Core 1001 Section 18: Final Examination

Question One

During the course of the semester we have discussed the tensions between our faith in progress and Augustine's conviction that, in the gross, human beings don't change for the better. On the one hand, we see around us the results of technological innovations encompassing medical advances, an information revolution, and an improving life-style. On the other, we note daily reports about man's inhumanity to man throughout the world, reports that make original sin seem more than a theological abstraction.

Along with the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin believed in "the pursuit of happiness." This pursuit was rendered more comfortable by the social and technological progress typified by his own discoveries and by the institutions he founded. By contrast, Jonathan Swift retained a profound Christian skepticism, dismissing the claims of meliorism as further evidence of our proud capacity to deceive ourselves. With reference to these two writers and to other authors whom we have read during the term, adjudicate between the continuing promise of progress and the apparent ineradicability of sin. Are there limits to progress? Is sin eradicable?

Question Two

Write briefly on the following topics or identify the author and source of the quotations, commenting briefly on their significance and implications. Should you be able to provide an exact page number, do so. Please answer the questions in the order in which they are given. If you wish to return to complete an answer, you should leave a space in your examination book. Write only on the right hand of the page, at least initially, so that ample space remains for answering the questions to which you return. Spot the typo.

1. The Antediluvians were all very sober

For they had no Wine, and they brewed no October;

All wicked, bad Livers, on Mischief still thinking,

For there can't be good Living, where there is not good Drinking. Derry down.

'Twas honest old Noah first planted the Vine,

And mended his Morals by drinking its Wine;

He justly the drinking of Water decried;

For he knew that all Mankind, by drinking it, died. Derry down.

From this Piece of History plainly we find

That Water's good neither for body or Mind;

That Virtue and Safety in Wine-bibbing's found

While all that drink Water deserve to be drowned. Derry down

So For Safety and Honesty put the Glass round.

2. A prudent Builder should forecast

How long the Stuff is like to last;

And, carefully observe the Ground,

To build on some Foundations sound;

What House, when its Materials crumble,

Must not inevitably tumble?

What Edifice can long endure,

Rais'd on a Basis unsecure?

Rash Mortals, e'er you take a Wife,

Contrive your Pile to last for Life;

Since Beauty scarce endures a Day,

And Youth so swiftly glides away;

Why will you make yourself a Bubble

To build on Sand with Hay and Stubble?

3. Compare the religious beliefs of Descartes and Newton and suggest what impact they had upon their thinking?

4. You were in such fits that we capsized. By rights we should have been drowned . . . It was because I felt happy.

5. He confined the Knowledge of governing within very narrow Bounds; to common Sense and Reason, to Justice and Lenity, to the Speedy Determination of Civil and criminal Causes, with some other obvious Topicks; which are not worth considering. And he gave it for his Opinion; that whoever could make two Ears of Corn, or two Blades of Grass to frow upon a Spot of Ground where only one grew before; would deserve better of Mankind, and do more essential Service to his Country, than the whole Race of Politicians put together.

6. I grew convinc'd that Truth, Sincerity and Integrity in Dealings between Man and Man, were of the utmost importanceto the Felicity of Life, and I form'd written Resolutions, (which still remain in my Journal Book) to practice them while I lived. Revelation had indeed no weight with me as such . . .

7. But my sole intention was the PUBLICK GOOD, I cannot be altogether disappointed. For, who can read the Virtues I have mentioned in the glorious Houyhnhnms, without being ashamed of his own Vices, when he considers himself as the reasoning, governing Animal of his Country?

8. A trading Nation is always watchful over its own Interests, and grasps at every Discovery that may be of Advantage to its Commerce. The Circassians observ'd that scarce one Person in a Thousand was ever attack'd by a Small-pox of violent kind.

9. I grow old . . . I grow old . . ./ I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

10. It was lucky for me that I had one as much dispos'd to Industry and Frugality as myself. She assisted me cheerfully in my Business, folding and stitching Pamphlets, tending Shops, purchasing old Linen Rags for the Paper-makers, etc. , etc. We kept no idle Servants, our Table was plain and simple, our Furniture of the cheapest. For instance my Breakfast was a long time Bread and Milk (no Tea,) and I ate it out of a twopenny earthen Porringer with a Pewter Spoon. But mark how soon Luxury will enter Families, and make Progress, in Spite of Principle.

11. And words whereby we conceive nothing but the sound, are those we call Absurd, Insignificant, and Non-sense. And therefore if a man should talk to me of a round Quadrangle; or Accidents of Bread in Cheese; or Immateriall Substances; or of A free Subject; A free-Will; or any Free, but free from being hindred by opposition. I should not say he were in an Errour; but that his words were without meaning; that is to say, Absurd.

12. I have ever hated all Nations professions and Communityes and all my love is towards individualls for instance I hate the tribe of Lawyers, but I love Councellor such a one, Judge such a one for so with Physicians (I will not speak of my own Trade) Soldiers, English, Scotch, French; and the rest but principally I hate and detest that animal called man, although I hartily love John, Peter, Thomas and so forth. this is the system upon which I have governed my self many years (but do not tell) and so I shall go on till I have done with them I have got Materials Towards a Treatis proving the falsity of that Definition animal rationale; and to show it should be only rationis capax.

13. Equus est animal hinnible

14. Our Supper was but only half an Anchovy each, on a very little Strip of Bread and Butter, and half a Pint of Ale between us.

15. The Fund for paying [he Army] was the Interest of all the Paper currency then in the Province . . .

16. my Body was all covered with an artificial Composure of Skins and Hairs of other Animals . . . I spoke in a Language of my own; and had thoroughly learned theirs . . .

17. Nature has forgotten us . . . There is no more nature.

18. No Arts; no Letters; no Society; and that which is worst of all, continuall feare and violent death; And the Life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, british, and short.

19. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble , and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

20. Candide.

21. Choose three pages from Introducing Descartes (noting which three) and discuss their significance.

22. Choose three pages from Introducing Newton (noting which three) and discuss their significance.

23. Why did Descartes write "Je pense, donc je suis"?

24. He had a mechanical Genius too, and on occasion was very handy in the Use of other Tradesmen's Tools. But his great Excellence lay in a sound Understanding, and solid Judgment in prudential Matters, both in private and public and private Affairs.

25. Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May.

Goonight.

Ta Ta. Goonight. Goonight.

Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.

26. A Penny sav'd is Twopence Clear, A Pin a day is a Groat a Year. Save & have. Every little makes a mickle.

27. All Rivers go to the Sea, but none return from it. Xerxes wept when he beheld his Army; to consider that in less than an Hundred Years they would all be dead. Anacreon was choqu'd with a Grape-stone; and violent Joy kills as well as violent Grief. There is nothing constant in this world but Inconstancy . . .

28. Mathematical reasoning reveals that water freezes more rapidly when it is boiled.

29. I then desired the Governor to call up Descartes and Gassendi, with whom I prevailed to explain their Systems to Aristotle. This great Philosopher freely acknowledged his own Mistakes in Natural Philosophy, because he proceeded in many things upon Conjecture, as all Men must do; and he found, that Gassendi, who had made the doctrine of Epicurus as palatable as he could, and Vortices ofDescartes were equally exploded.

30. It is from this Custom of the Priests that some Authors maintain these Aeolists, to have been very Ancient in the World. Because, the delivery of their Mysteries, which I have just now mention'd, appears exactly the same with that of other antient Oracles, whose Inspirations were owing to certain subterraneous Effluviums of Wind, delivered with the same Pain to the Priest, and much about the same Influence on the People. It is true indeed that these, that these were frequently managed and directed by Female Officers, whose Organs were understood to be better disposed . . .

31. Cry'd out, ye Gods, what Sound is this?

Can Chloe, heavenly Chloe ------?

32. Because they have more Knowledge of the World and their Minds are better stored with Observations, their Conversation is more improving and more lastingly agreeable . . . as in the dark all Cats are grey.

33. Hypotheses non fingo.

Poor Richard: On his Deafness

Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone,

To all my Friends a Burthen grown,

No more I hear a great Church Bell,

Than if it rang out for my Knell:

At Thunder now no more I start,

Than at the whisp'ring of a Fart.

Nay, what's incredible, alack!

I hardly hear my Bridget's clack.

On Sense and Wit your Passion found,

By Decency cemented round;

Let Prudence with Good Nature strive,

To keep Esteem and Love alive.

Then come old Age whene'er it will,

Your Friendship shall continue still:

And thus a mutual gentle Fire,

Shall never but with Life expire.

Compare the sexuality of Descartes and Newton and suggest what impact it had (if any) upon their thinking.

(Customer's voice.) "God damn you to hell, Sir, no it's indecent, there are limits! In six days, do you hear me, six days, God made the world. Yes, Sir, no less Sir, the WORLD! And you are not bloody well capable of making me a pair of trousers in three months!"
I am well-disposed to hope you may hitherto have escaped many Vices of your Country. But, by what I have gathered from your own Relation, and the Answers I have with much Pains wringed and extorted from you: I cannot but conclude the Bulk of your Natives to be the most pernicious Race of little odious Vermin, that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth.
It was about this time that I conceiv'd the bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any Fault at any time; I would conquer all that either Natural Inclination, Custom, or Company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.

Pray bring to your Mind how often I desired you to consider, when you insisted on the Motive of publick Good; that theYahoos were a species of Animal utterly incapable of Amendment by Precepts or Examples. And so it hath proved . . .
Take a view of the Royal-Exchange in London, a place more venerable than many courts of justice, where the representatives of all nations meet for the benefit of mankind. There the Jew, the Mahometan, and the Christian transact together as tho' they all profess'd the same religion, and give the name of Infidel to none but bankrupts. There the Presbyterian confides in the Anabaptist, and the Churchman depends on the Quaker's word.
In the room the women come and go

Talking of Michelangelo.

I immediately got into Work at Palmer's, then a famous Printing-house in Bartholomew Close, and here I continu'd near a Year. I was pretty diligent; but spent with Ralph a good deal of my Earnings in going to Plays and other Places of Amusement. We had together consum'd all my Pistoles, and now just rubb'd on from hand to mouth. He seem'd quite to forget his Wife and Child, and I by degrees my Engagements with Miss Read, to whom I never wrote more than one Letter . . .
For words are but wise mens counters, they do but reckon by them: but they are the mony of fooles, that value them by the authority of an Aristotle, a Cicero, or a Thomas, or any Doctor whatsoever, if but a man.
Facultas hinniendi
There are Croakers in every Country always boding its Ruin.
About this Time there was a Cry among the People for more Paper-Money . . .
in some Fields of his Country, there are certain shining Stones of several Colours . . .
Get out of here and love one another! Lick your neighbor as yourself!
No Arts; no Letters; no Society; and that which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, british, and short.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Candide

Nature has indulg'd Des Cartes a shining and strong Imagination, whence he became a very singular Person both in private Life, and in his Manner of Reasoning. This Imagination could not conceal it self even in his philosophical Works, which are every where adorn'd with very shining, ingenious Metaphors and Figures. Nature had almost made him a Poet . . .
We went next to the School of Languages, where three Professors sat in Consultation upon improving that of their own Country. The first Project was to shorten Discourse by cutting Polysyllables into one, and leaving out Verbs and Participles; because in Reality all things imaginable are but Nouns.
They have exacted from all their members a close, naked, natural way of speaking, bringing all things as near the Mathematical plainness as they can, preferring the language of Artizans, Countrymen, and Merchants, before that of Wits or Scholars.
It has since been a Pleasure to me to see good Workmen use their Tools; and it has been useful to me, having learned so much by it, as to be able to do little Jobs myself in my House, when a Workman could not readily be got, and to construct little Machines for my Experiments while the intention of making the Experiments was fresh and warm in my Mind.
Twit twit twit

Jug jug jug jug jug jug

So rudely forc'd.

Tereu

'Tis a well spent penny that saves a groat.
The Mind of Man is, at first, (if you will pardon the Expression) like a Tabula rasa; or like Wax, which while it is soft, is capable of any Impression, until Time hath hardened it.
The wax is put by the fire. It loses the remains of its flavour, the fragrance evaporates, the colour changes, the shape is lost, the size increases, it becomes fluid and hot, it can hardly be handled, and it will no longer give out a sound if you rap it. Is it the same wax then, still there? Of course it is . . .
Then Aristotle observing Bacon advance with a furious Mien, drew his Bow to his Head, and let fly his Arrow, which mist the valiant Modern, and went hizzing over his Head; but Des-Cartes it hit; The Steel Point quickly found a Defect in his Head-piece; it pierced the Leather and the Past-board, and went in at his Right Eye. The Torture of the Pain, whirled the valiant Bow-man round, till Death, like a Star of superior Influence, drew him into his own Vortex. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ingens hiatus hic in MS.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lovers, for the sake of Celestial Converse, are but another sort of Platonicks, who pretend to see Stars and Heavens in Ladies Eyes, and to look or seek no lower; but the same Pit is provided for both; and they seem a perfect Moral to the Story of that Philosopher, who, while, his Thoughts and Eyes were fixed upon the Constellations, found himself seduced by his lower Parts into a Ditch.
8^th and Lastly. They are so grateful!
Nor wonder how I lost my Wits;

Oh! Caelia, Caelia, Caelia sh----.

Core 1001 Section 18: Final Examination

Question One