Reading Journal Summer 2014

These notes are for books read from June 1st to August 31, 2014

June 5^th

Meditations of Marcus Aurelius – written by the wise philosopher-emperor Marcus while he was on the Roman frontier at the head of his legions fighting against the Germans. He was the last of the so-called 5 good emperors, and he was a proponent of Stoic philosophy, which meant he was not too attached to material gain and determined to make the best of his situation with the talent available. So far I am discovering that Marcus was ruthless about self-examination and eliminating anything from his schedule that he felt was unnecessary. It is said that this is the best ancient writing by a ruler, and I’m finding that a big statement considering I’m simultaneously reading Caesar’s fascinating Conquest of Gaul. They were about 200 years apart, so it’s like reading George Washington’s personal notes during the American Revolution (comparable to Caesar) and Obama’s memoirs after his Presidency finishes and he completes two wars (comparable to Marcus finishing the German wars). Apparently Marcus Aurelius was universally respected and admired, and he did work tirelessly and come to wise judgments.

Eureka! 81 Key Ideas Explained – Greek Philosophy: Plato’s Cave (idealism), The Three Laws of Thought; Beginnings of Modern Philosophy: “I Think, Therefore I Am” (Cogito Ergo Sum), Hume’s Fork, The Scandal of Induction

Plato’s cave is a good illustration of what we perceive as reality. Think of a group of men living in a cave, chained to their seats and only looking at a wall. The fire behind them only shows them shadows of figures on the wall. When they experience someone or something, it is as a wall-shadow, but if one escapes into the outside world, he sees things as they really are. For him to return and describe the world outside to his former companions would be insufficient for them to fully understand reality – they need to be freed. Plato posits only philosophy can free one’s mind to the ideal form of reality that exists in the world, which is unavailable to most chained minds. The Three Laws of Thought is basically Aristotle’s take: 1) A=A, 2) A cannot equal not-A, 3) if we’re discussing a quality A, then a thing will either have it or not: Either A or not-A (maybe like, either pregnant or not pregnant). And an Important note about Hume and Induction – the Scientific Method is based on experience – induction, basically, because we are empirically measuring things for experiments that are repeatable. However, Hume does not trust experience. Just because the sun has always risen every morning of your life does not prove that it must rise again tomorrow. Causality must not necessarily come from this experience, however it is a practical certainly, which was enough for Hume, but not for later philosophers. Kant, for example, mentioned a priori knowledge, or things you just know before experiencing them, like concepts of time and space. And another philosopher mentioned related to science was Popper (born in 1902) who, like Kant, said we are not really using induction. Popper is saying scientific hypotheses do not come from observation, but from creative imagination, and then we experiment to test theories. We are not really trying to prove our theories (or hypotheses) correct, but prove them false, and another hypothesis is created that is better. A theory that survives experiment gives us a good working description of reality. Popper also observes that the more general the theory is, the more useless it is: “Black swans exist somewhere in the world” is quite general, and not so useful. But “Black swans exist in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania” is more specific, easier to refute, and also more useful. 

June 2^nd

Great Short Stories – The Enchanted Bluff (Willa Cather) – beautifully written with descriptive passages of rivers and camping, boys around the campfire share where they would like to go upriver, looking for gold. One talks of a claim his wondering uncle had, which consisted of a bluff of red granite that went straight up and was basically unscalable. An old Indian village ruin is said to be on top, with perhaps some valuables. And they all express interest in going and promise to inform the others if any find out what’s on top of the Enchanted Bluff, but the cares of modern life take almost all possibility or desire from most of them to still speak of going there, yet the legend lives on. This story portrays well the feeling of young summer hopes and the encroachments of real life.

Conquest of Gaul – Caesar explains that when an enemy army asked for safe passage through his territory, and though he had no intention of allowing it, asked for time to think about it, which gave him time enough to build excellent defenses. When two of his legions cornered one-fourth of the enemy army on the wrong side of a river crossing, he regained Roman honor in victory and settled a private quarrel simultaneously, he notes. His wife’s great grandfather had been killed along with Roman consul Lucius Cassius by the same trapped unit he fortuitously demolished.

Eureka! 81 Key Ideas Explained – Ideas of God: Original Sin, Prime Mover, Occam ’s Razor, The Ontological Proof, Pascal’s Wager, “God is Dead;” Greek Philosophy: “Everything Changes but Change Itself,” “Man is the Measure of All Things,” Zeno’s Paradox – the author is mostly a hollow voice when bringing up any doubts about the Bible, but does a good job in explaining the science and pretty good job at the philosophy. For Occam’s Razor, I like the idea of keeping things simple, and it’s not the first time I’ve run across this. In the Pascal’s Wager section, which basically says “you have little to lose by believing in God but a LOT to lose if you don’t believe and are wrong,” there is a useful observation that science and philosophy or religion come at the question of God from different angles and cannot quite help each other out. The “Everything Changes but Change Itself” is delicious to the modern mind, which can easily grasp such ideas as “you can’t step in the same river twice.”

June 1^st

Through the Looking Glass – morning read about a dozen pages – she’s playing with a cat – makes me want one. Read Alice in Wonderland last academic year; want to finish this second part. Saw a chess puzzle.

Conquest of Gaul – fascinating journal of his time in France by Julius Caesar – read perhaps a dozen pages in evening. Caesar immediately describes the geography of France and the three main peoples there – the Gauls, or Celts, which were in the middle part were by no means the most militaristic of them. Caesar unabashedly and convincingly puts forth a strong case for the character of a people and its motivations being preprogrammed by its geography.

Great Short Stories – The Egg (Sherwood Anderson) – an odd story, but cute. The mood is a bit dark and dour, but the tone is humorous. While the story does mention quite a bit about chickens and eggs, since the narrator claims his parents gave up their egg farm in favor of a more ambitious pursuit – owning a small restaurant near a train stop. To drum up business, the father tries his hand at entertaining with info and tricks on all things eggs.

About this Journal–  Finalized reading list today, with page totals. It can be viewed as a three-month reading goal, from June through end-of-August, 2014, but will go as long as needed for each book to have comments here. When I am off in July, I am devoting 10 hours per day to reading, and will gauge my reading speed. Since I have high standards of comprehension, the goal will not be to plow through the material quickly, but thoughtfully. All books have been carefully chosen, and none have been completed before, although a few have been attempted.