What is man that he is mindful?

G. K. Chesterton, Heretics ch. 20 “Concluding Remarks on the Importance of Orthodoxy”

Man can be defined as an animal that makes dogmas.

This thesis is quite unconventional.  However, Chesterton has the foremost linguist of our day on his side.  His and their conclusions have important ramifications for self-determinism, learning theory, language, and theology.

Noam Chomsky, Reflections on Language ch. 1 “On Cognitive Capacity” pp. 22-23

Suppose that for a particular organism O, we manage to learn something about its cognitive capacity, developing a system of LT(O,D)’s [Learning Theory of an Organism in a Domain] for various choices of D with the rough properties sketched above.  We would then have arrived at a theory of “the mind of O,” to adapt a formulation of Anthony Kenny’s, as the innate capacity of O to construct cognitive structures, that is, to learn.

I depart here from Kenny’s formulation in two respects, which perhaps deserve mention.  He defines “mind” as a second-order capacity to acquire “intellectual abilities,” such as knowledge of English—the latter “itself a capacity or ability: an ability whose exercise is the speaking, understanding, reading of English.”  Moreover, “to have a mind is to have the capacity to acquire the ability to operate with symbols in such a way that it is one’s own activity that makes them symbols and confers meaning on them,” so that automata operating with formal elements that are symbols for us but not for them do not have minds. [e.g., working with computers.]  For the sake of this discussion, I have generalized here beyond first-order capacities involving operations with symbols, and am thus considering second-order capacities broader than “mind” in Kenny’s quite natural sense.  So far there is no issue beyond terminology. 

Secondly, I want to consider mind (in the narrower or broader sense) as an innate capacity to form cognitive structures, not first-order capacities to act.  The cognitive structures attained enter into our first-order capacities to act, but should not be identified with them.  Thus it does not seem to me quite accurate to take “knowledge of English” to be a capacity or ability, though it enters into the capacity or ability exercised in language use.  In principle, one might have the cognitive structure that we call “knowledge of English,” fully developed, with no capacity to use this structure; and certain capacities to carry out “intellectual activities” may involve no cognitive structures but merely a network of dispositions and habits, something quite different. 

Massachusetts Co.: the Spirit of the Puritans

Julian Hawthorne, United States: From the Landing of Columbus to the Signing of the Peace Protocol with Spain, vol. 1, pp. 69-72 (New York: Peter Fenelon Collier, 1898)

Boston and Salem grew: they were larger and more commodious at the end of the twelvemonth than they had been at its beginning; but more cannot be said.  Sickness, misfortune, and scarcity handicapped the settlers; many died; the yield of their crops was wholly inadequate to their needs; servants whose work was indispensable could not be paid, and were set free to work for themselves, and the outlook was in all respects gloomy.  If the enterprise was to be saved, the Lord must speedily send succor.

The Lord did not forget His people.  A great relief was already preparing for them, and the way of it was thus.—

The record of the former chartered companies had shown that conducting the affairs of colonists on the other side of the ocean was attended with serious difficulties on both parts.  The colonists could not make their needs known with precision enough, or in season, to have them adequately met; and the governing company was unable to get a close knowledge of its business, or to explain and enforce its requirements.  Furthermore, there was liable to be continual vexatious interference on the part of the king and his officers, detrimental to the welfare of colonists and company alike.

The men who constituted the Massachusetts Company were not concerned respecting the pecuniary profits of the venture, inasmuch as they looked only for the treasures which moth nor rust can corrupt; their “plantation” was to the glory of God, not to the imbursement of man.  Nor were they anxious to impose their will upon the emigrants, or solicitous lest the latter should act unseemly; for the men who were there were of the same character and aim as those who ere in England, and there could be no differences between them beyond such as might legitimately arise as to the most expedient way of reaching a given end.  But the Company could easily apprehend that the king and his ministers might meddle with their projects and bring them to naught; and since those affairs, unlike mercantile ones, were not of a nature to admit of compromise, they earnestly desired to prevent this contingency.

Debating the matter among themselves, the leaders of the organization conceived the idea of establishing the headquarters of the Company in the midst of the emigrants in America: of becoming, in other words, emigrants themselves, and working side by side with their brethren for the common good.  This plan offered manifest attractions; it would remove them from unwelcome propinquity to the Court, would be of great assistance to the work to do which the Company was formed, would give them the satisfaction of feeling that they were giving their hands as well as their hearts to the service of God, and, not least, would give notice to all the Puritans in England, now a great and influential body, that America was the most suitable ground for their earthly sojourning.

These considerations determined them; and it remained only to put the plan into execution.  Twelve men of wealth and education, eminent among whom was John Winthrop, the future governor of the little commonwealth, met and exchanged solemn vows that, if the transference could legally be established, they would personally voyage to New England and take up their permanent residence there.  The question was shortly after put to the general vote, and unanimously agreed to; a commercial corporation (as ostensibly the Company was) created itself the germ of an independent commonwealth; and on October 20 John Winthrop was chosen governor for the ensuing twelvemonth; money was subscribed to defray expenses; as speedily as possible ships were chartered or purchased; the numbers of the members of the Company were increased, and their resources augmented, by the addition of many outside persons in harmony with the movement, and willing to support it with their fortunes and themselves; and by the early spring of 1630 a fleet of no less than seventeen ships, accommodating nearly a thousand emigrants representing the very best blood and brain of England, was ready to sail.

At the moment of departing, there was a quailing of the spirit on the part of some of the emigrants; but Winthrop comforted them; he told them that they must “keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace”; that, in the wilderness, they would see more of God than they could in England; and that their plantation should be of such a quality that the founders of future plantations should pray that “The Lord make it likely that of New England.”  These were good words.  Nevertheless, there were not a few seceders, and it was not till the year had advanced that the full number of vessels found their way to the port of Boston.  But eleven ships, including the Arbella which bore Winthrop, sailed at once, with seven hundred men and women, and every appliance that experience and forethought could suggest for the convenience and furtherance of life in a new country.  Their going made a deep impression throughout England.

And well it might!  For these people were not unknown and rude, like the Plymouth Pilgrims; they were not fiercely intolerant fanatics, whose sincerity might be respected, but whose company must be irksome to all less extreme than themselves.  They were of gentle blood and training; persons whose acquaintance was a privilege; who added to the richness and charm of social life.  That people of this kind should remove themselves to the wilderness meant much more, to the average mind, than that religious outcasts like the Pilgrims should do so.  For the latter, one place might be as good as another; but that the others should give up their homes and traditions for the hardships and isolation of such an existence seemed incomprehensible; and when no other motive could be found than that which they professed—“the honor of God”—grave thoughts could not but be awakened.  The sensation was somewhat the same as if, in our day, a hundred thousand of the most favorably known and highly endowed persons in the country were to remove to Chinese Tartary to escape from the corruption and frivolity of business and social life, and to create an ideal community in the desert.  We could smile at such a hegira if Tom, Dick and Harry were concerned in it; but if the men and women of light and leading abandon us, the implied indictment is worth heeding.

Before Dawn

Lessons for political and economic prosperity without the attitude of capitalism.
 

Julian Hawthorne (Son of Nathaniel Hawthorne), United States: From the Landing of Columbus to the Signing of the Peace Protocol with Spain, vol. 1, pp. 9-12. (New York: Peter Fenelon Collier, 1898)

The most dangerous enemy of America has been—not Spain, France, England, or any other nation in arms, but—our own material prosperity.  The lessons of adversity we took to heart, and they brought forth wholesome fruit, purifying our blood and toughening our muscles.  So long as the Spirit of Liberty was threatened from without, she was safe and triumphant.  But when her foes abroad had ceased to harry her, a foe far more insidious began to plot against her in her own house. 

The tireless energy and ingenuity which are our most salient characteristics, and which had rendered us formidable and successful on sea and land, were turned by peace into productive channels.  The enormous natural resources of the continent began to receive development; men who under former conditions would have been admirals and generals, now became leaders in commerce, manufactures and finance; they made great fortunes, and set up standards of emulation other than patriotism and public spirit.  Like the old Spanish and English adventurers, they sought for gold, and held all other things secondary to that. 

An anomalous oligarchy sprang into existence, holding no ostensible political or social sway, yet influential in both directions by virtue of the power of money.  Money can be possessed by the evil as well as by the good, and it can be used to tempt the good to condone evil. 

The exalted maxim of human equality was interpreted to mean that all Americans could be rich; and the spectacle was presented of a mighty and generous nation fighting one another for mere material wealth.  Inevitably, the lower and baser elements of the population came to the surface and seemed to rule; the ordinary citizen, on whom the welfare of the State depends, allowed his private business interest to wean him from the conduct of public affairs, which thereby fell into the hands of professional politicians, who handled them for their personal gain instead of for the common weal.  We forgot that pregnant saying, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” and suffered ourselves to be persuaded that because our written Constitution was a wise and patriotic document, we were forever safe even from the effects of our own selfishness and infidelity. 

As some men are more skillful and persistent manipulators of money than others, it happened that the capital of the country became massed in one place and was lacking in another; the numbers of the poor, and of paupers, increased; and the rich were able to control their political action and sap their self-respect by dominating the employment market.  “Do my bidding, or starve,” is a cogent argument; it should never be in the power of any man to offer it; but it was heard over the length and breadth of free America. 

The efforts of laboring men, by organization, to check the power of capitalists, was met by the latter with organizations of their own, which, in the form of vast “trusts” and otherwise, deprived small manufacturers and traders of the power of self-support.  Strikes and lockouts were the natural outcome of such a situation; and the sinister prospect loomed upon us of labor and capital arrayed against each other in avowed hostility.

Danger from this cause, however, is more apparent than actual.  The remedy, in the last resort, is always in ourselves.  Laws as to land and contracts may be modified, but the true cure for all such injuries and inequalities is to cease to regard the amassing of “fortunes” as the most desirable end in life.  The land is capable of supporting in comfort far more than its present population; ignorance or selfish disregard of the true principles of economy have made it seem otherwise. 

The proper state of every man is that of a producer; the craving of individuals to own what they have not fairly earned and cannot usefully administer, is vain and disorderly.  Men will always be born who have the genius of management; and others who require to have their energies directed; some can profitably control resources which to others would be a mischievous burden. 

But this truth does not involve any extravagant discrepancy in the private means and establishments of one or the other; each should have as much as his needs, intelligence and taste legitimately warrant, and no more.  Such matters will gradually adjust themselves, once the underlying principle has been accepted. 

Meanwhile we may remember that national health is not always synonymous with peace.  It was the warning of our Lord—“I am not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  The war which is waged with powder and ball is often less contrary to true peace than the war which exists while all the outward semblances of peace are maintained.  We must not be misled by names. 

America is perhaps too prone to regard herself in a passive light, as the refuge merely of the oppressed and needy; but she has an active mission too.  She stands for so much that is contrary to the ideas that have hitherto ruled the world that she can hardly hope to avoid the hostility, and possibly the attacks, of the representatives of the old order.  These, she must be able and ready to repel.  We have freely shed our blood for our own freedom; and we should not forget that, though charity begins at home, it need not end there. 

We should not interpret too strictly the maxims which admonish us to mind our own housekeeping, and to avoid entanglements with the quarrels or troubles of our neighbors.  We should not say to the tide of our liberties, Thus far shalt thou go, and no further.  America is not a geographical expression, and arbitrary geographical boundaries should not be permitted to limit the area which her principles control.  We, who seek to bind the other nations to ourselves by ties of commerce, should recognize the obligations of other ties, whose value cannot be expressed in money.

America wears her faults upon her forehead, not in her heart; her history is just beginning; she herself dreams not yet what her ultimate destiny will be.  But so far as her brief past may serve as a key wherewith to open the future, a study of it will not be idle.

TFG: Seeing the kingdom

JESUS ATTENDS THE FIRST PASSOVER OF
HIS MINISTRY.
(Jerusalem, April 9, A. D. 27.)

Subdivision B.
JESUS TALKS WITH NICODEMUS.
^dJOHN III. 1-21.

      ^d1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:   2 the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him.  

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.   6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.   7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew.   8 The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.  

9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?  

10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?   11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.   12 If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?   13 And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven.  

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up;   15 that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.   16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.  
17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.   18 He that believeth on him is not judged; he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.  

19 And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.   20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.   21 But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.