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there is a prevalent manner of proceeding that has only unprofitable aspects: to wit, that which is at pains to make philosophical ideas popular, or more precisely, common, as soon as they appear on stage. Philosophy is, by its very nature, something esoteric, neither made for the vulgar as it stands [für sich], nor capable of being got up to suit the vulgar taste; it only is philosophy in virtue of being directly opposed to the understanding and hence even more opposed to healthy common sense, under which label we understand the limitedness in space and time of a race of men; in its relationship to common sense the world of philosophy is in and for itself an inverted world. When Alexander, having heard that his teacher was publishing written essays on his philosophy, wrote to him from the heart of Asia that he ought not to have vulgarized the philosophizing they had done together, Aristotle defended himself by saying that his philosophy was published and yet also not published. In the same way philosophy [now] must certainly admit [erkennen] the possibility that the people can rise to it, but it must not lower itself to the people. But in these times of freedom and equality, in which such a large educated public has been formed, that will not allow anything to be shut away from it, but considers itself good for anything – or everything good enough for it – in these times even the highest beauty and the greatest good have not been able to escape the fate of being mishandled by the common mob which cannot rise to what it sees floating above it, until it has been made common enough to be fit for their possessing; so that vulgarization has forced its way into being recognized as a meritorious kind of labour.
— G.W.F. Hegel
322
The realms of Image unconfined,
Formation, transformation,
Eternal play of the eternal mind,
With semblances of all things in creation,
For ever and for ever sweeping round.
— Goethe, Faust ll, Act ll.
322
Natale Bonifacio - Delle allvsioni, imprese, et emblemi del Sig. Principio Fabricii da Teramo sopra la vita, opere, et attioni di Gregorio XIII pontefice massimo, 1588.
322
Henry Carrington Bolton - Birth of the Philosopher's Stone, "The Follies of Science at the Court of Rudolph II”, 1904.
322
“The most valuable knowledge is always discovered last: but the most valuable knowledge consists of methods. All methods, all the hypotheses on which the science of our day depends, were treated with the profoundest contempt for centuries: on their account a man used to be banished from the society of respectable people — he was held to be an “enemy of God,” a reviler of the highest ideal, a madman. We had the whole pathos of mankind against us, — our notion of what “truth” ought to be, of what the service of truth ought to be, our objectivity, our method, our calm, cautious and distrustful manner were altogether despicable.... At bottom, that which has kept men back most, is an æsthetic taste: they believed in the picturesque effect of truth; what they demanded of the scientist was, that he should make a strong appeal to their imagination.
From the above, it would almost seem as if the very reverse had been achieved, as if a sudden jump had been made: as a matter of fact, the schooling which the moral hyperboles afforded, gradually prepared the way for that milder form of pathos which at last became incarnate in the scientific man....
Conscientiousness in small things, the self-control of the religious man, was a preparatory school for the scientific character, as was also, in a very pre-eminent sense, the attitude of mind which makes a man take problems seriously, irrespective of what personal advantage he may derive from them.”
322
“Pity thwarts the whole law of evolution, which is the law of natural selection. It seeks to preserve whatever is ripe for destruction.”
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THOU mighty gulf, insatiate cormorant,
Deride me not, though I seem petulant
To fall into thy chops. Let others pray
Forever their fair poems flourish may.
But as for me, hungry Oblivion,
Devour me quick. Accept my orison,
My earnest prayers which do importune thee,
With gloomy shade of thy still empery
To veil both me and my rude poesy.
Far worthier lines in silence of thy state
Do sleep securely, free from love or hate,
From which this, living, ne'er can be exempt,
But whilst it breathes will hate and fury tempt.
Then close his eyes with thy all-dimming hand
Which not right glorious actions can withstand.
Peace, hateful tongues! I now in silence pace
Unless some hound do wake me from my place.
I with this sharp yet well-meant poesy
Will sleep secure, right free from injury
Of canker'd hate or rankest villany.
— John Martson, To Everlasting Oblivion.
322
كِليني لِهَمٍّ يا أُمَيمَةَ ناصِبِ
وَلَيلٍ أُقاسيهِ بَطيءِ الكَواكِبِ
تَطاوَلَ حَتّى قُلتُ لَيسَ بِمُنقَضٍ
وَلَيسَ الَّذي يَرعى النُجومَ بِآئِبِ
وَصَدرٍ أَراحَ اللَّيلُ عازِبَ هَمِّهِ
تَضاعَفَ فيهِ الحُزنُ مِن كُلِّ جانِبِ
— النابغة الذبياني
322
«الحرب شيء بشع، بيد أنها ليست بأبشع الأشياء: فحال الشعور الأخلاقي والوطني الفاسد والمنحط الذي يحسب أن شيئًا لا يستحق قيام حرب من أجله إنما هي أمر أسوأ. [...] إن إنسانًا لا يملك شيئًا يجد نفسه مستعدًّا للقتال في سبيله، ولا شيئًا يحرص عليه أكثر من سلامة نفسه — ألَا إنه لمخلوق تَعِس ما من فرصة لديه ليكون حرًّا إلا إن جعله كذلك رجال آخرون يُفضلون عليه فيحافظون على حريته».
—John Stuart Mill, The Contest in America (a short essay), 1862.
