work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
5813,"","Searching ""mind"" in on-line offerings at Liberty Fund's Free-Press .",2005-05-26 00:00:00 UTC,"It may however be alledged that, ""if there be little difficulty in securing a current portion of wisdom, there may nevertheless be something to be feared from the passions of men. Law may be supposed to have been constructed in the tranquil serenity of the soul, a suitable monitor to check the inflamed mind with which the recent memory of ills might induce us to proceed to the exercise of coercion."" This is the most considerable argument that can be adduced in favour of the prevailing system, and therefore deserves a mature examination.",,15516,"•I've included thrice: Law, Monitor, Inflame","""Law may be supposed to have been constructed in the tranquil serenity of the soul, a suitable monitor to check the inflamed mind with which the recent memory of ills might induce us to proceed to the exercise of coercion""","",2009-09-14 19:43:52 UTC,"Vol. I, Of Candour"
5813,Ruling Passion,"Searching ""mind"" in on-line offerings at Liberty Fund's Free-Press .",2005-05-26 00:00:00 UTC,"When we talk of men's sinking into idleness if they be not excited by the stimulus of gain, we have certainly very little considered the motives that at present govern the human mind. We are deceived by the apparent mercenariness of mankind, and imagine that the accumulation of wealth is their great object. But the case is far otherwise. The present ruling passion of the human mind is the love of distinction. There is no doubt a class in society that are perpetually urged by hunger and need, and have no leisure for motives less gross and material. But is the class next above them less industrious than they? I exert a certain species of industry to supply my immediate wants; but these wants are soon supplied. The rest is exerted that I may wear a better coat, that I may clothe my wife with gay attire, that I may not merely have a shelter but a handsome habitation, not merely bread or flesh to eat, but that I may set it out with a suitable decorum. How many of these things would engage my attention, if I lived in a desert island, and had no spectators of my economy? If I survey the appendages of my person, is there one article that is not an appeal to the respect of my neighbours, or a refuge against their contempt? It is for this that the merchant braves the dangers of the ocean, and the mechanical inventor brings forth the treasures of his meditation. The soldier advances even to the cannon's mouth, the statesman exposes himself to the rage of an indignant people, because they cannot bear to pass through life without distinction and esteem. Exclusively of certain higher motives that will presently be mentioned, this is the purpose of all the great exertions of mankind. The man who has nothing to provide for but his animal wants, scarcely ever shakes off the lethargy of his mind; but the love of praise hurries us on to the most incredible achievements. Nothing is more common than to find persons who surpass the rest of their species in activity, inexcusably remiss in the melioration of their pecuniary affairs.",,15519,"","""The present ruling passion of the human mind is the love of distinction. ""","",2009-09-14 19:43:52 UTC,"Vol. I, Universality of the Love of Distinction"
5813,"","Searching ""mind"" in on-line offerings at Liberty Fund's Free-Press .",2005-05-26 00:00:00 UTC,"The equalisation we are describing is farther indebted for its empire in the mind to the ideas with which it is attended of personal happiness. It grows out of a simple, clear and unanswerable theory of the human mind, that we first stand in need of a certain animal subsistence and shelter, and after that, that our only true felicity consists in the expansion of our intellectual powers, the knowledge of truth, and the practice of virtue. It might seem at first sight as if this theory omitted a part of the experimental history of mind, the pleasures of sense and the pleasures of delusion. But this omission is apparent, not real. However many are the kinds of pleasure of which we are susceptible, the truly prudent man will sacrifice the inferior to the more exquisite. Now no man who has ever produced or contemplated the happiness of others with a liberal mind, will deny that this exercise is infinitely the most pleasurable of all sensations. But he that is guilty of the smallest excess of sensual pleasures, by so much diminishes his capacity of obtaining this highest pleasure. Not to add, if that be of any importance, that rigid temperance is the reasonable means of tasting sensual pleasures with the highest relish. This was the system of Epicurus, and must be the system of every man who ever speculated deeply on the nature of human happiness. For the pleasures of delusion, they are absolutely incompatible with our highest pleasure. If we would either promote or enjoy the happiness of others, we must seek to know in what it consists. But knowledge is the irreconcileable foe of delusion. In proportion as mind rises to its true element, and shakes off those prejudices which are the authors of our misery, it becomes incapable of deriving pleasure from flattery, fame or power, or indeed from any source that is not compatible with, or in other words does not make a part of the common good. The most palpable of all classes of knowledge is that I am, personally considered, but an atom in the ocean of mind.--The first rudiment therefore of that science of personal happiness which is inseparable from a state of equalisation, is, that I shall derive infinitely more pleasure from simplicity, frugality and truth, than from luxury, empire and fame. What temptation has a man, entertaining this opinion, and living in a state of equal property, to accumulate?",,15521,•INTEREST. Here equality and empire woudl seem to coexist. A fissure in Godwin's rhetoric?,"""The equalisation we are describing is farther indebted for its empire in the mind to the ideas with which it is attended of personal happiness.""","",2009-09-14 19:43:52 UTC,"Vol. I, To a Clear Insight into the Nature of Happiness: As Being Properly Intellectual"
5813,"","Searching ""mind"" in on-line offerings at Liberty Fund's Free-Press; confirmed in ECCO.",2005-05-26 00:00:00 UTC,"The application of these reasonings is simple and irresistible. If mind be now in a great degree the ruler of the system, why should it be incapable of extending its empire? If our involuntary thoughts can derange or restore the animal economy, why should we not in process of time, in this as in other instances, subject the thoughts which are at present involuntary to the government of design? If volition can now do something, why should it not go on to do still more and more? There is no principle of reason less liable to question than this, that, if we have in any respect a little power now, and if mind be essentially progressive, that power may, and, barring any extraordinary concussions of nature, infallibly will, extend beyond any bounds we are able to prescribe to it.
(II, p. 865)",,15523,"","""If mind be now in a great degree the ruler of the system, why should it be incapable of extending its empire?""",Empire,2014-07-13 02:22:52 UTC,"Book VIII, chapter 7. The Powers We Possess Are Essentially Progressive"
5813,"","Searching ""mind"" in on-line offerings at Liberty Fund's Free-Press .",2005-05-26 00:00:00 UTC,"It is a common error to imagine, that this injustice will be felt only by the lower orders who suffer from it; and hence it would appear that it can only be corrected by violence. But in answer to this it may in the first place be observed that all suffer from it, the rich who engross, as well as the poor who want. Secondly, it has been clearly shown in the course of the present work, that men are not so entirely governed by self interest as has frequently been supposed. It has been shown, if possible, still more clearly, that the selfish are not governed solely by sensual gratification or the love of gain, but that the desire of eminence and distinction is in different degrees an universal passion. Thirdly and principally, the progress of truth is the most powerful of all causes. Nothing can be more absurd than to imagine that theory, in the best sense of the word, is not essentially connected with practice. That which we can be persuaded clearly and distinctly to approve, will inevitably modify our conduct. Mind is not an aggregate of various faculties contending with each other for the mastery, but on the contrary the will is in all cases correspondent to the last judgment of the understanding. When men shall distinctly and habitually perceive the folly of luxury, and when their neighbours are impressed with a similar disdain, it will be impossible that they should pursue the means of it with the same avidity as before.",,15530,•INTEREST. Godwin's rue and subjection will not pit faculty against faculty. Egalitarian within and without? A politics of mind that matches an external politics?,"""the selfish are not governed solely by sensual gratification or the love of gain, but that the desire of eminence and distinction is in different degrees an universal passion""",Impression,2009-09-14 19:43:54 UTC,Vol. I. Cause of Equality Will Perpetually Advance
5826,"",Reading,2005-05-09 00:00:00 UTC,"Having satisfied my curiosity with respect to this paper, I took care to dispose of it in such a manner as that it should be found by Mr. Falkland; at the same time that, in obedience to the principle which at present governed me with absolute dominion, I was willing that the way in which it offered itself to his attention should suggest to him the idea that it had possibly passed through my hands. The next morning I saw him, and I exerted myself to lead the conversation, which bythis time I well knew how to introduce, by insensible degrees to the point I desired. After several previous questions, remarks, and rejoinders, I continued:--
(p. 191)",,15564,"•Note the momentary transparency of Falkland. On the page that follows Falkland looks at Caleb ""as if he would see my very soul"" (187)","I may act ""in obedience to the principle which at present governed me with absolute dominion""","",2009-09-14 19:43:59 UTC,""
5826,"",Reading,2005-05-09 00:00:00 UTC,"""But if I cannot, in the brief expostulation my present situation will allow, produce this desirable change in you, there is at least one thing I can do. I can put you upon your guard against a mischief I foresee to be imminent. Beware of Mr. Tyrrel. Do not commit the mistake of despising him as an unequal opponent. Petty causes may produce great mischiefs. Mr. Tyrrel is boisterous, rugged, and unfeeling; and you are too passionate, too acutely sensible of injury. It would be truly to be lamented, if a man so inferior, so utterly unworthy to be compared with you should be capable of changing your whole history into misery and guilt. I have a painful presentiment upon my heart, as if something dreadful would reach you from that quarter. Think of this. I exact no promise from you. I would not shackle you with fetters of suspicion; I would have you governed by justice and reason.""
(pp. 94)",2011-06-27,15566,Clare to Falkland,"""I would not shackle you with fetters of suspicion; I would have you governed by justice and reason.""",Fetters,2011-05-27 14:17:27 UTC,""
5930,"","Searching ""throne"" and ""heart"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2004-08-07 00:00:00 UTC,"E'en now, e'en now, on yonder Western shores
Weeps pale Despair, and writhing Anguish roars:
E'en now in Afric's groves with hideous yell
Fierce Slavery stalks, and slips the dogs of hell;
From vale to vale the gathering cries rebound,
And sable nations tremble at the sound!
--Ye bands of Senators! whose suffrage sways
Britannia's realms, whom either Ind obeys;
Who right the injured, and reward the brave,
Stretch your strong arm, for ye have power to save!
Throned in the vaulted heart, his dread resort,
Inexorable Conscience holds his court;
With still small voice the plots of Guilt alarms,
Bares his mask'd brow, his lifted hand disarms;
But, wrapp'd in night with terrors all his own,
He speaks in thunder, when the deed is done.
Hear him, ye Senates! hear this truth sublime,
""He, who allows oppression, shares the crime.""",,15760,"","""Throned in the vaulted heart, his dread resort, / Inexorable Conscience holds his court""","",2009-09-14 19:44:34 UTC,""
6855,"",Reading,2011-05-19 20:08:58 UTC,"As wise men are astonished at foolish things, and other people at wise ones, I know not on which ground to account for Mr. Burke's astonishment; but certain it is, that he does not understand the French Revolution. It has apparently burst forth like a creation from a chaos, but it is no more than the consequence of a mental revolution priorily existing in France. The mind of the nation had changed beforehand, and the new order of things has naturally followed the new order of thoughts. I will here, as concisely as I can, trace out the growth of the French Revolution, and mark the circumstances that have contributed to produce it.
(p. 238)",,18433,"","""It has apparently burst forth like a creation from a chaos, but it is no more than the consequence of a mental revolution priorily existing in France.""","",2011-05-19 20:08:58 UTC,Part One
5813,"",Searching online,2012-05-25 16:44:27 UTC,"To these questions the answer is exceedingly simple: Legislation, as it has been usually understood, is not an affair of human competence. Reason is the only legislator, and her decrees are irrevocable and uniform. The functions of society extend, not to the making, but the interpreting of law; it cannot decree, it can only declare that, which the nature of things has already decreed, and the propriety of which irresistibly flows from the circumstances of the case. Montesquieu says, that ""in a free state every man will be his own legislator."" This is not true, setting apart the functions of the community, unless in the limited sense already explained. It is the office of conscience to determine, ""not like an Asiatic cadi, according to the ebbs and flows of his own passions, but like a British judge, who makes no new law, but faithfully declares that law which he finds already written.""
(I.iii.v)",,19783,Cross-reference: See also the citation from Sterne!,"""Reason is the only legislator, and her decrees are irrevocable and uniform.""","",2012-05-25 16:44:27 UTC,"Book III, Chap. V."