that his system wasn't so much about "living for others" as it was about service to an ideal or something like that. In my mind, any kind of approach that is characterized as "living for others" as those three words strike me wouldn't be so Goddamn paradoxical. Comte's positivism was a monster with the humanity sucked out of it. Not very "altruistic", if you ask me. A number of members of the Chapman Circle, including Marian Evans (i.e., George Eliot) and G.H. Lewes, were admirers of Comte, but they liked his history and theory of science, not his later kooky ideas about an ideal altruistic society. (J.S. Mill followed them in this regard.) Marian greatly admired Ludwig Feuerbach's "Essence of Christianity" -- indeed she produced an excellent English translation that is still used today -- so I recommend that you consult that book for an insight into her own views about religion. I quoted from her translation of Feuerbach a number of times in ATCAG. For a summary of Comte's truly nutty views, see the link below my signature to "Ayn Rand and Altruism, Part 1." An amusing follow-up to Chapman's German lessons: Not long after this, Mistress #1 (Elisabeth) suddenly became interested in learning German as well. That way, presumably, she and John Chapman could take their lessons together. 8-) Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samson Corwell Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 A number of members of the Chapman Circle, including Marian Evans (i.e., George Eliot) and G.H. Lewes, were admirers of Comte, but they liked his history and theory of science, not his later kooky ideas about an ideal altruistic society. (J.S. Mill followed them in this regard.) Marian greatly admired Ludwig Feuerbach's "Essence of Christianity" -- indeed she produced an excellent English translation that is still used today -- so I recommend that you consult that book for an insight into her own views about religion. I quoted from her translation of Feuerbach a number of times in ATCAG.Feuerbach had an important, or at least partly important, influence on the young Karl Marx. The personal connections that you can find between historically important people and disparate individuals/paradigms of thought are amazing. Bertrand Russel to Vladimir Lenin. Wittgenstein to Hitler. Hayek to Popper, Wittgenstein, and Orwell. The Vienna Circle to Kurt Gödel. Who'd have ever thought that Mises was a member of the group that influenced logical positivism?For a summary of Comte's truly nutty views, see the link below my signature to "Ayn Rand and Altruism, Part 1."I've read the series. I already knew what his form of altruism was about from Wikipedia, so I can't say that I was too surprised by his warped buggery. It's not even like the Christian sense of altruism which has humanity to it. "Catholicism without Christianity" is right, but with some devilish thought thrown in.My hypotheses is that Comte was suffered traumatically when his companion Clotilde de Vaux. It must have cracked his mind.I wonder how his idea of altruism conforms to Eastern traditions and Confucianism. At first thought, they appear similar on the surface, but I suspect there is a greater gulf between them.An amusing follow-up to Chapman's German lessons: Not long after this, Mistress #1 (Elisabeth) suddenly became interested in learning German as well. That way, presumably, she and John Chapman could take their lessons together. 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Let me guess - the German tutor was a handsome young man.It is heartening when scholars like George (Eliot and Smith both) show us that the most notable women scholars and artists did not achieve greatness by submerging their femininity. Practical sacrifices they undoubtedly made and concessions to the times they lived in. But they expressed themselves, their entire selves, and added much to the world. Ayn Rand too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samson Corwell Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 A question for George: Do you think Eastern cultures bare any similarity to Comte's system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted September 10, 2013 Author Share Posted September 10, 2013 A Gossipy Interlude: George Eliot, Herbert Spencer, and John Chapman, Part 2 Smith criticizes an influential book by Mark Francis, Herbert Spencer and the Invention of Modern LifeMy Cato Essay #94 is now up.Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George H. Smith Posted September 17, 2013 Author Share Posted September 17, 2013 A Gossipy Interlude: George Eliot, Herbert Spencer, and John Chapman, Part 3 Smith discusses the significant role played by John Chapman in the lives of Herbert Spencer, George Eliot, and G. H. Lewes. My Cato Essay #95 is now up. Ghs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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