Squashed Philosophers

I just posted this "fake" comment so you can we what they will look like. Obviously, your comments should be considerably more thorough... The "My Two Cents" answer is probably a paragraph, but the explanations can probably each be done in a couple of sentences.

Jostein Gaarder
Sophie's World
1991

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
This work mixes a course in philosophy with a complex plot about a young girl. (I don't want to say more and spoil anyone's reading...)

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS

* Sophie Amundsen finds herself the recipient of mysterious letters and postcards, as well as philosophy lessons from Alberto Knox.

* Sophie begins to question much of what she knows (and doesn't know) about her own life and the world around her.

* The plot grows increasingly mysterious and complex until...

QUOTABLE
"Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?"

MY TWO CENTS
It was the greatest book that I have ever read. I'd give it more than two thumbs up, except I only have two thumbs...

Author: Plato
Title: The Symposium (or The Dinner Party)
Written: approximately 350 BC

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
A group of well-known Greek philosophers are having a dinner party in which they discuss their views on love, the nature of love, and the differing forms of love.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS
1. According to Aristophanes, the desire for love exists because the first androgynous humans created by the gods were halved into men and women. As a result, people feel love because they want to become one soul/being, as they were before the gods divided them.
2. There are two forms of love: heavenly or virtuous love (“love of the mind”) and vulgar love (“love of the flesh”). Several of the philosophers argued that humans must pursue virtuous love because it is truest, possesses the most character, and is most lasting. Some argued that people pursue physical attraction prior to pursuing intellectual attraction.
3. The philosophers all agree that love holds tremendous power, especially relative to the other gods. One of the men states that if humans were actually able to realize the greatness of love, there would be more temples honoring Love than any other god.

QUOTABLE
1. “So Love is not a mortal, nor a god, since we have seen that he does not possess all beauty and goodness and happiness, which we must acknowledge the gods to possess, but is something intermediate, a daemon, interpreting between the divine and the human.”- Socrates
2. “In whatsoever field this desire of immortality by propagation moves us, we must be attracted by the beautiful, and by beauty of soul more divinely than by beauty of form.”- Socrates
3. “For Love's virtue and power, mark that no violence is used by him, nor touches him; and he is most temperate, for he is stronger than all delights and desires.”-Agathon

MY TWO CENTS
Overall, I would say this reading was rather straight-forward and easy to understand. The views attributed to Socrates in the story were a bit confusing, but most of the speech was in modern language. In terms of content, the work gave a good presentation on philosophical views of love and the forms of love. However, when measured against other philosophical issues, it might be of somewhat lesser importance, especially because there is not much disagreement (at least among those in the story) about the issue. For class use, I would say the squashed version is adequate and would probably be worthy of a look-over, but the work didn’t offer any remarkable or unheard of conclusions. Finally, the story had value because it presented the views on love of numerous notable philosophers.

1. René Descartes
2. Meditations of First Philosophy
3. 1641

4. Everything we know, about the physical world and god, is based on the idea, "I think, therefore I am."

5. I know absolutely nothing except for the fact that I think, therefore, I must exist. All ideas have a cause, therefore, god must exist to give everything a purpose. I can imagine things that exist because of math and my senses, even though I get things wrong sometimes they must exist because god exists.

6. "I think, therefore I am."

7. I thought that the squashed people did a good job making Descartes more understandable. However, his arguments focus a lot on logic and mathematics, he seems to use tons of syllogism which is sometimes hard to follow, but it was certainly worth the time.

Author: Baruch Spinoza
Title: Ethics
Written: 1677

Very Squashed Summary:
Spinoza talks about humans, God, human feelings and emotions, freedom, and more

Less Squashed Explanations:
1. Two substances, whose attributes are different, have nothing in common
2. God acts solely by the laws of his own nature, and is not constrained by anyone
3. All ideas, in so far as they are referred to God, are true
4. A man is as much affected pleasurably or painfully by the image of a thing past or future as by the image of a thing present
5. Joy is pleasure accompanied by the idea of something past, which has had an issue beyond our hope

Quotable:
"All things are in God"
"Emotions of hope and fear cannot exist without pain; fear is pain and hope cannot exist without fear"
"The more we understand particular things, the more de we understand God."

My Two Cents:
I thought some of Spinoza's ideas were really confusing and hard to understand. Most of the difficult to read sections were about God and Human nature...however, I really enjoyed reading about emotions and how to define specific feelings. I think the emotion section is definitely worth reading!

Niccolo Machiavelli
The Prince
Written 1513, published 1532, 5 years of Machiavelli's death

Summary: Essentially a letter to Lorenzo de Medici,urging him to promote a champion to unite Italy against the invaders plaguing it. The twist is that he encourages methods of treachery, intrigue, subterfuge and tyranny to achieve this.

- 'A prince must study war, read history and know his land. He must appear to be good, but know how to be evil. He should not fear to be thought mean, for liberality is ruin, nor should he worry to be thought cruel, for fear is the one thing he can control.'

-All states, all powers, that have held and hold rule over men have been and are either republics or principalities.

- 'A difficulty arises in new principalities; men change their rulers hoping to better themselves: only to discover they have worsened. You make enemies of those you have injured in seizing a principality, yet you cannot satisfy, but dare not injure, those friends who put you there.'

Two cents: I find Machiavelli's ideas to be morbidly fascinating, and I can see how these methods are use even today. I find it interesting how he encourages rulers to use fear to control the general public. I also seem to agree that, in this case, the more the general public to rebel against the authority, the worse off they will end up being (that being the former of course).

Desiderius Erasmus
In Praise of Folly
1668

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
I'm a God, and I make people happy; follow me and stuff.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS

Pleasure is folly.
Wisdom has no use in the pleasures of life.
Take complete part in the pleasures of life.

QUOTABLE

“A wise man, however, despises money. And what is the consequence? Everyone despises him!”

MY TWO CENTS

This reading was very dense. It seemed like Erasmus was just saying the same basic philosophy over and over again. However, I couldn't quite tell, but this piece almost seemed like satire. Not knowing a whole lot about Erasmus, or his background, I can't say for sure. However, this piece was written while he was bored, and delivered as a letter. So, I wonder, if just to entertain himself during a long voyage, he wrote this. Taking it as satire, the piece makes more sense and I agree with it more. However, many of the things he says, such as the quote listed above, are very true. Perhaps the fault lies with the translator/condenser for giving it a language of humor when it was not supposed to have one.

Arthur Schopenhauer
The World as Will and Idea
1844

SQUASHED SUMMARY
The world is idea, we can't be satisfied knowing that we have ideas, if will exists so will life, and the form of will (life in reality) is only in the present.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS
1. The world as idea has two parts, one is the object. The object consists of time and space. The second part is the subject. The subject subsists whole and undivided in every reflecting being.
2. We can't be satisfied with knowing that we have ideas which deal with laws, expression, and the principle of sufficient reason. We want significance in our ideas. Man isn't a "pure knowing subject"
3. The form of will is only in the present. life is certain to the will, and present is certain to life. time = perpetually revolving globe.

QUOTABLE
"The world is my idea."
"We are not concerned to investigate the past antecedent of life, nor to speculate on the future subsequent to death."

MY TWO CENTS
I think we are satisfied by having ideas. To reply to the whole present thought, and living in the present...I agree that we should live in the present, but I think we need to think about both the past and present when living our lives. We can learn from the mistakes of the past, and we can start planning for the future.

Karl Marx
German Ideology
Type when the work was written on this line.

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
If the majority of people don’t have jobs in current society, they will turn to communism.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS
First, in life, people must have four things: food, drink, clothing, and shelter. They need these things live.
After these requirements are fulfilled, human thought can be considered.
In division of work, if the majority are left jobless, they will turn communist.

QUOTABLE
“If its divisions are so wide that the majority of the world are left propertyless, then the people will all at once begin a communist society, in which the state will regulate production so that each individual is free to do what they want, when they want.”

MY TWO CENTS
The reading was dense and kind of boring, but I think that’s what I read specifically. It didn’t really help my understanding of the philosophers a lot, to be honest. I don’t think it’s super necessary.

Simone de Beauvoir
Marquis de Sade

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
Simone de Beauvior has written an explanation of Sade’s behavior, philosophy, and written works by justifying his beliefs in the extreme sexuality and describing him as a precursor to Freud.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS

Of Simone de Beauvior, there is the belief that Sade opened a door to explain the extremity of human sexuality and desire. It is the basic of human nature to be so brutal and it is natural to worship sex and the body. Sade believes it is the most pure of anything human and natural because it a finite act of pleasure that gives Man what he most desires. It speaks nothing of woman in particular but more applies to the pleasure and dominance of man.

QUOTABLE
Voluptuaries of all ages, of every sex, to you I offer this work. Nourish yourselves upon its principles. They favour your passions, which are naught but the means Nature employs to bring man to the ends she prescribes. For it is only by sacrificing everything to the senses' pleasure that this poor creature called Man may be able to sow a few roses by the thorny path of life.

MY TWO CENTS
I honestly think this is a rather funny reading. It focuses on the pleasure, dominance, and the passions of men. The ideas of it against woman and how it describes sexuality are vulgar and at some times, disgusting, but because I do not think it are openly put into practice (it’s not socially accepted anyway). If I were to read his work without knowing much about him I would be disgusted with his ideas on the female body and the sexual need of man. Since I am not sensitive against his works, however, I find him an idiot

Type the name of your philosopher on this line. ____David Hume___

Type the name of the work you are reviewing on this line.
Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Type when the work was written on this line. ___1951___

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
In one sentence, summarize the main point of this reading.
Moral philosophy/study of human nature, may be treated in two ways, the simple, popular, philosophy of Man born for action, taste and sentiment; which by appeal to feelings, moulds the heart, or the Abstruse philosophy of reasoning and speculation- unpopular & tricky but able to diffuse through to the lawyer, soldier and politician.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS

Identify and explain three major arguments/ main points that a reader should take away from this work.
1) Miracles shouldn’t be believed unless it would be more miraculous not to believe. All religious miracles try to prove other religions wrong. People should not worry that philosophy will undermine reasoning in common life. However, people should be skeptical about religious ideas.
2) All of our ideas come from sensory impressions.
3) There is a difference between relations of ideas and matter of fact. People believe things when they hold a vivid, lively, firm, more intense conception. People assume that once thing is caused by another because of the assumption that things are found together, however, this is not a reliable assumption.

QUOTABLE
Please identify and copy what you believe is the single most memorable or important quotation or passage from the reading.
"It is never possible to deduce evaluative conclusions from factual premises"

MY TWO CENTS
Please comment on this activity. What did you think of the reading? Was it manageable? Would you recommend it for other philosophy students?
I think that this reading was ok. He was interesting, but I was not very motivated to finish the reading. Also, It seemed to be kind of long. However, I do think that it is kind of important to read it.

Kant’s Critique Of Pure Reason.

* Knowledge is already inside our head. When we perceive something, our senses translate it into a way we can understand it. Knowledge derived solely from reason is the purest.

* Time is only perceptible through the mind.

* We must focus on the rational logical mind, not the senses.

*Kant compares four great arguments in philosophy. The universe had a distinct beginning and had edges v. the universe has existed for eternity and has infinite space. Everything in the world is made of similar parts v. nothing simple exists in the world. Natural freedom v. strict laws of nature. Everything depends on prior events v. there are no necessary events.

* The existence of God cannot be proven of disproven conclusively.”

Quotes

“The concept of motion pre-supposes something moving.”

“Intuition and concepts constitute the elements of our entire knowledge.”

“The idea of existence and the fact of existence are two very different things.”

My Two Cents

The work of Kant is imperceptibly vague and extremely difficult to understand. Even reading the condensed version almost gave me a headache. I pity the poor soul who tries to read the unabridged version. This only leads to more difficulty in grasping the ideas, and it does not help that the ideas are dissimilar to my own. Read it if you feel like it, but don’t plan on a quick and easy read.

Sartre
"Existentialism is Humanism"
1945

Very Squashed Summary:
Man is the only entity whose existence comes before its purpose, therefore, man must define himself.

Less Squashed Explanation:
-Unlike any other forms, like a book or a knife, man was not created with a set purpose. Man's existence precedes its essence, therefore the task of self-realization is left to oneself.

-Critics call existentialism a form of "despair". The despair is that we can only count on our own wills. We are only assured of our own actions and no one elses and cannot count that someone else will define us/finish our work.

-We are only defined by our actions. We cannot be remembered for our identities or our hopes and dreams. It is not feasible to say that circumstances worked against one's potential, for the existentialist only our actions will suffice.

Quotable:
"Man is nothing else but what he puirposes, he exists only in so far as he realizes himself, he is nothing but the same of his actions."
Also, on a note of hilarity, the squashed philosophers article quoted Gloria Gaynor as well:
I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the ace
Sometimes the deuces
its one life And there's no returning, no revising
One life and so its time to open up your closet

My Two Cents:
With regards to this activity, I think this was worthwhile. I mean, considering the timeframe, this is a practical way to get the 101 about a certain philosophical work. If we were exploring these philosophies with a greater amount of depth, I would be critical of the use of reading these short articles (I do believe there is a long way you can take a philosophy like this. Personally, I'm somewhat critical of what Sartre is saying. I think he's overthinking things a little. Yeah, you can say that we can only depend on ourselves in theory, but there's little practical application for thinking like that.)

John Stuart Mill
On Liberty
1859

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
On Liberty endorses the liberty of man, the value of individual thought.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATION
1) Freedom from tyranny is not enough; men are also entitled to protection from the prevailing opinion of the majority. Men are entitled to this freedom so long as it does not negatively impact others.
2) Restricting the liberty of thought and discussion robs the human race of benefit, clearer perception, and a more accurate impression of the truth. No one can truly know if the censored opinion is false; even if one is sure that the opinion is false, it would still be unacceptable to stifle the opinion.
3) Freedom to be an individual leads to genius of the individual, which in turn benefits society. Diversity of character and culture strengthens a State.

QUOTABLE
“Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough: there also needs to be protection against the tyranny of prevailing opinion.” “Over himself, over is own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.” “In proportion to the development of his individuality, each person becomes more valuable to himself, and is therefore capable of being more valuable to others.” “Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom.” “No person is entirely isolated.”

MY TWO CENTS
I think that despite the readings being condensed, I feel like I had a good understanding of what the entirety of On Liberty is about. My reading was fairly short, however, it looked like many other works from the website were very long. So, I found this assignment valuable and very manageable.

Aristotle
Nicomachaen Ethics
It doesn’t say

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY

Aristotle states that “good” is relative to the individual, that virtue leads to happiness but with every virtue there is a vice, only voluntary bad actions are condemned, proper pride is good but undeserved pride is not, justice is concerned mainly with goods, anger is not bad unless taken to extreme, wisdom lies with those who acknowledge things most precious in nature, and there are different kinds of friendship some good and some bad.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS

1. Aristotle states that only involuntary actions are punished because otherwise it is called a mistake and forgiven. For example, if someone accidentally knocks over a cup of orange juice on a rug, most likely it will be forgiven. However, if that same person is feeling mean and knocks over the orange juice on purpose, he or she is more likely to be reprimanded and punished. This is because for voluntary actions, a person makes a conscious decision, but involuntary actions are usually accidents, or something that can’t be helped.
2. Aristotle also says that undeserved pride is wrong. He says that if someone is proud of things that he or she didn’t deserve to be proud of, then it’s wrong. Aristotle talks about anger in this chapter as well. He talks about how anger is usually not a good thing, and people should try and have a good temper most of the time. But, if a person is angry about the “right” things, then it’s ok. He does not specify what the “right” things are.
3. Aristotle finishes by saying that happiness can only be found “in accordance” (or by being?) virtuous. He takes it further by saying that the highest virtue is philosophy or philosophical contemplation, and therefore only philosophers are the most happy.

QUOTABLE

“Happiness depends, somewhat, on one’s friends.”

MY TWO CENTS
I think this is a good activity. Although the material was still hard, it was a lot more manageable than trying to tackle the full Nicomachaen Ethics.

Marcus Aurelius
Meditations
180 AD

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY

We don’t live for long so use your time wisely, be kind to others, and although life has a lot of distractions remember that you come first.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS

Identify and explain three major arguments/ main points that a reader should take away from this work.

1. In Philosophy, The Mind’s Greatest Solace, Aurelius talks about how every action should be done as if it were your last. We are not here for long and it’s important to know that the body is not what’s important because it won’t be here for long but the mind. Also, how you shouldn’t learn through books or what people tell you but actually experience it and face the issue itself.
2. You should always be on your best behavior in other words always act with humanity and all your actions should be done with dignity.
3. Don’t waste your time on other people’s lives. You should ignore all the meaningless distractions in life and go forward in your own interest. When we focus our attention on all the little things what’s left but smoke?

QUOTABLE
“As for your body, value it no more than if you were just expiring; it is nothing but a little blood and bones. Your breath is but a little air pumped in and out. But the third part is your mind. Here make a stand.”

MY TWO CENTS
I enjoyed the reading and I think it is helpful for philosophy students because it’s easy to read and a lot of the ideas are interesting. The Squashed version is very good but the rest of it is a lot to read. I think overall it gives the reader a good understanding of Aurelius’s ideas.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract
1762

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
Rousseau suggests, as a form of government, a “social contract” between all people saying that all are equal, that men should give up rights in order to support peace, and that public and private interests are the same.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS

Identify and explain three major arguments/ main points that a reader should take away from this work.
1. Social order is a basic right, but does not come from nature. Rousseau believed that social order (like Government) is founded on convention. Basically, he argues that man doesn’t naturally want to conform to a social order, but has done so according to custom and to further the development of mankind.
2. Rousseau also believes in the rule of the majority. He says that he views a country or nation that has one ruler (such as a monarchy) is comparable to a master and his slaves.
3. Rousseau seeks a form of association that "Will defend and protect the person and goods of each associate, yet in which each may still freely obey himself alone." Basically, Rousseau wants a form of government which will benefit people as a whole, but will still promote individuality. The solution to this is the Social Contract, which employs direct democracy (everyone votes on everything) to maintain individuality and benefit mankind.

QUOTABLE
“Man is born free and everywhere he is in irons. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they.”

MY TWO CENTS
It took me a while to actually understand what even the squashed version was trying to say. As far as quantity of reading, I thought the assignment was very manageable. However, it was difficult for me to understand the point of the summary, and thus, the point of Rousseau’s arguments. I was glad to have some background knowledge of this subject (I wrote a paper on Hobbes, Lock and Rousseau for Western Civ.), so I could use that to help me understand the reading. I would recommend it for other Philosophy students. However, it may be necessary to use other sources in order to understand the reading.

Marcus Tullius Cicero.
On Friendship and Old Age.
c50BC.

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
In this writing Cicero explains things about friendship and old age.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS
• He says how friendship "Throws a brilliant gleam of hope".
• There is a good side and a bad side to old age, the good thing is that "Old age qualifies a man for public affairs,". But the bad side is that it can impair memory, and strength
• "Men are often filled with anxiety at the approach of old age.

QUOTABLE
"Friendship is not of self-advantage, which is recognized even by the animals."

MY TWO CENTS
This reading was to me very difficult. I would not recommend anything.

Mary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication of the Rights of Women
1792

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
Women are taught from a very young age that they are less then men and they should learn that they should have every right that men do.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS

1. Women and men should be able to go to the same schools so they learn that they can grow up and have the same opportunities that men have.
2. Women learn from a young age that they should not do anything except have children and tend to the house. This should change because they could be brilliant people but they are cooped up all day.
3. There is a double standard between men and women regarding sexuality. Women are supposed to remain chaste until marriage or else they are tainted while men are supposed to have had experience.

QUOTABLE
“I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves”

MY TWO CENTS

The reading was very interesting but also seemed harder to read. The squashed reading was easy to read and explained a lot. I would recommend this reading to others because it shows the view of one of the first feminists

Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan
1660

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
The Leviathan is the State, or a Government that man has created, to try and understand man and control him.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS
1. "...the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" or "The source of every crime, is some defect of the understanding; or some error in reasoning; or some sudden force of the passions."
Meaning some people act out of haste without reasoning through their actions which lead them to commit crimes. Or maybe there is something wrong in the “mind” of that person that doesn’t allow them to reason through their actions.

2. "For the laws of nature (as justice, equity, modesty, mercy, and, in sum, doing to others as we woud be done to) of themselves, without the terror of some power, to cause them to be observed, are contrary to our natural passions, that carry us to partiality, pride, revenge and the like."
- Meaning if we don’t have a government or something to enforce the laws, what is going to stop men from taking revenge on others without have a just reason.

3. "Moral philosophy is nothing else but the science of what is good, and evil, in the conversation, and society of mankind. Good, and evil, are names that signify our appetites, and aversions; which in different tempers, customs, and doctrines of men, are different.”

No matter how you look at it, Good and Evil is different to every man or woman, depending on their upbringing and the doctrines they were brought up under. So its hard to put a definition on what is “Moral” to all.

QUOTABLE
I thought the second quote, "For the laws of nature (as justice, equity, modesty, mercy, and, in sum, doing to others as we woud be done to) of themselves, without the terror of some power, to cause them to be observed, are contrary to our natural passions, that carry us to partiality, pride, revenge and the like." was the most memorable because it makes us realize that without laws or the Leviathan to control man, he would be free to act under his feelings, rather than reason. I think this sums up the whole basis of the idea of the Leviathan.

MY TWO CENTS
The reading was very interesting to understand why we need certain laws to govern man and some of the philosophy behind it. Such as acting upon emotions rather than reason. Hobbes also said that life is nasty, brutish, and short if these man-made laws did not exist. It really gives a greater meaning to our laws in the U.S. and how grateful we should be that they exist.

Ludwig Wigttgenstein
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
1921

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
The idea of this reading was to explain Wittgenstein’s view of how the world works, and what can be proved by fact is the only thing that is reality.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS

I. The world is made up of facts
a. Facts in logical space create what we know as the world
II. A state of affairs, (a state of things), is a combination of objects, (things)
a. The totality of the existing states makes the world
III. A logical picture of facts is thought
a. The totality of thoughts creates the world
b. Objects can only be named, they are only signs,
i. They cannot be put into words

QUOTABLE
“The world is the totality of facts, not of things”

MY TWO CENTS
I think that if you can understand this, it is a very cool concept and should be read by philosophy students. However, it is a difficult concept to grasp, thinking that everything is just an idea put into logical space for your mind to manage. I think that it needs to be explained in person, as it took a long time for me to figure out what he was trying to say, but once I got it, I think that it makes sense and it is a cool concept.

Aristotle
the polotics

very squashed summary
Man is by nature a political animal, and man should be concerned with city affairs. (what it is to be a good citizen)

less squashed explanations

1) holding women and children as property is not benificial to the society instead having them be part of society

2) education should be important for all citizens and education should consist of letters, gymnastics, music and drawing.

3) the best way to model a government, should be modled after a model citizen. The best city needs to have all these qualities of a good person and rule needs to be based on education and virtue. al rulers and citizens should come from the liesure class and farmers and slaves should come from the working classes.

QUOTEABLE
"For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is more dangerous."

"Again, how immeasurably greater is the pleasure, when a man feels a thing to be his own; for surely the love of self is a feeling implanted by nature and not given in vain, although selfishness is rightly censured; this, however, is not the mere love of self, but the love of self in excess, like the miser's love of money; for all, or almost all, men love money and other such objects in a measure. And further, there is the greatest pleasure in doing a kindness or service to friends or guests or companions, which can only be rendered when a man has private property. These advantages are lost by excessive unification of the state."

MY TWO CENTS
i think that Aristotle is being a very progressive thinker in this book and his thoughts about women and children are very unique for the time. i think people going into government or politics should read this book, because it gives a great foudation and explanaiton on how government should work.

Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan
1651

VERY SQUASHED SUMMARY
The natural human condition is bad; an all-powerful state corrects this.

LESS SQUASHED EXPLANATIONS
1. On government: Human nature is naturally bad and the most basic human instinct is self-preservation (thus, power, which will ensure safety), which will lead to deadly conflict between individuals. The solution to this is to create a state, or common-wealth, with complete sovereignty granted to a small Sovereign Power.
2. On epistemology: All knowledge is empirical. Speech and reason are God’s inventions, made to be used by humans to share knowledge. Scientific knowledge consists of knowledge of cause and effect.
3. On religion: Humans are in a constant state of fear, and invent gods to explain their situation.

QUOTABLE
Of course: “...the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”
But also: “Children have no reason at all, till they have attained the use of speech.”
And, interestingly: “…no discourse whatsoever can end in absolute knowledge of fact, past or to come.”

MY TWO CENTS
This lengthy work could have been shortened much more efficiently using modern English and a simple outline. There is not much difference in what I got out of this squashed version and what I could get out of a simple outline of Hobbes’ reasoning and ideas. The ideas, as can be seen above, are fairly easy to condense into one-sentence summaries. The reasoning behind these ideas, however, is much harder to condense, and was not to be adequately found in this squashed version.

Saint Augustine
Confessions

Very Squashed Summary
It is Augustine poetically talking to God, confessing his sins and proclaiming his love and longing for God.

Less Squashed Explaination

Book one: Augustine focuses on describing his relationship with god throughout his life. He talks about how his mother was a large influence in Augustine accepting god as his true father. One of the more notable things he said in this book is...
"Look down, O Lord, and see how diligently the sons of men follow the petty rules of grammar and pronunciation, yet neglect thy eternal rules of everlasting salvation. As if it were more a sin to mispronounce a word than to sin against thy commandments. No wonder I was carried toward vanity and away from thee, O my God, with such men as my models. [XIX] But I survived my boyhood. I did learn to take pleasure in truth. I had a good memory and spoke with vigour. Thanks be to thee, my joy, my pride, my confidence, my God. Thanks be to thee for thy gifts."

throughout the books Augustine confesses the different sins he had committed throughout his life such as fornication, lust, theft and pride.

Then after confessing he always asks some sort of questions such as "where has this evil crept in? What is its root and what its seed?" Besides asking questions he continuously praises god and gods mercy and kindness.

Quoatable
VIII] Thus the angels fell, and the soul of man fell, that we might know the depth of the abyss over which thou decreed "Let there be light". For it is thou, O our God, who wilt enlighten our darkness. From thee shall come our garments of light, and our darkness shall be as the noonday.

"Too late have I come to love you, O beauty so ancient and so fresh; too late have I come to you"

[X] Lovely things grow to perfection; they wax old and perish. This is the way of things. [XI] "But do I ever pass away?" asks the Word of God. [XII] If beauty pleases you, then seek what you seek; but remember that it is not where you seek it. You seek for a blessed life in the land of death.

My Two Cents
I thought this reading was very easy and quite interesting. His writing is very poetic and it is interesting to read about his view one what lead him to commit the sins he did and the whole thing is addressed to god which makes it interesting to read. I thought it was very managable and it was a good assignment.