Posts

Showing posts from December, 2004

Tolstoy, after Rousseau, on Knowledge and Wisdom

“Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which are completely unnecessary to know. Among the most necessary knowledge is the knowledge of how to live well, that is, how to produce the least possible evil and the greatest goodness in one’s life. At present, people study useless sciences, but forget to study this, the most important knowledge.”

To my wife

Since (you say) I am getting to be quite forgetful (I don't remember why), at least I am not like this poor bloke: Two poems on Jonathan Bing by Betrice Curtis Brown Oh, Jonathan Bing, oh, Bingathon Jon! Forgets where he's going and thinks he has gone. He wears his false teeth on the top of his head, And always stands up when he's sleeping in bed. Oh, Jonathan Bing has a curious way Of trying to walk into yesterday. "If I end with my breakfast and start with my tea, I ought to be able to do it," says he. Oh, Jonathan Bing is a miser, they say, For be likes to save trouble and put it away. "If I never get up in the morning," he said, "I shall save all the trouble of going to bed!" "Oh, Jonathan Bing, what a way to behave! And what do you do with the trouble you save'" "I wrap it up neatly and send it by post To my friends and relations who need it the most.'' *************** Poor old Jonathan Bing Went out in his carri

What I like about Scrooge

I just have to post this article as it is thought provoking: In what ways is the logic right? Is Scrooge the good guy? How does the article oppose Biblical Christianity? "What I Like About Scrooge: In praise of misers." By Steven E. Landsburg Posted Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004, at 11:18 AM PT Here's what I like about Ebenezer Scrooge: His meager lodgings were dark because darkness is cheap, and barely heated because coal is not free. His dinner was gruel, which he prepared himself. Scrooge paid no man to wait on him. Scrooge has been called ungenerous. I say that's a bum rap. What could be more generous than keeping your lamps unlit and your plate unfilled, leaving more fuel for others to burn and more food for others to eat? Who is a more benevolent neighbor than the man who employs no servants, freeing them to wait on someone else? Oh, it might be slightly more complicated than that. Maybe when Scrooge demands less coal for his fire, less coal ends up being mined. But th