work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
5713,"",Searching in Past Masters ,2005-05-03 00:00:00 UTC,"1. Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm it.
In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while. The principle of utility†1 recognizes this subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that system, the object of which is to rear the fabric of felicity by the hands of reason and of law. Systems which attempt to question it, deal in sounds instead of sense, in caprice instead of reason, in darkness instead of light. But enough of metaphor and declamation: it is not by such means that moral science is to be improved.
(p. 11)
",,15241,"","""Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.""","",2009-09-14 19:43:07 UTC,I.ii.1. Of the Principle of Utility
5713,"",Searching in Past Masters ,2005-05-03 00:00:00 UTC,"1. Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm it.
In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while. The principle of utility†1 recognizes this subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that system, the object of which is to rear the fabric of felicity by the hands of reason and of law. Systems which attempt to question it, deal in sounds instead of sense, in caprice instead of reason, in darkness instead of light. But enough of metaphor and declamation: it is not by such means that moral science is to be improved.
(p. 11)
",,15242,"•INTEREST: Metaphor and declamation are not ""such means"" that will improve moral science.","""In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire [pain and pleasure]: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while""","",2009-09-14 19:43:07 UTC,I.ii.1. Of the Principle of Utility
5722,Blank Slate; Materialism,"Searching ""tabula rasa"" in ECCO",2006-10-14 00:00:00 UTC,"""I conceive that a newly created spiritual substance would be a perfect tabula rasa, without a single idea till it was supplied by its own experience and reflection; nor can I understand how matter, mere matter, unconnected with a really active substance, could begin to perceive or reflect at all. I conceive the highest and most perfect spirits which God first created to have made almost infinite improvements in wisdom and understanding, in the long duration of their existence, and to be still making daily additions. This I take to be the very case with the human mind, when it exerts itself with diligence, and has leisure and means of improvement. the external senses certainly grow more dull and inefficient by time, and we often find the most sublime mental attainments in those who have long lost the organs of both sight and hearing.""
(p. 13n.)",,15252,•Holmes doesn't say if (or whom) he is quoting. REVISIT.,"""I conceive that a newly created spiritual substance would be a perfect tabula rasa, without a single idea till it was supplied by its own experience and reflection; nor can I understand how matter, mere matter, unconnected with a really active substance, could begin to perceive or reflect at all.""",Writing,2009-09-14 19:43:09 UTC,""
6712,"","Searching ""emporium"" and ""brain"" in Google Books",2010-06-07 15:19:55 UTC,"As we are of opinion then, sufficiently founded we suppose, that the different organs are completed only as they become requisite and necessary; consequently, we believe the evolution of the generative organs in both sexes must be among the last efforts of the increase and completion of the body. This evolution could not have taken place earlier. If it had, the mind must have been affected by these impulses which announce the maturation of these organs by which we know the mind and body are connected; but this is not the case. In neither of the sexes is there one idea betrayed, before puberty, of that necessary union of the sexes. They think not about it; because, if you will, they know no more about it, than the infant does of right and wrong. Hence we believe, that the propensities and affections which indicate the maturity and power of organs, are simultaneous with these organs, and the contrary. Besides, these organs, and the ideas originating and combined with them, could not, consistently with the wisdom of Nature, have been brought forward before puberty. In the male, the foundation and powers of maturation, of that strength, and of those more rational qualities which belong to him, are laid before puberty: hence communication with the female, before these are finally arranged and secured, is inefficient, and entails upon him debility both of body and mind. The same thing holds, as far as the same ends are concerned, with respect to the female; and we cannot suppose that Nature could be so idly eccentric, as to punish the female with a disposition or propensity to procreate, before the body was capable of undergoing the various disorders and dangers of pregnancy and parturition. We have already hinted, that for the same, or similar reasons, none of the ordinary organs of sense are qualified to receive or communicate distinct impressions, till the brain, the common emporium of them all, has acquired those properties which must fit it for its arduous offices; and, as in the case already more particularly investigated, the powers of the mind, gradually unfolding themselves simultaneously with the organs of the body which are to support them, countenance the opinion. We are disposed to enter at much length into a metaphysical disquisition, concerning the rise, progress, and connection, of the powers of the body and mind, this part of our enquiry almost necessarily demands it. We shall only observe, however, that it is in the manner which we have been describing, that that power of the mind, which the philosophers of modern times call Common sense, seems to originate, and to be completed. This faculty operates to our conviction, though only with what may be called the rationality of maturity, by an instantaneous, instinctive, and irresistible impulse, not by the slow progress of comparison and argumentation. In infancy and youth it is scarcely perceptible, or very imperfect; and, as we have said, it is only when the different organs of sense have been completely evolved, and all their parts sound and just, that this: power of the mind is finally effectuated and established. This faculty, though it seems essentially different from Reason, is no doubt the origin of it; for the extension of common sense, from memory, of rather from comparison, and what may be called the balance of the senses, constitutes what is called Reason and Judgment. We have said, that while the organs are incomplete, from infancy, or from disease, their communication with the understanding is also unjust and incomplete. Those who have been born blind, or whose eyes have been destroyed in infancy, before they were become useful, have none of those ideas which depend upon the eye; it is the same with the deaf, and in all cases of ideas depending upon one sense: and we may add, as perfectly in our way, the early castrated have no comprehension of, or propensity to, the gratifications of love. In disease, something similar happens, which, though it is not precisely to our purpose, seems to confirm our general ideas. The diseased organ transmits partially or incompletely to the sensorium; and the action of the mind is proportionally erroneous and incomplete. When both eyes are found and active, they communicate in the same instant with what are called corresponding points in the sensorium; that is, two sensations perfectly similar are communicated in the same instant; and therefore, in the sensorium, only one perception can be recorded: But if the communication of one of the eyes is retarded by disease, or by any other circumstance, the progress of sensation becomes unequal, the sensorium will receive two impulses from the same object, though the application to the external organs happened at the fame instant, and hence vision will be double. In the same manner the musician, from a temporary defect, or from accidental disease, in the organ of hearing upon one side, was tortured with the repetition of a single sound; and every boy knows, though disease acts not here, that if he rolls a ball in the hollow of his left hand, by the two first fingers of his right, so firmly plaited over one another that the second is in fact compressed by the first, that he cannot scarcely avoid believing he is rolling a couple of balls at the same time.
(82-88)",,17858,"","""We have already hinted, that for the same, or similar reasons, none of the ordinary organs of sense are qualified to receive or communicate distinct impressions, till the brain, the common emporium of them all, has acquired those properties which must fit it for its arduous offices; and, as in the case already more particularly investigated, the powers of the mind, gradually unfolding themselves simultaneously with the organs of the body which are to support them, countenance the opinion.""","",2010-06-07 15:19:55 UTC,""
6816,"",Reading,2011-03-23 03:53:50 UTC,"These instances, and a great many more which might be adduced, while they shew how the complexions of the same persons vary in different climates, it is hoped may tend also to remove the prejudice that some conceive against the natives of Africa on account of their colour. Surely the minds of the Spaniards did not change with their complexions! Are there not causes enough to which the apparent inferiority of an African may be ascribed, without limiting the goodness of God, and supposing he forbore to stamp understanding on certainly his own image, because ""carved in ebony."" Might it not naturally be ascribed to their situation? When they come among Europeans, they are ignorant of their language, religion, manners, and customs. Are any pains taken to teach them these? Are they treated as men? Does not slavery itself depress the mind, and extinguish all its fire and every noble sentiment? But, above all, what advantages do not a refined people possess over those who are rude and uncultivated. Let the polished and haughty European recollect that his ancestors were once, like the Africans, uncivilized, and even barbarous. Did Nature make them inferior to their sons? and should they too have been made slaves? Every rational mind answers, No. Let such reflections as these melt the pride of their superiority into sympathy for the wants and miseries of their sable brethren, and compel them to acknowledge, that understanding is not confined to feature or colour. If, when they look round the world, they feel exultation, let it be tempered with benevolence to others, and gratitude to God, ""who hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth; and whose wisdom is not our wisdom, neither are our ways his ways.""
(I.i, pp. 42-4)",,18247,"","""Are there not causes enough to which the apparent inferiority of an African may be ascribed, without limiting the goodness of God, and supposing he forbore to stamp understanding on certainly his own image, because 'carved in ebony.'""",Impressions,2013-08-18 21:08:51 UTC,Chapter 1
6816,"",Reading,2011-03-23 03:55:55 UTC,"These instances, and a great many more which might be adduced, while they shew how the complexions of the same persons vary in different climates, it is hoped may tend also to remove the prejudice that some conceive against the natives of Africa on account of their colour. Surely the minds of the Spaniards did not change with their complexions! Are there not causes enough to which the apparent inferiority of an African may be ascribed, without limiting the goodness of God, and supposing he forbore to stamp understanding on certainly his own image, because ""carved in ebony."" Might it not naturally be ascribed to their situation? When they come among Europeans, they are ignorant of their language, religion, manners, and customs. Are any pains taken to teach them these? Are they treated as men? Does not slavery itself depress the mind, and extinguish all its fire and every noble sentiment? But, above all, what advantages do not a refined people possess over those who are rude and uncultivated. Let the polished and haughty European recollect that his ancestors were once, like the Africans, uncivilized, and even barbarous. Did Nature make them inferior to their sons? and should they too have been made slaves? Every rational mind answers, No. Let such reflections as these melt the pride of their superiority into sympathy for the wants and miseries of their sable brethren, and compel them to acknowledge, that understanding is not confined to feature or colour. If, when they look round the world, they feel exultation, let it be tempered with benevolence to others, and gratitude to God, ""who hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth; and whose wisdom is not our wisdom, neither are our ways his ways.""
(pp. 42-4)",,18248,"","""Does not slavery itself depress the mind, and extinguish all its fire and every noble sentiment?""",Fetters,2013-03-09 16:31:58 UTC,Chapter 1
6816,"",Reading; found again searching ECCO-TCP,2011-03-23 03:58:49 UTC,"I HOPE the reader will not think I have trespassed on his patience in introducing myself to him with some account of the manners and customs of my country. They had been implanted in me with great care, and made an impression on my mind, which time could not erase, and which all the adversity and variety of fortune I have since experienced, served only to rivet and record; for, whether the love of one's country be real or imaginary, or a lesson of reason, or an instinct of nature, I still look back with pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow.
(I.ii, pp. 45-6)",,18249,"","""They [African customs] had been implanted in me with great care, and made an impression on my mind, which time could not erase, and which all the adversity and variety of fortune I have since experienced served only to rivet and record; for, whether the love of one's country be real or imaginary, or a lesson of reason, or an instinct of nature, I still look back with pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow.""",Impressions,2013-08-18 20:40:07 UTC,Chapter 2
6816,"",Reading,2011-03-23 04:08:56 UTC,"From the time I left my own nation I always found somebody that understood me till I came to the sea coast. The languages of different nations did not totally differ, nor were they so copious as those of the Europeans, particularly the English. They were therefore easily learned; and, while I was journeying thus through Africa, I acquired two or three different tongues. In this manner I had been travelling for a considerable time, when one evening to my great surprise, whom should I see brought to the house where I was but my dear sister! As soon as she saw me she gave a loud shriek, and ran into my arms—I was quite overpowered: neither of us could speak; but, for a considerable time, clung to each other in mutual embraces, unable to do any thing but weep. Our meeting affected all who saw us; and indeed I must acknowledge, in honour of those sable destroyers of human rights, that I never met with any ill treatment, or saw any offered to their slaves, except tying them, when necessary, to keep them from running away. When these people knew we were brother and sister, they indulged us to be together; and the man, to whom I supposed we belonged, lay with us, he in the middle, while she and I held one another by the hands across his breast all night; and thus for a while we forgot our misfortunes in the joy of being together: but even this small comfort was scon to have an end; for scarcely had the fatal morning appeared, when she was again torn from me for ever! I was now more miserable, if possible, than before. The small relief which her presence gave me from pain was gone, and the wretchedness of my situation was redoubled by my anxiety after her fate, and my apprehensions lest her sufferings should be greater than mine, when I could not be with her to alleviate them. Yes, thou dear partner of all my childish sports! thou sharer of my joys and sorrows! happy should I have ever esteemed myself to encounter every misery for you, and to procure your freedom by the sacrifice of my own. Though you were early forced from my arms, your image has been always rivetted in my heart, from which neither time nor fortune have been able to remove it; so that, while the thoughts of your sufferings have damped my prosperity, they have mingled with adversity and increased its bitterness.
(I.ii, p. 59-61)",,18250,Rivets and dictionaries... An irony of slavery metaphorics? ,"""Though you were early forced from my arms, your image has been always rivetted in my heart, from which neither time nor fortune have been able to remove it; so that, while the thoughts of your sufferings have damped my prosperity, they have mingled with adversity and increased its bitterness.""","",2013-08-18 20:40:49 UTC,Chapter 2
7331,"","Reading Peter Dorsey's Common Bondage: Slavery as Metaphor in Revolutionary America (Knoxville: U. of Tennessee Press, 2009), 33.",2013-03-07 16:06:15 UTC,"[...] With respect to the other species of poor people, such as have a place of abode, and are aged and infirm, we need no other proof of their distress and misery, than the testimony of every English traveller who has ever passed through the country, who will tell you, that, wherever he has stopped to change horses, numbers of poor unhappy people crowded round his post-chaise, soliciting the boon of a single liard. Ignorant of the state of the poor in other parts of Europe, I can only hope it is not more deplorable than in those I am acquainted with. Let any man of candour declare, whether the state of servitude and bondage, in which the poor are held both in France and England, does not merit the name of slavery, and justify the assertion of its universal existence at present, as well as the opinion of its having existed from the remotest antiquity, and that it ever must exist in the world--that it is a genus of the state of man, of which the different kinds of servitude are distinct species--that, as it is impossible totally to eradicate it, or put a stop even to the sale and purchase of the Negroes in Africa which is only one branch of the commerce of the human species, so the modification of the kind of servitude in usage in any country is not rashly to be attempted, nor, in any case, to be undertaken by persons not intimately acquainted with it in all its circumstances. Can any gentlemen in England, if they possessed the power, presume themselves competent to frame laws for the enfranchisement of all the serfs in Russia or Poland? Can any man believe, that, if those people were at this moment set free from all controul of their lords, and deprived of their cottages, and their present method of subsisting themselves, they would not be driven to pillage and devastation for their support? That such would be the consequence of giving a nominal freedom to the Negroes in the West Indies is most certain. They must, in such case, be compelled to work, by laws far more severe than the present, and those laws must be much more rigorously executed than what they are now governed by. Neither could such severity be disapproved of by the people of any nation, who, however free their poor are, oblige them to work. The difficulty the poor find of subsisting themselves throughout Europe, even in Great Britain and Ireland, where liberty is so popular a theme, is evident, from the frequent emigrations we hear of. In what does their superior happiness consist?--In the power of abandoning their native country, and changing their masters.--Be it so. I do not mean to enter into a comparison between the different degrees of servitude. Let it be believed, that the Negroes, in that particular, experience an harder lot than Europeans. It in no degree invalidates the argument, that such a desire of change, such frequent emigrations of the poor of Europe, is very far from being a proof of a superior degree of happiness.
(pp. 203-5) ",,19969,"","""Let any man of candour declare, whether the state of servitude and bondage, in which the poor are held both in France and England, does not merit the name of slavery, and justify the assertion of its universal existence at present, as well as the opinion of its having existed from the remotest antiquity, and that it ever must exist in the world--that it is a genus of the state of man, of which the different kinds of servitude are distinct species--that, as it is impossible totally to eradicate it, or put a stop even to the sale and purchase of the Negroes in Africa which is only one branch of the commerce of the human species, so the modification of the kind of servitude in usage in any country is not rashly to be attempted, nor, in any case, to be undertaken by persons not intimately acquainted with it in all its circumstances.""",Fetters,2013-03-07 16:06:15 UTC,""
7574,"",Reading,2013-07-25 15:59:59 UTC,"It would not be to the present purpose, even if I had the means and materials, which I have not, to enter into the private life of Mr. Gainsborough. The history of his gradual advancement, and the means by which he acquired such excellence in his art, would come nearer to our purpose and wishes, if it were by any means attainable; but the flow progress of advancement is in general, imperceptible to the man himself who makes it; it is the consequence of an accumulation of various ideas, which his mind has received, he does not, perhaps, know how or when. Sometimes indeed it happens, that he may be able to mark the time, when from the sight of a picture, a passage in an author, or a hint in conversation, he has received, as it were, some new and guiding light, something like inspiration, by which his mind has been expanded, and is morally sure that his whole life and conduct has been affected by that accidental circumstance. Such interesting accounts we may however sometimes obtain from a man, who has acquired an uncommon habit of self-examination, and has attended to the progress of his own improvement.
(pp. 5-6)",,22072,"","""Sometimes indeed it happens, that he may be able to mark the time, when from the sight of a picture, a passage in an author, or a hint in conversation, he has received, as it were, some new and guiding light, something like inspiration, by which his mind has been expanded, and is morally sure that his whole life and conduct has been affected by that accidental circumstance.""","",2013-07-25 15:59:59 UTC,""