mss20020225

Week of February 26, March 1Renaissance and Reason

We'll spend a little time, if necessary, looking for background information on the ideas of classical Rome, using the techniques we used when investigating the ideas of classical Greece. Prepare for this by scanning Chapter 4 of Sherman and Salisbury

For Tuesday, February 26

Renaissance and Reason

We have completed our survey of The Democratic Idea in the classical world of Greece and Rome. By now, you should have some idea of

1. The Grecian view of the advantage of Democracy over Tyranny (Euripides)

2. The "good life" as imagined by Athenians (Pericles)

3. The difference between direct and representative democracy in the classical world

(Pericles and Aristotle)

4. Two systems for dividing the body politic: by political role, and by social position (Aristotle)

5. The idea of the value of "mixed" government, both theory and method (Polybius)

6. The distinction between law and justice and the primacy of justice (Cicero)

You should also have some ideas about the similarities between those ideas expressed then and similar ideas and expressions in our time. If you are shaky about any of these, bring questions with you to class.

We're now going to take a leap forward in time of well over 1,000 years. Our attention is also going to move from Greece and Rome northward into Italy and the rest of Europe and, in fairly short order, into the Western Hemisphere, as well.

Before we delve back into the documents we're going to need to do some background work first. Take a look first at chapters 10 through 14 of S & S, both titles and subtitles:

10: A New Spirit in the West: The Renaissance, ca. 1300-1640

11: Alone Before God: Religious Reformation and Warfare, 1500-1648

12: Faith, Fortune, and Famine: European Expansion, 1450 - 1700

13: The Struggle for Survival and Sovereignty: Europe's Social and Political Order, 1600-1715

14: A New World of Reason and Reform: The Scientific Revolution

and the Enlightenment, 1600 - 1800.

What I hope you notice is that the chronology of this section of the book isn't "clean". By this I mean that while all five chapters cover a period of 500 years, the focus in them isn't linear...one chapter per hundred years, for example. Rather, there is considerable overlap throughout. There are sound reasons for this. Europe is a big place and things don't happen in the same rate or at the same time from country to country within it. We're not going to read all of any of these chapters in any great detail. We are going to spend a whole period on Chapter 10, however, because it really sets the scene for ideas we're going to explore over the next several weeks.

Read, in The West in the World,

Chapter 10: Summary:

316-325 (to Politics of Individual Effort)

The Illustration on p. 326

332, commencing with Individualism as Self-Interest to the end of the chapter.

If you have already taken Core 104 and Core 105 you probably know quite a bit about the Renaissance, Reason, and Humanism. If not, you'll be discovering these concepts for the first time. Pay special attention to every mention of the word "humanism" and any mention of " reason".

BRING YOUR SHERIDAN AND SALISBURY WITH YOU TO CLASS!!!

We spent Tuesday talking about the Renaissance, Humanism, and the idea of Reason. Areopagitica was a speech delivered to the English Parliament arguing against the practice of requiring books to obtain a license before publication. The speech was a failure. Parliament refused to revoke the Censorship Order against which Milton argued. Sometimes ideas appear before their time. Our Constitutional guarantee of Freedom of Speech, so precious in preserving democratic principles, was shaped by the arguments Milton used. By the 18 th century, colleges in the United States had copies in their libraries. By the 19 th century, courses in rhetoric, history, and philosophy required the study of it. Students still tackle this essay in our day, because no other text presents as passionate a defense of the ideals of a liberal education and the role of freedom of inquiry. A quick search of the Internet will reveal how important the academic community considers this document. Perhaps a dozen or more web sites reproduce it in its intirety, and many, many more quote it at length.

I encountered Areopagitica when I was a college sophomore about 40 years ago. IT WAS HARD!!! AAAAARRRGH IT WAS HARD!!!!!!!! I think I sprained my brain. It also changed my life. It made me realize my responsibility to be true to my own beliefs, and to argue them as passionately as Milton argued. I place it on this syllabus in hopes that it will challenge you as it has challenged me.

IT STILL IS HARD!!

You will not encounter any more difficult going in this course than you will encounter in Areopagitica. The language is archaic. It was written for an audience used to essays which quoted "Ancient" authors and biblical authorities. The sentences are long and complex, and sometimes I still use my finger to help me follow what I'm reading. Don't give up!!! I'm going to cheer lead, morale build, egg on, and whatever else I can think to do to help you squeeze every bit of meaning out of it that you can. We are not going to rush through this. I'm going to devote at least full two class sessions to it..

To begin with, I'm going to ask you to mark up this text, to number the subdivisions represented by (****) The table below will be serve as a guide.

Friday's Discussion will go no further than the first ten sections (up to p. 34).

I want you to focus on these issues:

What value does Milton put on books?

Why does he considering "killing" a book perhaps more criminal than killing a man?

What is the relationship between writing and thinking? (Section 1)

Do we have to fear the "corrupting influence" of "bad" books? Why or why not? (Sections 2-3)

Can even "bad" books be "good for us?" How?

What does Milton mean by a "cloistered" virtue? (Section 4)

Even if one agree a book is "immoral," is there anything to be gained

(in the sense of increased public goodness) by banning it? Why or why not? (Section 5)

Should freedom to read be extended to everyone, or just to the "wise"? Why? (Section 5)

How does Milton refute Plato's arguments in favor of censorship

in an ideal or utopian community? (Section 6)

How does Milton define Reason, and what connection does

Milton make between Reason and freedom of inquiry (Section 6)

What about the Censor? Is it possible to find a person who can censor

books appropriately? Why, or why not? (Section 7 and elsewhere)

What is the relationship between freedom to write and read and personal maturity? (Section 8)

How does censorship corrupt teaching? (Section 9)

What about the practice of "expurgating" a text (taking out the bad bits)

as opposed to censoring the text outright? Is this practice any less harmful?

Why or why not? (Section 9)

What about the "common people?" Are we protecting them when we ban harmful literature?

Why or why not?

What does censorship assume about the capabilitiesof the "man in the street" (Section 10).

To view an essay by Jason Turcotte, click on the Honor John Milton Button

Above or Below

Be assured, Lords and Commons....

But some will say, What though the inventors were bad,...

But if it be agreed we shall be tried by visions,....

Good and evil we know in the field of this world....

Seeing, therefore, that those books ....

Plato, a man of high authority, indeed, but

.....least of all for his commonwealth,....

Another reason, whereby to make it plain that this Order....

What advantage is it to be a man over

.....it is to be a boy at school....

And how can a man teach with authority, which

.....is the life of his teaching....

Nor it it o the common people less than a reproach

And though I know that England was groaning

.....loudest under the prelatical yoke,...

Well knows he who uses to consider....

For if we are sure we are in the right,

.....and do not hold the truth guiltily, ....

Why else was this Nation chosen before

.....any other, that out of her....

Next, it is a lively and cheerful presage of our happy

.....success and victory.

And now the time in special is,...

And if the men be erroneous who \

.....appear to be the leading schismatics...

This I know, that errors in a good