Discourses and Selected Writings

- Both men concentrate on ethics to the virtual exclusion of physics (cosmological speculation) and logic. ([Location 104](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=104))

That he had absented himself from family life for so long shows that he regarded philosophy as a jealous mistress who demanded practically all his time and attention, which family life would not allow. ([Location 123](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=123))

According to him the faculty of choice distinguishes humans from irrational animals. ([Location 143](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=143))

‘up to us’ how we act, and that we are responsible for determining the character and content of our lives. ([Location 155](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=155))

Indeed, the Stoics’ openness to revision was a particular strength of their school. ([Location 160](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=160))

‘not even God has the power of coercion over us’. ([Location 184](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=184))

‘Plato,’ he writes, ‘is only found in the hands of those reputed to be philologists. By contrast, Epictetus is admired by ordinary people who have the desire to be benefited and who perceive improvement from his writings’ ([Location 204](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=204))

‘It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgements concerning them’ ([Location 249](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=249))

irrational beliefs often appear in the way people talk to themselves. ([Location 255](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=255))

Music is no different; whether this is a good time to sing and play, or a bad one, the art of music by itself cannot decide. ([Location 278](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=278))

Reason, in addition, takes the measure of music, grammar and the other arts, judging their benefit and deciding when it’s best to use them. ([Location 283](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=283))

And yet, while there is only the one thing we can care for and devote ourselves to, we choose instead to care about and attach ourselves to a score of others: to our bodies, to our property, to our family, friends and slaves. [15] And, being attached to many things, we are weighed down and dragged along with them. ([Location 293](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=293))

Make the best use of what is in our power, and treat the rest in accordance with its nature. And what is its nature? However God decides. ([Location 298](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=298))

I must die. But must I die bawling? I must be put in chains – but moaning and groaning too? I must be exiled; but is there anything to keep me from going with a smile, calm and self-composed? ([Location 305](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=305))

‘I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived – and dying I will tend to later.’ How? As someone who knows that you have to return what belongs to somebody else. ([Location 321](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=321))

Man, the rational animal, can put up with anything except what seems to him irrational; whatever is rational is tolerable. ([Location 324](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=324))

In short, reflection will show that people are put off by nothing so much as what they think is unreasonable, and attracted to nothing more than what to them seems reasonable. [5] But standards of reasonableness and unreasonableness vary from one person to the next – just as we consider different things good or bad, harmful or beneficial. [6] Which is why education has no goal more important than bringing our preconception of what is reasonable and unreasonable in alignment with nature. [7] ([Location 328](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=328))

‘Shall I be a bathroom attendant or not?’ and I will tell you that earning a living is better than starving to death; so that if you measure your interests by these criteria, go ahead and do it. [11] ‘But it would be beneath my dignity.’ Well, that is an additional factor that you bring to the question, not me. You are the one who knows yourself – which is to say, you know how much you are worth in your own estimation, and therefore at what price you will sell yourself; because people sell themselves at different rates. ([Location 335](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=335))

Taking account of the value of externals, you see, comes at some cost to the value of one’s own character. ([Location 341](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=341))

Because you think of yourself as no more than a single thread in the robe, whose duty it is to conform to the mass of people – just as a single white thread seemingly has no wish to clash with the remainder of the garment. [18] But I aspire to be the purple stripe, that is, the garment’s brilliant hem. However small a part it may be, it can still manage to make the garment as a whole attractive. Don’t tell me, then, ‘Be like the rest,’ because in that case I cannot be the purple stripe.3 ([Location 345](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=345))

That’s what I mean by having consideration for one’s character. And it shows how weighty a factor it can be when it is allowed a regular role in one’s deliberations. ([Location 365](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=365))

The possession of a particular talent is instinctively sensed by its owner; [31] so if any of you are so blessed you will be the first to know it. ([Location 370](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=370))

Consider at what price you sell your integrity; but please, for God’s sake, don’t sell it cheap. ([Location 373](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=373))

Two elements are combined in our creation, the body, which we have in common with the beasts; and reason and good judgement, which we share with the gods. ([Location 383](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=383))

For what else is a spiteful, malicious man except a fox, or something even lower and less dignified? ([Location 390](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=390))

Make it your goal never to fail in your desires or experience things you would rather avoid; try never to err in impulse and repulsion; aim to be perfect also in the practice of attention and withholding judgement. ([Location 407](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=407))

If you aim to be perfect when you are still anxious and apprehensive, how have you made progress? [13] So let’s see some evidence of it. But no, it’s as if I were to say to an athlete, ‘Show me your shoulders,’ and he responded with, ‘Have a look at my weights.’ ‘Get out of here with you and your gigantic weights!’ I’d say, ‘What I want to see isn’t the weights but how you’ve profited from using them.’ ([Location 408](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=408))

‘Take the treatise On Impulse and see how well I’ve read it.’ Idiot. It’s not that I’m after, I want to know how you put impulse and repulsion into practice, and desire and avoidance as well. I want to know how you apply and prepare yourself, and how you practise attention,∗ so that I can decide whether with you these functions operate in harmony with nature. ([Location 412](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=412))

whoever desires or avoids things outside their control cannot be free or faithful, but has to shift and fluctuate right along with them, ([Location 421](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=421))

from the moment they get up in the morning they adhere to their ideals, eating and bathing like a person of integrity, putting their principles into practice in every situation they face – the way a runner does when he applies the principles of running, or a singer those of musicianship ([Location 423](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=423))

For what else are tragedies but the ordeals of people who have come to value externals, tricked out in tragic verse? ([Location 432](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=432))

It is easy to praise providence for everything that happens in the world provided you have both the ability to see individual events in the context of the whole and a sense of gratitude. ([Location 462](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=462))

And so for the beasts it is enough to eat, drink, sleep, breed and do whatever else it is that satisfies members of their kind. But for us who have been given the faculty of understanding, [15] this is not enough. Unless we act appropriately, methodically, and in line with our nature and constitution, we will fall short of our proper purpose. ([Location 481](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=481))

But when there is no need even to travel, when you are already there∗ because Zeus is present everywhere in his works, don’t you want to look at and try to understand them? [25] Will you never come to a realization of who you are, what you have been born for and the purpose for which the gift of vision was made in our case? ([Location 492](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=492))

You have been given fortitude, courage and patience. [29] Why should I worry about what happens if I am armed with the virtue of fortitude? ([Location 499](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=499))

What would have become of Hercules, do you think, if there had been no lion, hydra, stag or boar – and no savage criminals to rid the world of? [33] What would he have done in the absence of such challenges? Obviously he would have just rolled over in bed and gone back to sleep. So by snoring his life away in luxury and comfort he never would have developed into the mighty Hercules. ([Location 504](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=504))

‘In that case, perhaps he should have created them himself, by searching for a lion to bring into his land, and a boar and a hydra.’ [36] That would have been the act of a fool and a fanatic. ([Location 508](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=508))

For what does reason purport to do? ‘Establish what is true, eliminate what is false and suspend judgement in doubtful cases.’ ([Location 526](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=526))

And so too in the case of reason, in addition to what we named, we also have to learn how to test and distinguish what is true, false and unclear. ‘Necessarily.’ [9] What else does reason prescribe? ‘To accept the consequence of what has been admitted to be correct.’ ([Location 531](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=531))

Now, if the premises remain what they were when we granted them, then we are under every obligation to stand by what was granted and accept what follows. [18] But if they do not remain as they were, we don’t have to accept it,∗ [19] because the conclusion no longer holds for us. ([Location 545](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=545))

‘So why aren’t we training ourselves and each other in this sort of argumentation?’ [5] Because at the moment, even though we aren’t being trained in these topics – aren’t, in fact, being distracted at all, so far as I have any say in the matter, from the business of improving our character – we still aren’t making progress toward the goal of virtue. [6] So what can we expect if we take on this additional project, especially since it won’t just distract us from weightier matters, but will be no small cause of pride and egotism? [7] Proof and persuasion are great talents, when they are trained, and especially when they’re complemented by a certain amount of verbal elegance. [8] In general every talent when it gets into the hands of the morally weak comes with the risk of making them conceited and full of themselves. [9] I mean, what’s to stop a promising young student from becoming a slave to – rather than a master of – these topics? [10] Won’t he brush these cautions aside and parade his learning in front of us, proud, elated and deaf to anyone who would forcefully remind him of the studies he has given up, and the areas where he stills falls short? ([Location 575](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=575))

‘But how am I supposed to eat, if I am destitute?’ someone says. Well, what about slaves, what about runaways – what do they depend on when they flee their masters? On their lands, their servants and their silver plate? Hardly; they rely on themselves, and still manage to survive. [9] So is our philosopher citizen-of-the-world going to rest his confidence in others wherever he lives or travels, rather than depend on himself? Is he going to be even lower and more servile than irrational wild beasts, all of whom are self-sufficient, provided with food and a mode of survival adapted to and in harmony with their nature? ([Location 604](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=604))

For in fact it is silly and pointless to try to get from another person what one can get for oneself. ([Location 641](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=641))

For men who are meek and cowardly, though, there is no option but to write letters for them as if they were already dead. ‘Please grant us the body of so-and-so together with his meagre ration of blood.’ [34] For, really, such a person amounts to no more than a carcass and a little blood. If he were anything more, he would realize that no one is ever unhappy because of someone else. ([Location 643](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=643))

Is it the same thing to receive a petition that reads, ‘Please allow me to export a bit of grain,’ and ‘Please learn from Chrysippus how the universe is governed, and what place the rational creature has in it; find out, too, who you are, and what constitutes your good and your evil’? [11] Is one to be compared with the other? Do they deserve the same degree of application? [12] Is it equally wrong to neglect this one as that? Well, am I and the other teachers the only ones who are lazy and indifferent? ([Location 661](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=661))

Likewise, I would be a lot more excited about joining you in serious study if I were once to see you bright-eyed and enthusiastic. ([Location 665](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=665))

In other words, it isn’t death, pain, exile or anything else you care to mention that accounts for the way we act, only our opinion about death, pain and the rest. [34] ‘Well, have I convinced you of this, or not?’ ‘You have,’ the man said. ‘As the cause is, so is the result. [35] Whenever we do something wrong, then, from now on we will not blame anything except the opinion on which it’s based; and we will try to root out wrong opinions with more determination than we remove tumours or infections from the body. [36] By the same token, we will acknowledge opinion as the source of our good behaviour too. ([Location 734](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=734))

we, not externals, are the masters of our judgements.’ ([Location 740](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=740))

Freedom, you see, is having events go in accordance with our will, never contrary to it. ([Location 757](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=757))

Are you going to make Zeus your enemy, and set your face against the Fates, with whom Zeus spun the thread of your destiny at the moment you were born, laying out his plans for you? ([Location 783](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=783))

You should thank the gods for making you strong enough to survive what you cannot control, and only responsible for what you can. [33] The gods have released you from accountability for your parents, your siblings, your body, your possessions – for death and for life itself. [34] They made you responsible only for what is in your power – the proper use of impressions. [35] So why take on the burden of matters which you cannot answer for? You are only making unnecessary problems for yourself. ([Location 793](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=793))

‘If you have been placed in a position above others, are you automatically going to behave like a despot? Remember who you are and whom you govern – that they are kinsmen, brothers by nature, fellow descendants of Zeus.’ ([Location 803](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=803))

That God supervises everyone ([Location 807](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=807))

‘How else, after all, could things take place with such regularity, as if God were issuing orders? When he tells plants to bloom, they bloom, when he tells them to bear fruit, they bear fruit, when he tells them to ripen, they ripen. Similarly, when he tells them to drop their fruit, shed their leaves, draw in and lie dormant for the winter, all that they do too. [4] How else explain that the waxing and the waning of the moon, and the coming and going of the sun, coincide with such obvious changes and fluctuations here on earth? ([Location 812](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=812))

Someone asked Epictetus’ advice on how to get his brother to stop being on bad terms with him. Epictetus said, [2] ‘Philosophy does not claim to secure for us anything outside our control. ([Location 840](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=840))

For as wood is the material of the carpenter, and marble that of the sculptor, so the subject matter of the art of life is the life of the self.’ ([Location 842](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=842))

‘Nothing important comes into being overnight; even grapes or figs need time to ripen. ([Location 851](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=851))

Since reason is what analyses and coordinates everything, it should not go itself unanalysed. Then what will it be analysed by? [2] Obviously by itself or something different. Now, this something different must either be reason or something superior to reason – which is impossible, since there is nothing superior to reason. [3] But if it is analysed by reason, what, in turn, will analyse that reason? Itself? ([Location 884](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=884))

Which, I suppose, is why Stoics put logic at the head of our curriculum – for the same reason that, before a quantity of grain can be measured, we must settle on a standard of measurement. [7] If we don’t begin by establishing standards of weight and volume, how are we going to measure or weigh anything? [8] And similarly in the present case – if we haven’t fully grasped and refined the instrument by which we analyse and understand other things, how can we hope to understand them with any precision? ([Location 893](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=893))

Similarly, they say that in the case of impulse people feel that its object must be to their advantage, and that it is impossible to consider any one thing advantageous and desire something different, or consider one thing right and have an impulse to do something else. If all this is true, then what grounds do we have for being angry with anyone? [3] We use labels like ‘thief’ and ‘robber’ in connection with them, but what do these words mean? They merely signify that people are confused about what is good and what is bad. So should we be angry with them, or should we pity them instead? [4] Show them where they go wrong and you will find that they’ll reform. But unless they see it, they are stuck with nothing better than their usual opinion as their practical guide. [5] ‘Well, shouldn’t we do away with thieves and degenerates?’ Try putting the question this way: [6] ‘Shouldn’t we rid ourselves of people deceived about what’s most important, people who are blind – not in their faculty of vision, their ability to distinguish white from black – but in the moral capacity to distinguish good from bad?’ [7] ([Location 931](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=931))

As long as you honour material things, direct your anger at yourself rather than the thief or adulterer. ([Location 950](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=950))

don’t complain with your whole being. If your servant is slow to bring you a bandage, don’t roll around and yell, ‘Everybody hates me!’ Who wouldn’t hate such a person? ([Location 963](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=963))

Walk upright and free, trusting in the strength of your moral convictions, not the strength of your body, like an athlete. ([Location 964](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=964))

A person who enjoys some advantage, or just believes they do, will invariably grow to be arrogant, especially if they are uneducated. [2] ([Location 973](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=973))

‘Right, and I pay attention to my blackboard, wiping it, and washing it; and for my oil flask I’ll even drive a nail in the wall. Does that make these things better than me? No – it just means that they are useful to me somehow. I look after my horse too, ([Location 979](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=979))

‘Look, this is not selfishness, it’s the nature of the beast; everything we do is done for our own ends. ([Location 994](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=994))

In the same way he made the rational animal, man, incapable of attaining any of his private ends without at the same time providing for the community. ([Location 998](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=998))

We only thank the gods, it seems, for what we popularly suppose are the good things in life. ([Location 1014](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1014))

When it comes to our poor mind, however, we can’t be bothered; we are satisfied accepting any and all impressions, because here the loss we suffer is not obvious. [12] If you want to know just how little concerned you are about things good and bad, and how serious about things indifferent, compare your attitude to going blind with your attitude about being mentally in the dark. You will realize, I think, how inappropriate your values really are. [13] ([Location 1036](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1036))

this calls for a lot of preparation, and hard study.’ So what? Do you think the greatest art can be acquired easily, and overnight? ([Location 1039](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1039))

When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval. ([Location 1052](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1052))

‘My friend, what is it you want?’ ‘I am satisfied if my desires and aversions agree with nature, if I exercise impulse and refusal as I was born to do, and if I practise purpose, design and assent the same way.’ ‘So why are you acting so stuck up?’ [3] ‘I want everyone I meet to admire me, to follow me around shouting, “What a great philosopher!” ’ [4] And who exactly are these people that you want to be admired by? Aren’t they the same people you are in the habit of calling crazy? And is this your life ambition, then – to win the approval of lunatics? ([Location 1053](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1053))

So where does conflict come in? [2] In the application of preconceptions to particular cases. [3] One person, for instance, will say, ‘Well done, there’s a brave man,’ while another says, ‘He isn’t brave, he’s just deranged.’ This is how conflict originates, [4] and it is the source of difference among Jews, Syrians, Egyptians and Romans. They don’t dispute that what is holy should be preferred above everything else and in every case pursued; but they argue, for example, over whether it is holy or unholy to eat pork. ([Location 1061](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1061))

What does it mean to be getting an education? It means learning to apply natural preconceptions to particular cases as nature prescribes, and distinguishing what is in our power from what is not. [10] ([Location 1074](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1074))

The true man is revealed in difficult times. ([Location 1113](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1113))

Death, he said, was not evil because it was not dishonourable. Reputation was the empty noise of fools. ([Location 1121](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1121))

If what we’ve been saying is true and we aren’t being ridiculous, or merely pretending to believe that what is good or bad for us lies in the will and that we are indifferent to everything else – then why do we continue to experience fear and anxiety? [2] No one has power over our principles, and what other people do control we don’t care about. So what is your problem, still? [3] ([Location 1149](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1149))

Trustworthiness is your own, decency and a sense of shame;∗ no one can take them from you or prevent you from using these qualities except yourself – which you do the moment you begin to care about what isn’t yours, surrendering what is yours in the process. ([Location 1155](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1155))

[23] If I cherish my body, I make a slave of myself, if I cherish my property, I make a slave of myself; [24] because I’ve disclosed the means to make me captive. ([Location 1192](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1192))

whatever you are seen to protect, that will become your enemy’s focus of attack. ([Location 1194](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1194))

Stand by a rock and insult it, and what have you accomplished? If someone responds to insult like a rock, what has the abuser gained with his invective? If, however, he has his victim’s weakness to exploit, then his efforts are worth his while. ([Location 1200](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1200))

When did anger, however, ever teach someone to play music or pilot a ship? Do you imagine that your anger is going to help teach me the far more complex business of life?” ([Location 1219](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1219))

‘This, then, is the beginning of philosophy – an awareness of one’s own mental fitness. Consciousness of its weakness will keep you from tackling difficult subjects. ([Location 1232](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1232))

Tell me the country, give me the name of the people who are safe from death, where I can get asylum; provide me with the magic charm. No, I cannot escape death, [10] but at least I can escape the fear of it – or do I have to die moaning and groaning too? ([Location 1251](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1251))

And it is impossible to think that an action will do us good and not choose to do it. [7] What about Medea, though – she who says: I know that the acts I intend are wrong But anger is the master of my intentions. That only amounts to saying that she thinks gratifying her anger by exacting revenge on her husband is preferable to keeping her children safe. ([Location 1279](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1279))

If the truth of the case makes any difference to us at all, then none of us operates in the dark. [30] Yet when it comes to the first and foremost cause of good and bad conduct; when it’s a matter of doing well or ill, of failure or success – only then do we proceed blindly and erratically, only then are we found to lack anything like a scale or measure. A sense impression appears and right away I react. ([Location 1317](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1317))

The essence of good and evil consists in the condition of our character. ([Location 1326](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1326))

Who is there left for me to fear, and over what has he control? Not what is in my power, because no one controls that except myself. As for what is not in my power, in that I take no interest. ([Location 1334](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1334))

‘Ten are stronger than one.’ Yes, for what, though? For taking people captive, for killing or dragging them off, for taking away their property. For main force, yes, ten are better than one. [15] But one person with right judgements is superior to ten without. Numbers here are irrelevant. Put them in the balance, the person with correct ideas will outweigh all the others. [16] ([Location 1341](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1341))

What philosophy has taught me, though, is to be indifferent to events beyond the will’s control. ([Location 1359](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1359))

As for you, if you can’t change a person’s mind, realize that he is no more than a child – and clap hands with him. And if you can’t bring yourself to do that, then just keep quiet. ([Location 1370](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1370))

when troubles arise, we will know that it’s time to exhibit what we’ve learned. [34] A student fresh out of school who gets into difficulty is like someone practised in the solving of syllogisms; if anyone gives him an easy one, he says, ‘Give me a knotty one instead, I want a bit of practice.’ In the same way, athletes don’t like to be paired with pushovers. [35] ‘He can’t lift me,’ one says, ‘this other guy is better built.’ No, when the crisis comes, we groan and say, ‘I wanted to keep on learning.’ Keep learning what? If you didn’t learn these things in order to demonstrate them in practice, what did you learn them for? [36] I suppose there might be some who are sitting here losing patience and thinking, ‘Why don’t I get to face the kind of challenge he did? I am growing old in a corner, when I could be winning a crown at Olympia! When will I be nominated for a similar trial?’ That is the attitude that all of you should adopt. ([Location 1372](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1372))

man is an animal made for abstract thought. ([Location 1412](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1412))

In the event that you are haled before someone wielding the reigns of power, remember that there is somebody else looking down from above, and you have to answer first to him. ([Location 1427](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1427))

Death and pain are not frightening, it’s the fear of pain and death we need to fear. Which is why we praise the poet who wrote, ‘Death is not fearful, but dying like a coward is.’ ([Location 1464](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1464))

What else is freedom but the power to live our life the way we want? ‘Nothing.’ ([Location 1479](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1479))

Your duty is to prepare for death and imprisonment, torture and exile – [39] and all such evils – with confidence, because you have faith in the one who has called on you to face them, having judged you worthy of the role. ([Location 1508](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1508))

we should be confident and cautious at the same time: confident in relation to things outside the will, cautious about things within. ([Location 1511](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1511))

Whenever externals are more important to you than your own integrity, then be prepared to serve them the remainder of your life. Don’t hedge and agree to be their slave, then change your mind later; [13] commit to one or the other position at once and without reserve. Choose to be either free or a slave, enlightened or a fool, a thoroughbred or a nag. Either resign yourself to a life of abuse till you die, or escape it immediately. For God’s sake, don’t put up with years of abuse, and then change your mind! ([Location 1526](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1526))

‘But I am not going to plead with you, and I don’t care what you decide. You are more on trial here than I am.’ With the result that he sabotaged his case. [18] And why was it necessary? Don’t plead – but don’t go on to say, ‘I won’t plead’ – not unless there is a point in provoking the jurors deliberately, as in Socrates’ case. [19] As for you, if you’re planning some such parting shot, why bother to speak at all, why even show up at court? [20] Because if you want to be crucified, just wait, and the cross will come. ([Location 1537](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001FA0NSS&location=1537))

A History of Western Philosophy

- The Philosophy of Logical Analysis - Philosophy had combined an ethic doctrine on how best to live and a theory of the world these have been linked where people are backsolving based on their ethic instead of using science when these 2 things are very different and shouldn’t be confounded this leads desires to invent arguments instead of just searching for truth. You need to pursue truth. When limits are placed that leads to censorship when we maintain doubt and ignore forcing metaphysics there is no higher way of knowing hidden from us just good investigations we can answer metaphysical questions with logic when we ask the right questions we get closer and closer to the truth base beliefs on observations and inferences divested of bias. Lesson fanaticism increase mutual understanding and empathy.

William James - Saw good conduct as what was best. Denied subject object relationship where there is a knowing entity and known entity which was key to philosophy at that point throughout history this was a key philosophical construct. This changes philosophy radically. Only one primal thing that is pure experience this is stuff they experience. Experience requires life you can’t experience the tree falling in the forest thinks experiences create habits. We’re compelled to make a decision when the grounds for making it don’t exist. We have the right to adopt a believing model. Believe truth avoid error. He didn’t really believe in probability just absolutes. Pragmatism is true if it is good for our lives. Pragmatism use what is beneficial for you. Ignore the rest. Obligation to seek truth is to do what is best for us. Believing in god is good for humans so it’s true even if you can’t justify it being real. Substituting belief in god for god.

John Dewey - Dewey does not see truth as static like a multiplication table, but evolving and growing. Thought as an evolutionary process instead of thought as final. No absolutes all reality is temporal. Truth is based on the mental models and beliefs in the statements not the words actually said. False belief is when you entertain it you are surprised by the wrong outcome. Makes inquiry the subject of knowledge thinks inquiry leads to unified wholes. Truth is the logical outcome of inquiry. Relations of an organism to environment is not only satisfactory when the organism adjust to make the environment more suitable for it that is inquiry. Divides beliefs into good and bad beliefs and this is judged based on the future effects of the beliefs. If you get new information and change, but still fail, that was not truth but if you make those same changes and succeed, then that is truth, even if it’s acting on the same information. Judge belief by effects not causes. Instrumentalist and power over environment. All philosophy deeply shaped by surrounding environment intoxication of power and not checking your pride can lead to madness we need humility.

Bergson - Bergson rejected rationalism philosophy is based on methods or results aprori vs realism or idealism. Another way of classifying is the predominant desire which causes the philosopher to philosophize theoretical philosophy spured by love of knowledge feeling inspired by happiness practical philosophy inspired by action happiness is generally religious knowledge based is usually systems related and practical is ones that see action as the main good. Revolt of the man of action. World is split into life and matter and life is always fighting the resistance of matter. Like a man cutting through wind. Splits instinct and intellect intellect is the misfortune of man were instinct is the benefit of bees and ants very industrious. Instinct at its best is intuition. Intellect sees the worlds ends if you are cutting a chicken the intellect sees it as already cut. It’s always looking outwards. Universe is a railway with life going up and matter going down. Intellect is a dream sees things move through space time is the essential characteristic of life. Duration is what life is past slipping future is new. We need to grab the past and bring it into the present this is when we’re truly ourselves it’s perpetual becoming never something made. It’s in memory that duration exists. Memory exists in motor mechanism and independent recollection. One direct recall the other is habit. Memory is inside ourselves and matter exists outside ourselves it’s basically stimulus response. The brain is supposed to limit action as we’re always disposed to action. Human beings are a center of action. We’re free when our acts spring from our whole personality. He doesn’t give reasons for his views just his recommendations. The issue with his philosophy is it’s anti intellectual and illogical so it promotes the intuition over intellect and doesn’t really justify it well. Just wants you to accept his priors without thinking this is dogma he makes illusions to math and science and just assumes things that make errors and point out nothing can be learned through reason and patient worship the ignorant instead of using idea. Action for the sake of action without any contemplation.

Karl Marx - Mark used a scientific approach to economics that looked for the best for the wage earner not from a capitalist point of view. Saw sensation as interaction between subject and object. Truth must be demonstrated in practice. Knower and thing known are in constant evolution we only notice things when we act and do any good theory incorporates action. Marx ethic relies on outputs this is the materialist conception of history. Matter is the driving force and man’s relation to matter the most important part is the mode of production. Culture is the outputs of production and distribution. This is partly true, because philosophy comes from existing within the current power structures in the world. Philosophy split into scientific or logical questions and important, subjective questions with passionate interest but no good info to support either side ie you can’t reason the situation. A philosophy is organic whole of the extra rational decisions. Marx saw classes as part of vehicles of dialectic movement. Believed in the law of progress and it was not dependent on the economic system. Believed in the power of classes.

26. The Utilitarians -
  Wanted to create a social system that would automatically make men happy. Associations of ideas in psychology created the idea of a Pavlovian conditioned reflex. The greatest happiness what is good is pleasure the greatest deeds generate the largest proportion of pleasure to pain. The good is happiness in general and the man pursues what is his great happiness, and the legislator needs the balance, the good of the individual. Wanted laws which aligned incentives of individuals with communities like not stealing because taking is in an individual’s interest utilitarian ethic and community civil law and subsistence abundance security and equality but didn’t care for liberty. Advocated security not war. These people didn’t excuse tradition abolished the death penalty for most crimes as it was used for nearly anything and end up advocating for democracy over aristocracy and repeal of old senseless tradition that didn’t make sense. Only utility is the guide of government thought legislation was beneficent which it hasn’t materialized to be. Believed in just pleasure and pain in his ethic one wholly good one wholly bad. Ethic could’ve been more successful if not for the principle agent problem. Ethic is what is ethical maximizes the most human happiness the ends over the means.

25. Nietzsche -
  Believed in self reliance and spartan discipline but also in the great individual. Has contempt for women and doesn’t respect them think of them as property objects to Christianity doesn’t view men as equal and supports pride, passion, and war, where Christianity doesn’t. Supports the noble man over the Christian saint who is the will for power. His ideas come from fear nitzche his ethic is aristocratic not individual equality for all. He sees aristocrats as the only people to care about not that rule from aristocrats makes everyone better, but that the lives of everyone, but the aristocrats don’t matter because they’re less than people. Doesn’t believe in love but fear and power. Hates universal love.

24. Schopenhauer -
  Schopenhauer one vast will. Has a cosmic will which is source of our suffering leads to all progress and progress creates all evils. No such thing as happiness. Argues for nirvana and says the cause of suffering is exercising will the less we exercise will be less we suffer. All things are one and that love connects us.

22. Hegel -
  Hagel viewed everything as one entity not in parts. Dialectic was thesis antithesis and synthesis. Nothing is wholly false or true his dialectic climbs the world from more to less general you start with a specific idea and rationalize it to the whole then rationalize that whole. The absolute idea is pure thinking about pure thinking. Make general beliefs then raise them in the stack get lather and larger with beliefs to get to the large integrated truth. Reason is the substance of the universe. Sees freedom as wherever law there is freedom. Brining control of the spirit into subjective freedom. The state is an end in itself to be great and one cohesive idea not a way to make men free under a commonwealth doesn’t argue for a League of Nations but states advocating for their interest and if needed starting wars to defend their lives views war as positive. Takes whole over the parts. There is no truth but the whole truth and the truth relies in the whole not its parts. Does the state exist for the citizen or the citizens for the state Hagel takes 2 Locke takes 1. If you say John is the son of James you need to know everything about John and James first to make this declaration and you end up knowing everything about the universe from that one assertion to be true. If enough was known about something all else about that thing could be deduced by logic.

20. Kant -
  Knowledge is about ideas perception of agreement or disagreement of 2 ideas. Knowledge is demonstrative sensitive and intuitive. Everyman is an end in itself rights of the individual. Analytical proposition one is known by the subject all tall men are men. Synthetic proposition or everything else. Empirical proposition comes from experience apriori proposition can come from experience but no longer need it like mathematical proofs. Outter world provides sensation and inner world of the mind orders that sensation. Apriori concepts include quantity quality relation and modality. These are applied like space and time not innate in themselves. Antimonies are mutually contradictory propositions. The moral law demands justice and since it doesn’t exist in this life it must in another. He didn’t give a purpose to reason outside the individual it must come innate completely apriori to be considered virtuous you must do things driven by internals not externals. Imperative is the formulation of the command of the reason. Hypothetical and categorical imperative 1. You must do so and so if you want to achieve such end 2. Certain kind of actions are necessary regardless of any end these are apriori. Things you must do because you must do them. Act in only ways that are general laws. Virtue isn’t results based but due to the internal prompting. Every man is an end in themselves. This could be a prompt for democracy but is suspicious of democracy sees world federation for piece. Perception is part internal part external and thinks there is subjectivity even in primary causes. Thinks space and time are apriori. Precepts are caused by thinks in themselves events within the laws of physics.

19. Rousseau - Rousseau defended religion not on divinity but awe and morality. He thought the heart was key to religion. Political philosophy everyone gives their rights up to the community. Basically a communist state. Everything must relinquish advantages to be equal. When individual rights run counter to sovereign that everyone pooled their rights the sovereign wins giving people the right to be free. The general will is the deepest common will of the people. There is self interest some benefits you some is in common with others the general will ignores what benefits you to emphasize what benefits all. Man of government has 3 wills personal will will of government and general will. Argued against trade unions or small association for the one big state. Believed city state democracy over rule of kings but elected republic of the smart rich.

18. The Romantic Movement -
  Romantic period Was the offshoot of what time after war where people wanted peace, but peace had lasted so long it got too conservative and boring so people wanted more life, more interest, and this lead to pushing down utilitarianism in substitution for aesthetic principles. Substituting earthworm for tigers. Preferred the city to the country. Prefer what is grand violent like Niagara Falls to what is normal and calm like a meadow. Like ghosts and scary stuff not ordinary stuff wanted to think of what was grand. The Romantics wanted strong passions, but strong passions are often negative feelings, so this lead to supporting anarchy. person who is tempted is an archic rebel or tyrant. Strong passions are destructive. Through self interest man has become gregarious but we need to restrain ourselves and forgo plus pleasure in the moment for longer term views. So man has become solitary and needs religion and morality to reinforce self interest. Ignore prudent restraints gain a new energy and power through cessation of inner conflict giving them god like powers mystic becomes one with god or a god and thus lose sense of truth and duty, because that’s what they do they are inherently truthful, and have no duty but themselves. If we could live solitary without labor, we could all experiences independence but because we can’t, it’s left for rulers. World of solitary instincts against social bonds is key to romantic philosophy. Need to balance isolation and contribution to society. This opposes capitalism. Because man is not a social animal, self realization cannot be a core or at the core of ethical principles

17. Hume - Impression versus ideas impressions have more force and violence every simple idea has a simple impression the complex ideas like a wing horse don’t need an impression. Complex ideas come from impressions from memory and imagination all general ideas come from particular ideas that are abstracted. Theory of ideas. Thinks people are just their perceptions but can’t perceive the self. No man perceive self or have an idea of it. Unperceived things can be defined with perceived things so because we can’t know the self we replace the idea of self with perceptions. Says category of subject and object not fundamental because there is no self just a combination of perceptions. Probablistic knowledge is not things known with a degree of uncertainty but knowledge shrouded in doubt coming from inference from data excludes observation and pure math logic 2 things of probablistic knowledge those that depend on ideas only, 2 and those that can be changed without and change to the idea. Says the first is true knowledge. We can only know cause an effect from observation and experience they’re not inherent in objects or discoverable from them it’s experience that we see things connected. Through association over seee an and b joined we assume they go together what appears as nessecwey connection is only connection within the ideas of objects. Hume is kinda saying correlation doesn’t equal causation past association doesn’t apply future. Hume rejects the idea of causes. Even such that an Apple can’t cause a taste. Mere association. Wanted to prove validity of scientific method, but ended up supposing that we don’t know anything because belief is never rational. Always maintain skepticism kinda creates a backwards thing that nothing we believe can be true because it’s not fully logical consistent. It’s tough to be this extreme because you just reject everything get nothing. Destroys empiricism rejects induction.

16. Berkeley- Barely we don’t perceive material things only colors and sounds which are in the mind. Has the idea things must be material or mental. Things that can’t be perceived aren’t real but this rules out the idea of unthought of infinite numbers not being real because they haven’t been perceived. The idea of smell of taste are in the mind and things cannot be mental or material. These are secondary qualities. Besides spirits all we know and perceive are our own worlds. Precepts are things we can know without interference. 1. We can allow no inference from our precepts or 2. solipsism we can infer our experiences into other experiences we have and connect them. 3. We can also take what we see and infer people can see something similar that we can’t ie others can feel pain we can’t. 4. There are experiences that I don’t experience and no one else sees ie laws of physics if a tree falls in a forest did it actually fall or was it always on the ground.

15. Locke's Influence - Liebnotz has a logic principle that creates a vast array of deduction where Locke grounds in observable facts and grows from there this makes leibnetz ideas fall if there is logical inconsistency anywhere. Locke thought of answering questions in a vacuum each on their own merits not trying to make a perfect system apriori. Enlightened self interest led more happiness that ideas of loyalty

14. Locke's Political Philosophy -Historically believed that kings right came from Adam and Eve. Power in the state comes from king aristocracy and middle class. 2-3 combine against the other to assert power. Political dynasty doesn’t pass down but economic dynasties are passed down. State of nature and natural law doesn’t come from hereditary. Natural law creates leize fair and rights of man. All free subjects are free to inherent land and free exercise of industry and domicile. Everyone by the light of nature will do what gives him the greatest advantage and him pursuing this will lead to the best ev for society. Men living together without a superior judging them is a state of natures. Locke took old ideas that were too before their time and catalyzed them brought them to the forefront and got credit for creating them. Men are free and equal to do what they want as far as the laws of nature not subordinated to any. Law of nature implies you can’t harm someone else because that violates gods nature and we’re all gods property. Freedom of self determination but can’t fuck with anyone’s shit. Men can defend themselves of thieves but once they get away the government has to deal with it. Property rights are key to government right acts promote the most general good. Locke believed rule wasn’t Devine but a result of a social contract between the people and rulers. Argues against absolute government and for checks and balances between executive and judiciary. Believed in the labor theory of value that people have the right to the property they create. Lockes ideas on checks and balances are played out in the us through the constitution

13. Locke's Theory of Knowledge - Locke was the right man at the right time this ideas had immense government support right time and place he put practicality above dogmatism. Truth is hard to obtain so we hold our ideas with doubt held reason over all even religion. Reason is what we know with certainty and our probablistic conjectures. Don’t believe without knowledge but hold ideas lightly don’t impose them. Founded empiricism all knowledge comes from experience we learn through sensation and our mind’s perception the mind knows nothing apriori knowing through sense was new. All things exist in particulars but we can group many particulars into a general concept like man that are applicable to many things. We have intuitive knowledge of our self demonstrative knowledge of god and sensitive knowledge of the world. All simple ideas are evident and complex ideas are made of simple ideas so knowledge comes from intuition reason sensation. Tough to have a system that is logically true and self consistent. Believed pursuing happiness is the grant of freedom and the greatest pleasure is pursuit of happiness. We value pleasure today more than tomorrow interest rate of pleasure. Prudence is the long term general good of self that makes you act positive ev and rationally at all times linked with the idea of saving due to investment investing for the future. Private and public interest are the same in the long run but not the short run so being pias and prudent leads to virtue because god sees all so people just be good otherwise you need laws. Property rights are important mixed with liberty that is limited by the government

12. Philosophical Liberalism - Political liberalism was the rise of the individual where people were able to have their own opinions and disagree show evidence and come to an answer and be free to do so unlike justified true belief which was the church’s rule.

11. Leibniz - He believes in an infinite number of substances called monads unlike others who believed in 1 god or 3 mind matter and soul. Every monad influences the universe but there really all independent souls. The body is made of monads and the mind directs the lower monads this is basically aggressive free will every small space has a monad that is acting in some way. Ontologic argument is the most perfect perfection. Cosmological argument is that of first cause or unmoved mover. Leibniz says everything has a reason so the core reason for giving is god. God created not the best world but the best possible world doesn’t argue god in infallible. Substance comes from idea of subject and predicate. Substances must be always a subject and persist through time. He wanted to replace thinking with calculation mathematical philosophy he didn’t publish his work because it conflicted with Socrates and he thought it was wrong and because he was worried about the world’s reaction. Based his philosophy on the law of contradiction and sufficent reason. Contradiction says all analytic propositions are true sufficient reason says all true propositions are analytic if you make a journey that journey is apart of you. You can deduce everything from the subject from the quality of king Alexander was you can deduce he would be Darius and die young. Every predicate comes from the subject t. This says free will is a myth determined by god. Composibles 2 things that can exist probablisticly but not together like heads and tails.

10. Spinoza - In a state of nature there is no right or wrong because there are no laws in nature. Sovereign can do no wrong opposed to rebellion believes in state over church. Holds freedom of opinion. Believes in no free will. Wanted to find a life dedicated to the good. Finite Things are determined by boundaries what they are not all people are trying to get closer to god that’s immortality oneness with god. Sees no such thing as evil just a lack of mortal knowledge to see gods good grace. We are free due to our internal locus of control and how self determined we can be an in bondage when at the mercy of outside causes. All wrong action is intellectual error and everyone seeks self preservation. Sees past present and future as all one thing because of no self determinism so thinks an ill done in the past is as bad a one tomorrow. He wants to liberate men from fear so they don’t fear death but embrace life. What comes from within can’t be bad only. When a man grasps the external world and the whole he is free. He rejects passions where we are passive to outside forces. He who understands himself loves god. Spinza shows us how to live nobility within the limits of human power. We can’t be immortal so we can’t fear death or else we’re a slave don’t fear death but take everything to avoid death. He believes in loving your neighbor all ills are caused by insufficient knowledge and only love can drive out hate. Sees the world as a larger system of causes and effects and we’re all just a piece of the larger whole.

9. Descartes - Descartes split mind and matter. Cartesian doubt is doubting everything you can possibly doubt questioning first principles we can doubt physical things but we know we think so we have a mind so we know we exist so I think therefore I am is the kernel of his philosophy and theory of knowledge he makes mind more certain than matter. And your mind better than others. He didn’t invent this but understood it as fundamental to a new theory of knowledge. Separates the soul from the body as something real idea of the mind and though is the basis for the theory of knowledge today. All things are subjective in this idea. Ideas are innate come from outside or are invented by us. Sees our ideas about things like the sun better than our external perception the world of the mind better than body. Then proves god I’d really and good this the external world is real because god wouldn’t deceive us. Brought dualism of mind and matter together and stood in the importance of thought above all. Was a Cartesian and didn’t believe in free will just determinism

8. Hobbes' Leviathan- Hobes life is nasty brutish and short humans want freedom but to have safety must give this up and submit to a ruling power. The leviathan is the power of the collective vested in one entity usually a commonwealth or king. Sovereign is in control but his interests are allotted with the people so his incentive is to be good. Monarch create property rights or at least states do and prevent anarchy. He doesn’t hide truth because it will hurt his rule. The people prefer him to chaos. Thinks monarchy is the best but the representative government in his day was hereditary. Liberty removes all impediments to motion. Sovereign have and makes the laws. Men are subject to the sovereign except they hold the right of self preservation. Believed in absolute state power. Dangers are faced by anarchy and despotism and checks and balances in our best solution so far. He believes anarchy is the worst so pushes for a state but things swing and sometimes you need anarchy. Promotes universal government

7. Francis Bacon - Bacon invented inductivism. Saw knowledge is power mastery over nature through science. Believed people should both collect and arrange data. Fought against idols bad habits of mind. Based in human nature, personal prejudice, tyranny of words difficult of escaping from those over our mind, received system of thought, blind rules can take the place of judgement habit the cave the market place theater the schools

6. The Rise of Science -Science is not what someone believed, but wow why and how someone believe that the evidence the scientific belief was new to the world that had previously just had no scientific grounding just astrology. 2 merits immense, patience, and great boldness were the big qualities of this time. Before this no one had both, and Copernicus knew all that could be known using his materials about the heavens. What changed there was a benefit of simplicity making theories more simple better science. Two big things were what had previously been believed, could be false. And progress came from collecting a facts patiently and testing of theories. And bold conjectures that combine facts. Kepler discovered more of patients and analysis of data than genius. changing the motion of planets from ellipses to circles change the idea that these were perfect things as the circle was a perfect shape into something that was more realistic. This changed the frame of thinking. Dial came up with the idea of falling bodies at the same speed. The mob was all the professors of philosophy and their dogmatism, and hated the telescope, because it showed more heavenly bodies than the assumed seven which was a perfect number. The idea of law was in men’s head, and sorcery was dismissed. The unmoved mover was cut out by laws of motion pushing god out of the thinking. Newton believed in absolute space and time we believe in relativity now.

4. Erasmus and More- Happiness best is achieved by brutes not men of reason because it’s easier to imagine yourself a king become one. Said religion comes from folly and true religion comes from the heart not head. Men of the renaissance were incredibly curious and would only take curiosity from books but later would take interest in real people this is the change from pure literary based into the real world and scientific. Some times favor men of intellectual others men of action. More invented the idea of Utopia a place in the southern hemisphere, where everything is done the right way and perfect. In Utopia, all things are held in common and cannot flourish with private property. Without communism there can be no equality. Everyone can enter house no ownership. Government is a representative democracy’s or the smartest men. Everyone eats in halls together. Teach contempt of money and they raise an army they display courage when necessary but view war practically. Believe in usually one god but many religions. Moores beliefs are very liberal when it comes to war dealing with criminals ie no death penalty religious tolerance but no diversity.

3. Machiavelli - Machiavelli saw religion as an important social cement. Thought church’s evil actions undermined religion and the closer people were to the church the more curropt they were. He admired skill and cunning. He help skill and unity both in his mind so he respects people who did bad things well but doesn’t admire them. He says that people need to be cunning not always do what is good. Keep faith when it works but then also be faithless. Convince the people of your faith and use the rules that work for you not necessarily principled. It’s not important to have conventional virtue but important to project you have them. Believed in the balance of power. Balance of powers. Political liberty needs personal virtue. Love of liberty and checks and balances can’t from antiquity and stood to this day. Power comes from a man’s ability to seize it there is no Devine power and popular governments are better than divine ones because they need to consider the people political goods are national independence security and well ordered constitution a constitution doles out power relative to that persons status ie noble people common people fir stability skew toward more people. Means are important it’s stupid to try something you think will fail you must choose means adequate to achievement there are no morals other than the goal and it’s good to study sinners and saints. Just about the science achieving success and it’s about power. The idea of virtue helps cement power. Controlling the narrative is vital. Politicians behave better when the people want virtue and news is open.

1. General Characteristics -Religion gives an out of the box worldview while science gives no clear picture just conjectures in different areas. Theoretical science vs practical science. The benefit of science to the world led to more practicality and less theory. More individualism. Science while it enables individualism but needs more collectivism than ever. We’ve become to opposed with process over outcome. Justified true belief was important before the renaissance. Later in this time the pope become power focused. The renaissance didn’t foster a ton of thought but broke down barriers that restricted thought which set the table also dug up the greats reading Plato direct and learning became a great adventure not solving for a predetermined outcome which fostered free thought. Renaissance was mostly rich benefactors funding art. When the emancipation from the church happened people opened up to crazy beliefs not necessarily rational but astrological and morally the world took a step back because there was no moral code. Instability and individualism are a pair the more you have of one the more you get of the other.

14. Franciscan Schoolmen- 4 courses of ignorance frail and unsuitable authority influence of custom opinion of unlearned crowd concealment of ignorance in apparent wisdom this creates all evil. Individuation with individual things some aspects are essential other ancillary a man wearing a hat the hat in ancillary. Ocams razor choose the answer that makes fewer assumptions all other things equal. Logic is an instrument for the analysis of nature an instrument of discursive science. Science is about things logic is about universals science uses universals but logic deals with them. Logic deals with things fabricated by the mind within itself a word has both a thing and deeper meaning and we must differentiate between the uses to make sense. Terms that point at things are terms of 1st intention terms that point at terms are terms of second intention refer to science vs logic.

11. The Twelfth Century - The 12th century had crusades which established and deepened the power of the church and killed Jews that allowed Christian’s to usurp them as merchants and killed them in mass. The scholastics catalyzed the 13tj century into the renaissance these people pushed things forward but relied on reasoning and words even when experiment and action were needed which was a flaw. People were at times still debating the same problems 40 years later this isn’t progress it’s just being happy not making process. The 13th century was the birth of the inquisition and fighting in the church. This was rebuffed but only for a few centuries strong men kept the church together only for the church to finally collapse in the 16th century. People saw missionaries and the opinion of the church was saved. St Francis lived poor and wanted to genuinely help people was a rich kid gave up all possessions but this didn’t last as his successors didn’t commit to poverty only feigned it and the order collapsed became surface level. The issue with catholic philosophy is that it had an answer it was solving for which limited thought

10. Mohammedan Culture and Philosophy - The Muslims when they conquered generally kept ruling places in order and recognized Jews and Christians as people not to be persecuted when they took over a charged smaller taxes, and generally were less strict and people welcome that and often there was very little resistance, who there expansion. Avi senna big philosopher and did a lot in medicine. He believed thought brings about generalities in forms. He may not have believed strongly in universals. Universals are before things in things and after things. God creates the idea for cat then the animals are embedded with this concept in their natural cat like nature then we form the idea of cats in our mind. The Muslims philosophy was starting to become vibrant but got crushed by a ruler into rigid orthodoxy. This led to less interpretation and just reading the book as it is. So they proposed taking the book literally and there was more downside than upside to expanding on this thought. Bad incentives. Everoise fought against the dogma of literalism preached and said that the books passed philosophical truth through allegories. The Muslims didn’t like speculation outside of the holy book because it held all truth. Russell saw the Muslim ideas not as an important creator of knowledge but a good transmitters of knowledge that kept the Greek ideas alive and passed down so they could be picked up for the renaissance.

6. St. Benedict and Gregory the Great - The most effective men of action are often intellectually second rate. Times were difficult but confusion offers great opportunities to able statesmen. This allowed Gregory to exercise some authority. Celibacy was part of the moral superiority of the church but this belief and ideal created and held the churches power above men. Ontological object saw god as the greatest object of thought which much exist somewhere default has to be a greatest therefore god exists. Is there anything that we can think of that by virtue of us thinking it can exist outside our thought. Philosopher dream. Then there is a bridge from thoughts to things. Sees reason as below faith. He believes to understand.

2. Christianity During the First Four Centuries- Christian mixes the material and logical with the metaphysical use reason to establish the faith through god immortality and free will but then also how the profits fortold the messiah. The Christians were intolerant of other religions. Believed in the afterlife in the divine nature of the church. Pure and auster morals and the union and discipline of the Christian republic the novel organization of the Christian’s as a voting block gave them new power not previously tapped. Ambrose was the priest who helped the church gain administrative power in Europe over the state. View on time. Time created when the world is created no before or after but an eternal present. Gods eternity is always present. God stands outside time. St Augustine explains time the present is all that can be measured and time does pass. Only the present really is but there is past and future. Sees past and future as present by calling past memory and future expectation. It’s a bit of a juxtaposition. Present of things past memory of things present sight and of things future expectations. Time is subjective and in the human mind. There can be no time without a created being. He also anticipated I think therefore I am understanding that self realization is a proof of being. He attached intent and understanding to sin in reference to rape and sacking. Also created the concept of the city of mortals and city of god. The power of the city of god is it declared the separation of church and state and the state could only be part of the church by being subservient to it in religious matters. This has been the policy of the church since. The weakness of the state allowed the church to grab power.

1. The Religious Development of the Jews - The Jews innovation was a sole god and the inability to worship idols previously when people were taken over they assumed the conquerors religion the Jew remained separate and wanted to prevent the intermarriage of their group with other groups. Jewish morality was fairly basic do well to your neighbors giving charity have god on your side. Treat slaves not too well or poorly. Be strict with kids. Jews were killed for their beliefs and this led to the idea of a heaven so not all virtue on earth but also in a higher world could justify sacrifice here. The Jews were becoming more Hellenized and there was great incentive to do so but the few that held out set the table for Christianity and Islam. Jews were similar to the Stoics in their philosophy and stood resolutely in the face of torture. The Jews thought their opponents would never be forgiven and go to hell not a forgiving god. The idea of loving the lord and neighbor and seeing hatred as evil. When you study the letter of the law you hurt the ability to innovate and create new philosophy you’re too stuck with technical debt. Jews once Christianity came to power persecuted Jews and prevented them for doing anything the Muslims were generally more accepting and Jews were integrated into those cultures. After the Middle Ages the Jews lost their cultural unity and were stuck to be individual contributors but not a cultural movement/ race. Christianity started as a sect of Judaism Circumsicdon and diet restriction kept Judaism from spreading far/ mainstream.

29. The Roman Empire in Relation to Culture - The Greeks and Roman’s lost their metal and creativity. The Greeks were conquered and dispirited the Roman’s ruled but excess bled into their rule and eventually the army only took bribes and never fought everything was backward and they got over powered by barbarians. The empire split and the East was alive until 1400s through the Constantine decree on Christianity being adopted while different groups ruled the Christian through line and Greek culture remained more or less honored through the years until the conquest but the western side outsourced fighting to barbarians and made the poor serfs while this worked well for a century the incentive alignment over the long run led it to blow up. Unmotivated citizens led to little innovation. The Roman’s were previously farmers but then adopted Greek culture almost fully. They created little new. People grew rich had grand estates divorce rose morals decayed. Rich had fewer Children. People read and learned less didn’t care as much about culture focused more on military co quest and taking than learning. Romes size allowed culture to permeate through the empire. The vibes of a growing vs shrinking empire are different. In a growing pie there is hope and vigor even with fewer resources in a shrinking environment there is fear of further loss. Humans are relative beings.

28. Stoicism - Stoicism pursuing a life of virtue. Cosmic determinism and no such thing as chance. Believes history was cyclical everything his existed and will exist again history repeats. Everything has a purpose that helps human live and realize their being. Directing will and living within nature. Virtue is in the will which is entirely in the individual so everyone has the chance to be virtuous if they ignore unimportant, external things. Virtue is the end in itself not an earthly good. This takes the idea that you shouldn’t be sad or offput by family death or friends he does good ti be virtuous preached universal love. Freedom from the daily ins and outs to just be resolute and steady in all situations and act with virtue. Brotherhood of man living with nature. The idea of stoicism that nothing in the outside world can effect you yet you have full free will. Virtue and sin are a result of previous causes. Ultimately it creates an ideal life that has some life philosophy that is seen in a perfected state but implemented in an imperfect world so it’ll never be right. Stoics came up with the idea of certain things and probabilistic guesses given facts. They believed in innate ground truth principles this underlies ideas like natural laws and equality of man. Ground truths. Created natural law

27. The Epicureans - Epicurious believed in pleasure as the guiding course in life and the pursuit of them but also believed in keeping a simple diet and being resolute in death as he was. His teaching once made were fixed and unchanging. Dynamic pleasures consistent the attainment of a desired end like eating, and static pleasures are that desired and state like the state of feeling full. Static is a state of equilibrium. Regards absence of pain than gluttony. He thought better to eat to be not hungry than eat to be full. Believed in common sense and minding your own business not great philosophical doctrines. Believed all men were focused on selfish pleasures but also in friendship and the power of it. Was focused on avoiding fear and death. Hated and rejected religion very hostile religion in the old times could’ve been different for different peoples like rich and poor that we don’t have good info on poor people in history so we don’t fully understand their lives. believed in materialism and rejected mortality and this was very different from Christianity so non existence as a deliverance.

26. Cynics and Sceptics - The cynics rejected every convention known to man took the other side of any authority or idea. Rejects external goods only for internal virtue. Indifference to good things. Skeptics there was no idea more right or wrong in any school so you could just adopt whichever one you were closet to do really no critical thinking about philosophy said people were pretending to knowledge the issue is that they’re dogmatic in the idea that knowledge was impossible. This was a good idea for a time of deep unrest that gave comfort in everything being bs and no truth. Degrees of probability were invented at this time.

25. The Hellenistic World - The conditions for revolution need to be right when the Roman’s took over much philosophical progress was halted environment was just not conducive to it. Environment shapes behavior and waves. Alexander started to create the concept of a more global world. Alexander created the idea of unity instead of city states but it decayed after his death back to original structures. At Alexandria the people were just as great but discovered fewer universal truths due to them being specialists instead of generalists like the older Greeks. There was no clear order and everyone was at the mercy of conquests making less global universal truth due to life uncertainty. There was no great structure post Alexander so people took up faith and comquesting land instead of growth of science and economy. Idea was to avoid misfortune than to do good. People could think but they couldn’t imagine implementing their thoughts.

22. Aristotle's Logic - His logic was through sylagisms with major and minor premises and a conclusion. Aristotle used inductive reasoning but thought it was deductive. Yiu cant learn by deduction only induction. What he didn’t understand was that assuming all men are mortal is false because some men have yet to die so this is inductive not deductive. What moves everything from a physical point of view is will. The nature of something is the end it exists for. Things have an internal principal of motion which means change of quality or size not just movement. Alive things have an internal principal of change nature is of form not matter. They had the idea that the world revolved around the earth and space was heaven. Very advanced geometrically. The Ancient Greece had a concept we weren’t at the center of our universe. Discovered 24 hour day. Invented Copernicus hypothesis even though it was strongly against the religion and tenuous.

20. Aristotle's Ethics - Friends can only be made wiry those of the same standing a good men must love themselves to be friends with themselves wicked men cannot love them selves. Pleasure is distinct from happiness but you can’t have happiness without pleasure. Some pleasure is needed for happiness and not all pleasures are wholly bodily. Pleasure is subordinate to things like intelligence that we should seek progress over pleasure at points pleasures are connected with reason. Pleasure is contemplative happiness lies in contemplation and virtuous perfect activity leasure is necessary to happiness. Delight in reason and contemplation that is the key to happiness and virtue. Questions about ethics 1. Is it internally consistent 2. Is it consistent with authors views 3. Does it gives answers to ethical problems that are consonant to our ethical feelings. We can rely on old ideas for ethics because unlike astronomy we haven’t really made ethic progress just movement so they are not more right than us. Purpose governs development due to the idea of final causes virtuous actions are those to lead to better organization and form. He had the idea that everyone has a sphere of happiness and some are bigger than others if they’re wealthier but they’re entitled to that sphere of happiness. Absence of benevolence or philanthropy. Best way to prolong tyrany is to create a shared enemy and keep people busy or make yourself a god. Thought citizens wouldn’t work just leasure and governance. Don’t teach slaves.

20. Aristotle's Ethics - The good is happiness Human soul is 2 parts rational and irrational. Intellectual and moral and virtues. Reason is contemplative and doesn’t lead to any action alone. Intellectual comes from teaching moral from habits the legislature makes the people good by forming good habits and other just virtues. By being compelled to have good habits we will eventually form them. Every virtue is a mean between 2 extremes that are both vices. This is the golden mean balancing modesty between bashfulness and shamelessness. He also has a class breakdown where the acting of a man to another man is different than his wife or slave who cannot act certain ways toward him and ways he acts towards them aren’t wrong because they’re his property. He has this magnoamous man who is the perfect example of the perfect mean. Issues with this is it’s only written for aristocratic people not everyone can achieve this. It’s written for the a few great men and isn’t believed to be achievable by anyone like stoicism or Christianity which allows everyone to achieve goodness and virtue. Subordinates ethics to politics to have a great community over heart men. We have this in our western leaders expected to be above the average man. We’re not to blame for things we can’t do. Virtue is the avoidance of sin where we can’t expect unrealistic things from people but Aristotle doesn’t believe that and takes the absolute view of moral virtue virtues are means to ends. Intellectual virtues are ends but practical virtues are means. Virtue is action that produces the goods. Virtues belong to the whole in individual.

19. Aristotle's Metaphysic- Aristotle had substances and universals a substance is a this a universal is a such. A universal cannot exist in itself but only particular things like there is only football because there are footballers the dependence of an adjective is based on its proper name but not vice versa the men who played football would still exist without football. Russell rejects this because man would still need a job if it wasn’t football. The difference is between proper nouns and relation words. This may be semantics but developed the world of ideas. He also created the idea of the escense of things this is what you are by your very nature and groups like species have this too, and if this was removed, you would lose your unique individuality. Has the idea of form and matter. Material vs form. Marble is the material the statue is the form the soul is the form of the body. Form gives unity to matter it’s is essence and primary substance they don’t make the form as much as they don’t make brass. 3 forms sensible and perishable then the 3 permutations of the 3. 4 causes material - marble formal essence of state to be produced efficient chisel making contact and final the end the sculptor has in view. Irrational soul is personal beliefs like love of oysters and rational mind is universal truths like math that is god like perfect.

16. Plato's Theory of Immortality - Socrates saw life as something lived through the physical body but apart from it and above it not giving in to daily pleasures but just living above them. Able to drink as much as possible but never be too drunk. The body blocks our thought of true knowledge when in company with the body the soul can’t have true knowledge believed the soul was freed in death and the afterlife was generally better. Thought all knowledge was passed from the after life. Souls existed before birth. The pure soul after death passes on to the afterlife while the inpure soul goes into an animal. Plato had the idea of creation the world made of 4 elements time and space + eternal archetype mix of necessity and purpose in the world. Knowledge isn’t what is becoming but what is one judgement can’t be truer but better. A wise man is a better judge of the future like a doctor vs layman. The world is always changing and in flux. Knowledge can’t be through perception but must include thinking. We can’t know through senses knowledge consists in reflection not perception knowledge is judgements of perception. Mathematical truth exists without perception through symbols

15. The Theory of Ideas - Good creative work requires walking every path of a mountain before stepping back and seeing it wholly. Need to see the necessities of reason and understanding one is ideas in motion with hypothesis it can’t test like in math the other is pure ideas. We need super sensible straight lines in a super linear world. Plato established the idea of objective truth and ultimate form but struggles at times to merge this with examples or particulars like man vs a man. The cave is the idea of the world being illuminated to someone one. That we go through the world blind and illuminate it to ourselves only at times we must use our soul to shine truth onto the world but this is our point of greatest confusion because we open up a bigger world. Struggled with the idea of manyness and the idea that opinion and reality must inhabit different worlds. There are a world of things and form doesn’t explain why god would do both though. Plato creates crazy questions that guide metaphysiccal thinking which are good if they’re disposed of correctly. Plato created the idea of beauty in science which guided it well until it was disproven but people didn’t move on fast enough.

14. Plato's Utopia - Justice and government is hard in Plato’s republic because these are arbitrary not definite concepts. Plato’s republic creates rigid culture that stunts art and creation. Ideals vs ordinary object of desire are impersonal not related to the desire of anyone like food then the other is related to personal beliefs. Related to the ego of the person. Ethical disputes create struggle for power to spread propaganda. Justice is the interest of the stronger. Objective truth is impossible but eventually you can accept something is true. Is there ethical fact. Said you can have some ethic ideas of good if it’s widely accepted but you can have non consensus ideas that are true. This rejects one of Plato’s conclusions. Standards and objective fact aren’t true. Knowledge is infallible because it can’t be mistaken but opinion can be mistaken so opinion can be part true part cause opposite characters things can be beautiful and ugly in between being and not being. Opinion is the world of the senses but knowledge is above sense like beauty. He makes a unique argument that things like a cat have an essential nature of cattiness. There are these perfect visions of things like beds then everything wise is an iteration or temporary version of that ideal. Philosophy is the love of wisdom and certainty intense clarity of something then you can see the whole picture.

12. The Influence of Sparta - Sparta was a land that was predicated on modesty and a simple life all they had was war and waiting the next generation for war nothing else. There was no philosophy or progress just war. Lycurgus created basically a socialist state in Sparta nazi like that relied on military power and higher birth rate. Saw children as not to a man but to the state and they killed the weak. Spartans had homosexual men and women as normal love. There was no such thing as money or riches. Plato grew up to hate the democracy that had become corrupt and killed his teacher Socrates. Had the idea knowledge isn’t from the senses but by intellect. He created a totalitarian world. Plato said leasure was needed for wisdom. Wanted an oligarchy to run the country. Plato saw 3 classes the common people warriors and overseers. Very small ruling class very rigid. Sees the guardians are a class apart. Wants a culture to create genuine gentlemen and censorship of literature. Wanted the belief in god removal of all negative ideals like cowardice. Sees communism for the guardians and experience of war. No wealth or poverty. Pushed forward eugenics. Outside of the inner circle no one has any power and children are taken away from parents so they never know them everyone is equal.

11. Socrates - Socrates idea of life was teaching others to think what he thought and even at his trial he was trying to educate and get the jury to understand his argument. His Socratic method was allowing people to get to his conclusions but this helped him create enemies who thought him vain. He was high minded very sure of himself indifferent of worldly success guided by a Devine voice. Thought clear thinking was right living and thought he was immortal. He was a saint like creature and could get lost thinking for hours. He was a stoic in the way that he believed critics couldn’t harm him and a cynic who despised worldly goods. He was concerns with ethics not science wanted to define ethical terms. Thinks finding knowledge would make men perfect because no one sins on purpose. Socratic method is bad for factual but good for logical ideas to get your thinking out there to expose inconsistencies but can’t create new things.

9. The Atomists - The atomists were focused on mechanism not determinism they proved through science not pseudo science. Not focused on theological ideas. There were people who believed in the void and those that argued against it. To some the void was tangible while others it was like happiness in the abstract or to others that happiness needed an objective of the happiness and can’t exist without people. The atomistists created a world of modern day type physics. They saw a place of atoms being unchangeable then voids in between them. The world of the atomists looked at everything from the cosmos to people with wide eyed interest but after this started to be more focused on people and how we knew things not just pushing the frontier of knowledge but investigating the past which lead to the stunting of knowledge. Thought of purpose not just building new knowledge but living in the world of the mind. Took until the enlightenment to gain the vigor of the presocratics for thirst for new knowledge

7. Athens in Relation to Culture - Athens was built as the product of many neighboring city states giving them money to build a navy and fight the Persians. They parlayed this into being a place of true science democracy and independence. However those in power tried to take too much of the democratic pie and a war with Sparta finished them off. Anaxagoras saw mind as a substance and saw the elements present in all things. He invented the mind and had some advanced cosmic understanding

5. Parmenides - Parmenediee created some foundational modern logic. He argues that using a word makes it in some sense real and alive but this isn’t true in the actual case. Talking about hamlet doesn’t make him real. After a man dies the meaning of his name changes from something concrete and real to a mental representation of who he was which isn’t fully real. Said the past wasn’t real because when you envoke something like George Washington even if it’s a past memory you’re envoking it now so it’s in the present not the past. While the idea that change doesn’t exists was rejected the idea of substance of a thing being constant or something having a forever substance has lived on.

4. Heraclitus - We should in understanding an argument put yourself in the shoes of the argument then try to believe it then after that apply the Utica’s approach. Even if it seems absolutely insane smart people believed that so what do you need to believe to get there what changes for you mentally to believe this obvious false thing and likely you are in the same place with your beliefs obviously wrong where you’re kinda smart on something you believe strongly. Hereclites saw the world in constant flux and opposites as pairs. Thought people had Fire and Water good in evil in balance in them. Believed in war and conflict. Opposites combine to create balance. War common to all strife is justice. Nothing ever is everything is becoming. Eternal life isn’t living forever but living independent of time. Energy replaces matter as what is permanent.

2. The Milesian School - Thales brought geometry and other basic science to the world. The later school saw the world as having one primal substance its infinite eternal ageless encompasses the world. Transformed into various substance. Idea of justice and balance between the substances such that there were balancing loops to keep the world in equal proportions was a core Greek belief. Had an idea that everything evolved from that substance and that even humans evolved from fishes with intermediate steps. Mylesesns had ideas of the world being a cylinder and had different scientific beliefs about air elements and the cosmos. Pythagorean’s were part weird religion part science and geometry. Part mystic part math. He saw all life even animals as sacred and knowledge and property as shared saw the disinterested observer as the peak of humanity seeking truth with no stake. Some people are spectators some are actors in the play then the disinterested investigators sit atop. Pythagoras saw all things as numbers his religion was rooted in part pseudoscience part real science. Pythagoras came up with the idea of going from axioms things we know that are true to conclusions based on those axioms and connections that can then be axioms. Math is a thing that is objectively true the world of thought cleaner than the world of atoms. You can create perfection. These creates idea for objective deep truth in other places like politics but also a great way to structure argument through axioms. Thr idea of objective truth lead to beliefs in Jesus.

Introduction - Philosophy sits in between religion and science with the speculation and conjecture of religion that has not been definitively and logic of science that it appeals to reason. Dogma is theological and truth is science. To understand an age we must understand the beliefs and philosophy of those times. Societies start with dogma and eventually proceed to anarchy striking a balance between these 2 is how you create great societies balance rules and individual freedom. Orphics found churches where anyone could be admitted and that set the stage for the conception of philosophy as a way of life.

The Power Broker

- It took a Rockefeller the most powerful and richest man in New York to oust moses no one else had power. Rockefeller had connections and the power of chase bank the largest family owned bank in the world owned by of course his family. Moses 44 years of power had ended and now moses was basically excommunicated despite the mayors promise he lost all his power when the mayor ducked him. Moses was a man who needed power and now that he lived a life without it his life was basically a personal hell. Moses name became a curse word and the mayor was destroying his name. The new people didn’t get shit done but they destroyed less. Moses had many flaws but in an area where getting things done was the biggest issues among reformers moses while his logic may have been flawed used power and got things done.

The new mayor came in as a young reformer looking to take down moses but he had no power and he attacked moses but in the final hearing moses brought in the biggest lawyers investment bankers union leaders former governors and mayors and ripped his opponent to shreds a this man came in with high and mighty ideas but grossly understood the system moses had created and instead of learning it he showed his youthful ignorance and moses plowed him over like the packers playong a high school team. The mayor tried to oust him but this just further showed his power and the mayors ignorance.

Moses took control of the world fair and started greasing palms and grabbing more power in theory this was a good chance to get back on track but his pride couldn’t help himself. He didn’t work with countries and this lead to few coming he attacked the press more and they turned on him more. He was disinterested in it all and this became a nail in his coffin. Moses fair was so unsuccessful and his men couldn’t tell him or he would deride them. He could never take criticism. And when it got out to the press it was his downfall. The last bits of his image had been destroyed in this ordeal.

Nelson Rockefeller came to power as mayor and only he could really match moses total power. He was also a man who desired great power and Moses thought he could play his normal power games wiry the mayor but that was very wrong. Moses resigned and backed himself in a corner by doing so the threat that had worked for so long backfired and Rockefeller a man who had connections and power such that he didn’t needed Moses accepted it. Moses had lost pretty much all his power in one swoop because of pride and hubris this was the end of Moses career for all intents and purposes in public life.

The press finally turned on moses and his reputation was tarnished in a year 1959. He fought back which only made the press push harder and it triggered a doom loop. Ironically he got hung on title 1 for which there was a lot of corruption he didn’t touch. Moses stepped down from park commissionership but he was still in charge in practice just not in name. Reporters thought he was losing his power but in reality he moved titles but lost very little power. He lost housing which he didn’t want and maintained his parks power while gaining power for the worlds fair. Moses was still growing. Only Robert Moses given his total power could destroy Robert Moses.

Moses eventually opened his records to the press who were eager to investigate and despite moses men striking much from the record one piece was found from a man associated his the mob who moses probably didn’t even hire nonetheless this triggered moses downfall.

The afternoon papers started unearthing the massive Moses corruption eventually the public grew apathetic but the writers instead of giving up doubled down on the principle of the injustice that had been done. The young reporters hasn’t learned the previous lessons of Moses and had no fear trashing him this lead to Moses aura of invisibility being pierced because his opponents didn’t know the fear they should’ve had so they had none. Moses would always stand up for his men without fail and while crushing them in private in public he was resolute. So when his lieutenant stepped out of line to shut down Shakespeare in the park that Moses loved he had to support him. Joe paps fight for Central Park showed moses distaste for the people and control of the Mayor. The people really started to see moses as he was and paps ingenious pr stunts lead to Moses being dragged further through the mud. Moses ended up in a fight he didn’t want and his reputation was get trounced. The press was starting to turn too not just the people which was key and they started to really investigate moses.

The tavern on the green fight in Central Park was the turning point in Moses career. He used all of his old tactics but this time his enemy was rich mothers of Central Park who were able to get lawyers and press coverage something moses battles never had and this exposed his tactics in black and white to the entire city moses reputation that was for 30 years sterling was destroyed by this one fight. The man and his tactics hadn’t changed but finally the press was printing what he was doing on the front page and this triggered the beginning of the end and the firm shift in public opinion moses had relied on. Then asking questions about moses other ills this opened a can of worms. It also showed how Moses corruption ran deep in the city he was supporting a restaurant most people couldn’t afford and giving them tax breaks overall this painted him in a very bad light. Moses started personally attacking his victims as always but now his victims were given a chance to respond when they never had before. They were also digging up old noses cases and were going to hang him on his past words and deeds so he stepped down. Moses retreated but the press didn’t and his reputation was forever tarnished. This fight really meant nothing but this created a sea change in how moses was viewed he was vulnerable to attack and people started to pounce.

Moses promised the tenants would have good housing to move into but independent studies easily disproved his facts. His slum clearing was just moving slums and making them worse. He was tearing up poor communities and displacing people saying he would help but in reality did nothing to help even hurt the people more by diversion and lying. He displaced 170k people and reform leaders were starting to see for themselves how bad he had really made the city. The press still didn’t acknowledge his bad work here they just took him at what he said. There was a damming report that Moses got to basically hide the report and tell his story through the press. The date of poor people in the city was never news. Moses legend kept his word as the word of news. The city still refused to see moses for who he was. And there were public hearings about his abuses that didn’t mention him once.

Moses could’ve reshaped the city for public transportation making it better an more efficient but the incentives for him were i cars and his work in this area sealed a lot of nyc biggest traffic issues at that time it was cheap and achievable now it is impossible. In his 30 years in power moses built not a mile of subway tracks. The subways were like cattle cars not near enough space. The cars were just short of suffocation. The nyc subway was the best in the world but Moses total neglect of investment and maintenance lead to their complete breakdown. Just a little upkeep would’ve avoided this fate but he couldn’t even muster that. The lack of commuters led to a doom loop at the railroads and they fell apart too as was predicted by the increasing roads and drop in traffic. The LIRR often ran late and in the winter was 29 degrees and in the summer it was 98. The trains barely ran and the service was awful it was so intolerable people went numb. The human cost was so horrible and this was the true cost of Moses. He set to fix commuting but destroyed it. Moses continuously missed mass transit and this basically fucked over commuting forever it was 80% cheaper and much more effective on a per person basis but moses hated it so it didn’t happen. Moses made the bridges low so that buses could never go on. The right of way that could’ve been reserved for $1mm now cost $300mm and transport was still needed.

Moses philosophy of road building triggered a doom loop making traffic worse and degrading public transportation until public transport degraded too far and was unusable which only made traffic worse. Moses didn’t want to build public transport for many reasons but building for cars didn’t help 2/3rd of the city’s poor. Building and preparing to build public transport was 10x cheaper than roads and the people of New York were starting to understand the importance of public transit. It would cost $2mm to buy the right away now but after building it would prohibitaly expensive. Moses had a vision in Long Island early and always stuck to it. He crushed planners idea that were helpful and net good for the city he then slashed their pay and demoted them while concealing their plans from the public. Moses was so wrong about traffic he didn’t listen to others and embrace reality he was building for the 20s in the 60s and he was dead wrong which lead to a lot of missteps. More roads led to more not less traffic. Commuting became 20% higher but cars went up 300%. The people started to realize in 1952 that the current policy wasn’t work. The newspaper’s still were under control of Moses power though.

Here Caro focused on one bustling area East tremont that experienced moses wrath. The road went right through their neighborhood and there was a better route available they made that clear slowly but surely they came to accept their protests were being drowned out they received promises from mayors which were all broken they were given no help and left in the cold. Moses raw power in a story it was so visceral and horrible the neighborhood was great and good be avoided but moses maybe for money or power went right through it. Humanity of his actions. Moses in 5 years took a bustling neighborhood community and made it a place of addicts and gangs complete destroying the bottoms up organic complexity that made it beautiful. He destroyed what made ny great.

Moses spent over 2bn building roads through nyc. Still the most expensive ever created. Moses cut through bs calling 9-5 men at midnight on weekends and making them sign papers in theaters during shows. The work never stopped and bs wasn’t tolerated. Moses took on the army when they only gave him 10% of available steal saying his roads were vital to the war effort. He treated the city like monopoly board giving the church these streets the utility these streets. Moses moved an entire building just because people believed he couldn’t do it. It would’ve been cheaper to knock it down and rebuild. No Democratic machine had ever made grand public works because of the autocratic coordination needed. Moses uprooted 7 miles worth of voters to accomplish his goal. He took great pride in swinging his meat axe across nyc.

Moses would never stop working he was relentless even at the age of 70 he was working 24/7 doing work in a night it would take 5 secretaries almost a day to process he never took vacations worked in the car and worked when he had a 104 fever. Moses at 70 was still working 16 hours and swimming into the middle of the water. Moses was treated like an emperor his men were like jesters in his court he would hold court for 1.5 hours at his lunch surrounded by his men who would stand when he walked in were sat in their rank to him and would laugh on command. Moses did much of his business at these lunch ins presenting ideas and rely on social pressure to spur rejections and this he then called the mayor with confirmation of the plan. He rules ny for 44 years. He shaped all of New York. He was a force of nature. Moses surrounded himself with yes men. Moses was still living in the 1920s the world had changed under him but he never even realized this. He never adjust his beliefs and never listened to others his model of reality was so flawed and he never caters to update it.

Moses got in bad with the mayors and his brash attitude started to get pushback by 1946 it looked like he was on his way out but then he used his connections to work with zeckendorf and Rockefeller to purchase land in Turtle bay so nyc could get the un. New York had no chance at the un in one fell swoop moses executed a master stroke that only he could pull off that helped him re establish himself and gain back his power in New York. The mayor had outlawed moses but after this moses got 2 lunches at the mayors place and would draw up the plans that would soon be implemented the mayor was overwhelmed and needed answers moses always had these. Moses got the power of title 1 housing which basically allowed him to declare eminent domain anywhere and mayors in the past had restricted moses from this power but now he had total control and power over the mayor and the city. Vincent impaleteri became mayor after odwyers corruption caught up with him. Impaleteri was chosen on the ticket because his name sounded unmistakably Italian and he was kinda an idiot. He ran a good campaign but knew nothing and Moses owned him. When a corrupt man was asked by impaleteri about laws he had broken the man would tell the mayor it was false and the mayor would trust him. He was a very dull man the perfect man for moses. The mayor was looking to give up power and Moses would give the mayor papers to sign in the morning and he would sign it. Moses built public works and didn’t fund the schools and subways the city really needed. He really fucked up the city cost it a lot of money did a lot of bad. He used impaleteri to get what he wanted then discarded him. Moses loved building and hated maintaining. The next Mayor Wagner tried to grab more power away from moses and was successful to some degree but overall his campaign to reduce moses power was mostly a failure.

Moses aligned with the Tammany men he had always fought he was now a politician not a reformer. He was given a new job which was basically invented for him. To many this would be bad but this was empowering to him. Moses the best bill drafter in Albany could outline his responsibilities and used his craft to gain unlimited power. Moses just had total control of everything and controlled the narrative between New York and the federal government. In 15 year period moses outspent the city of New York by 1bn or 25% more given federal and triborough money. Moses authority was quazi governmental paid off both sides and was complex so it would take 50 men a year to investigate and they would be investigating their own party because the grift was bipartisan so nothing ever happened. Tom Shanahan loved money worked his way to the vice treasurer of a bank. He got a shot after toiling in mediocrity for 10 years and he jumped at it coming up with a plan to bail out the bank without being asked. Lead to his rise and he was obsessed with money. The bankers asset went from 35mm to 200m in 10 years because he forced people to work with him and didn’t consider the best deal. His influence and Moses power was a deadly combo. Moses bonds were tax free and AAA they offered the best post tax return for the least risk so the banks loved him. Moses took care of his people very well if they fell in line but if you burned him he kept you on the outside forever. Moses also had the unions in his pocket even the church. He controlled the retailers. He had every big institution under his control. Moses planned on knocking down a whole block just so macys could build something there. If you went against him you could get a call from a Rockefeller and the head of Macys ect. Moses was the system. Power was getting concentrated up because only those at the top could weild real power so the bourough president was were subservient to Moses. Moses had the money would draw up the plans of they were altered in any way which were usually legitimate the funding was pulled. Moses had all the economic power that he concentrated under his rule such that the people had no actual power under his reign.

Moses took total revenge on the people who opposed him the reformers who hurt his bridge in retaliation tore down fort Clinton and the battery park aquarium out of spite because the reformers love it. He destroyed landmarks for revenge and closed the park too for a power trip. It took the Supreme Court to stop Moses and he moved so fast they needed to file the injunction the same day. Moses had almost unchecked power and was hurting the city for his pride. Moses would make sure his opponents never worked in public life again he did this very successfully. He also United the park and tunnel authorities which gave him total power over all roads that paid told in ny. He had a monopoly.

Moses had complete power the entire reform movement and government was against him and he just did what he wanted because he had the money. His facts and figures were wrong and he used slander against his opposition. His true colors were Bourne out and the men who had defended him and shepparded his rise to power realized he was a monster they helped create and now they could do nothing about it. His money was his power from the authority. It took fdr the president to get the war department involved to shut it down. Moses never got over this defeat his entire life.

Moses craved power for its own sake and started to do power plays that would just hurt the state because he couldn’t benefit he didn’t want it to happen. This lead LaGuardia to start taking action to mitigate the power he had. A man who also craved power. Moses however had an amazing skill of taking an org with not power and giving it immense power since his time of organizing sports donations for minor sports at Yale. Authorities like the port authority were formed and financed for the construction of one work and then bonds were issued and paid off by the tolls then the tolls went away. Moses who’s bridges were profitable and empire brought in 4mm a year thought of ways to consolidate his authority so he could keep collecting tolls and use that money to fund further developments and expand his power. Innovation with the withered tech of authorities which were invented in 1600s England. Moses could get 18-1 leverage on his tolls at his public works and he wanted more money and the new deal money was drying up so he used this ploy. Moses having this revenue would basically give him total agency and run his own company to run it how he wanted. He had to change the law. Moses needed to sneak a law through and put in one sentence that allowed him to call and reissue bonds for general purpose which basically allowed him to have unlimited maturities. The authority would dissolve when its bonds were paid but after 39 years of a 40 year bond they could buy back and reissue them so the bonds were never paid in full. Moses was the best bill drafter in Albany and used his tact to sneak in sentences that gave him quazi governmental and unchecked power. Moses basically made him a party in all contracts so he couldn’t even be removed if people wanted to. Moses and the mayor were now equal and they both knew it.

Moses and his brother were almost identical but Robert learned how to compromise and cowtow to authority when Paul never did. Paul despite being very intelligent never made the impact he wanted because he only wanted things his way and wouldn’t bs and lie to get things done like Robert. Paul fought their mom and and as a result didn’t get preferential treatment this left him out of the will as well. Robert kept his brother actively out of public life resisting his getting a job. His brother spent too much got overlevered and lost it all. Paul was poor and started to resent life and get bitter. Moses wife when they were younger was his rock that he relied like a mother on but with age he started having affairs and she gave into drink. He used and discarded everyone b

Moses built new roads and bridges but the traffic on new bridges was just as bad. The system was never changed and they just added capacity which was quickly filled. Moses didn’t realize they needed trains not more bridges to solve the traffic problems but bridges are grand and get press trains are boring. Moses kept his dogma given incentives. Moses tore down beautiful emergent neighborhoods to build his parkway the subway and city and shops made the neighborhood very safe and a great place to live. Jane jacobs life and death in great American cities mental model on what makes great cities. When this parkway was built above sunset park the community left slowly but eventually the stores left this created a feedback loop that destroyed the area. The streets of this area became a full on slum. Moses needed 100mm to build his riverside park what he had dreamed of for decades. Moses scanned every loophole used everything he knew under the law to get it done. Moses in his fundraising even needed to tap the public markets and bankers to raise capital. He pulled every string. Moses in his rush to get the park up destroyed the last forest in nyc he didn’t see parks as places for people and nature but engineering feats. He tore down the last of nature to get his project done and thought it was the right thing and gaslight his opposition. Moses made the park beautiful except in the poor Harlem part which was left unchanged no trees just railroad tracks. There was almost nothing built in the Harlem section and what was was adorned with monkeys. Moses improvements really irreducibility destroyed the area. However he owned the press and the local and national press loved him there wasn’t enough room to store all his honorary degrees. Moses had so much goodwill he could do no wrong.

Moses only built in the well to do neighborhoods and neglected the slums completely and these were the areas which were needed most. Caro literally read every editorial for the 3 major newspapers in New York from 1934-1939 just for one paragraph and reviewed every other newspapers editorials cursorily. Moses owned the papers so they just took his word. Incredible work by Caro and racism by Moses.

Moses had the power to hold meetings just to say no to peoples faces to wield his power to destroy men and their careers he enjoyed doing it. Moses was a bully and would pick on little people with a smile. He didn’t want to defeat people but destroy them. Moses would be over aggressive when he was t getting his way rush to the press to get his story out that would over simplify and paint him in the best light and get his narrative out there. Moses even when there was a court injunction would go right on doing something that was legitimately illegal to get ur past the point of no return and abuse his power. He hurt people because they spited him even when he was wrong. He may have done this to show his dominance and warn people off messing with him. He built double the amount of playgrounds than the city had originally. There had not been a mile of new highway in 15 years in 5 years he built 50 miles he reshaped the city and even added land to make it bigger and the people loved it.

Moses would use all tactics in his wheelhouse to get things done for those who opposed him. When someone rejected his plan he would threaten them in private get their boss to fire them and when that didn’t work would go to his friends in the newspaper to print the either genuine or possibly completely fabricated smear. Moses used the fear of communism to get people fired before mccarthy but those who realized he was just a bully and used firm language to counter him ended up being just fine because he would back down. Moses stopped listening at all to his men and got busier so the quality on the whole fell. He just didn’t have time to do a good job and the complexity of the city was very high. Moses didn’t build for the poor and all but neglected the black population because he was racist. He also didn’t build parks in the same view as other reformers he didn’t want to preserve nature but shape it. Most nature first reformers didn’t realize that

LaGuardia fired people left and right and was power crazy to get things done his way. The only man he couldn’t fire was moses because Moses had such a strong hold on public opinion which he furthered by cultivating relationships with the majors newspapers. He also got things done so LaGuardia needed him. The two butted heads often but the relationship was more two strong men competing in a power environment. Moses was firmly a politician he would give jobs in the park department that weren’t in key areas of management as political favors also with all the new deal money flowing in the federal government wanted results more than progress and Moses had the ideas and the blueprints constantly at the ready. This allowed him to get allocated federal money because he showed clearly how he would use it and this lead to him and his ideas shaping much of New York. Moses had the upstate legislature who LaGuardia needed in his pocket and LaGuardia knew that they didn’t like him and liked moses. Moses having control over both state and city who could wield his power in any dispute to get his way made him the most powerful person in New York.

Fdr took the post moses weakness as a way to get him out of government and used LaGuardia to help they drafted an order to do this. Moses leaked this order prematurely something his opponents thought he would never do at it was a master stroke. In one movement all the election badwill had flipped to the goodwill he previously had. Fdr and moses made this personal but moses rallied public support in the face of tyranny from Washington. Fdr wanted him off the bridge and Washington was helping with funding. Moses hold on people and Publix opinion was too strong and he rallied 147 ny organization and the press to his side forcing the president to back down. He big dicked new deal fdr. Moses went from his point of lowest public opinion to highest in a couple months. Value of an adversary. Al smith waiting until the moment was right to give his support careful to not push it over the edge until the ko blow was ready.

Moses was tapped for the Republican governor nomination by the old guard gop. Moses was the worst campaigner ever he openly rejected pandering and went against the wishes of many he didn’t only not listen but did the opposite of what the people wanted. He wasn’t meant to be in the limelight. He also asked for help and when old friends like moskowiz a Democrat said he could Moses never talked with him again 15 years not even going to his funeral after all the help he gave him. Moses couldn’t handle criticism. Moses was so bad he lost support from his own party and became a joke. His personal attacks were seen as above and beyond anything acceptable. Moses had the election likely in the bag and boofed it up. The man he ran against Lehman and was so brutal but Lehman was a man of principal and kept moses in power because he got things done. When Moses had to be a man he failed. He needed to control the narrative and he on the clear side of justice. When the public saw him as the man they hated him. Moses couldn’t listen to the public he was too arrogant. He had contempt for others. He just had to live in his nature.

Moses fired the old guard and weeded out those who couldn’t work at his breakneck pace. Moses hired only on merit worked people very hard. He outmaneuvered rules on employment and pay that restricted his talent pool. Moses worked people 24/7 completed 1700/1800 of his projects in a year. Men were literally freezing and falling over but he kept working they he we w man who got things done no matter what the cost. Moses wanted to buy up cheap depression land but couldn’t because the city had no money. So he started diggin around to find land the city owned but wasnt being used and money that was left over from other times for other reasons that he could utilize for his benefit. He dug around the records and was able to find free land exploits and opportunities that no one thought to find. He doubled the cities parks within a year and made them beautiful. Moses used all the power in his grasp when a road didn’t exist he built in in the water. He had total and complete power over parks and was using it to get back at jimmy walker who had humiliated al smith. He knew how to get things done would give an inch take a mile dreamed big and utilized his power for power sake.

Moses was very close to being the mayoral candidate but seaberry who was the most resurveyed of the Republican reformers didn’t want to nominate him. The committee was 18-5 for moses but missing the key vote. LaGuardia had run for mayor twice and not carried a borough he was half Jewish half Protestant half Italian half German. He split to tickets but overall was overall not very well regarded. Seaberry would only support him and Moses wouldn’t run on a losing campaign so LaGuardia got the Republican nominee in a 4-1 dem city. 2 weeks from the vote his campaign was really struggling and Robert Moses who had been a bystander threw his emphatic support behind him. Moses support seemed like support from smith who couldn’t really affirm a side and Moses for his trouble got a seat on LaGuardia cabinet LGA loved New York and he wanted to beautify it. Moses support came at the cost of him getting an appointment to run all city parks and parkways. This was believed illegal and had been shot down many times before but due to a skill of Moses bill drafting it would be allowed if unpaid. He got support because people believed he wouldn’t abuse this immense power. Everyone who worked for the city were hacks who did no work. Moses brought in his people worked the hell out of them and got things done working the hell out of them and his self. Always orotating and dreaming.

Nyc was super corrupt with all the money going to politicians and there were no parks or public works of that nature. All public buildings were horribly degrading no one would loan the city money. Following the depression no one would loan the city money. Everything was in a very sad state but Robert Moses had plans to change this. He sketched a plan to build a monumental series of roads and bridges that would connect by to the rest of the country and reduce traffic the city was a political machine that Moses was challenging that prevented anything from getting done and lining their pockets. The depression and corruption was destroying nyc.

Moses gained power under fdr because even though fdr hated him moses understood how the government worked so well he was able to out maneuver fdr to grasp more power. Fdr needed moses because he knew the law because he wrote it and he got things done. When Jones beach opened it was to much fanfare from nationwide media. He was incredibly popular with the public. All of the small architectural notes like the sand stone and water tower concealing were seen as a master stroke and people flocked from all over the world to see his vision. Ny state parks had 90% of all park attendance in the us. Moses was very popular and the fdr relationship started to repair because the parks were so successful even in Long Island who had fought tooth and nail they loved it. People kept moses around because he got things done which was all that mattered. He choked someone out threatened to quit when he didn’t get his was but was the best so he got away with it. Moses was racist and hated poor people and despite building for the people he made it very difficult for those groups to enjoy his parks.

Fdr and Moses didn’t get along he became the next ny governor and had been a big parks advocate for the taconic. Moses had constantly frozen him out on funding and fdr was seen as a weak man mentally and physically. Moses got frozen out under fdr but his power was so engrained and public image so strong there wasn’t a lot fdr could really do. Moses still kept control over the parks and much of his power even though he was stripped of his big appointment. Both were strong men who were proud and their power lust made them natural enemies. Eventually smith got in bad with fdr because of Moses.

Keep plans and proposals simple. Write in plain clear English. Moses started to give everything to his work never taking time off and pushing his men very hard but he molded them into great workers. His attitude became a bit harsher and he became a very strong willed man. He was just focused on doing. Al smith implemented moses park plan which was very popular and became the basis for many other states plans. Moses could pick out a great worker from a crowd without seeing much of his work. Nack for people reading. Moses worked god people hard and many couldn’t take it but those who could gained a ton of influence power and autonomy Moses was happy to let other men execute he just wanted to get things done. Moses rewarded his men who worked hard by getting wives on the payroll building them houses ect. Took care of people great place for young people to grasp power. Moses started to use reason with the robber barons of long island diverting his projects around their land through poorer areas. He compromised to get things done. In 1928 Al smith left office and Moses had no ally’s.

Moses lied and deceived to gain power and once he did he craved power for its own end. He did things his way and didn’t listen to others. Smith was very loyal to his people and this gained moses much support. Moses found power in a place no one had looked and would stretch the truth or lie and hide evidence so he would look good. He took complete and total control over the parks and ousted men who had been his ardent supporters when their vision started to diverge. He wanted power for powers sake. Smith was blind to the biggest abuses of power but moses and smith had a great relationship and smith loved moses worked hard for a key campaign area. Got results. Smith and Moses had a familial relationship moses exclusively called smith governor in letters and would never call a man governor again

Moses realized smith was going to run for president and he only had 2 years to go past the point of no return on his projects so he pushed everyone as hard as he could then a bit harder. For his part he worked 7 days a week and at all hours galvanizing his people behind his work ethic and the mission. Moses pushed everyone really hard but they respected and loved the work as moses brought out the best in his employees. He empowered them. Moses had great cross disciplinary skills. He understood how it all fit together from the engineering to the design to the politics even though he didn’t have those backgrounds. Great systems thinker with a ton of perspective. Anyone could learn from him. He inspired people to do better work than they thought capable. He pushed everyone so hard but would create a good work environment organizing softball games and was a constant start presence inspiring his men. Great leader of men. Moses needed land for Jones beach and he was talking with a man who brought up court records that proved Babylon didn’t have the bat rights this gave him the leverage to create a rigged election and get the land he needed for his beach. Moses accomplished so much in such a short time the press and people celebrated him but no one had done this much in such a short time and people couldn’t even appreciate the size.

Robert Moses finally learned how to use real power. He knew the government was above the law he knew how to play dirty and that the ends justified the means. He was playing with power and this gave him rope to do almost anything. Would rather do it dirty to accomplish his end then take the correct and proper route. Moses wanted people to open their mind and think bigger. He didn’t want a shabby beach but a luxury experience he was thinking bigger than everyone. Moses had no care for approbations or money he wanted things done his was exclusively.

Moses was cordial but used force and absolute power when his charm didn’t work. He was also very favoritive with his friends giving them the nicest cars an exempting them from any qualifications exams that he had once fought so valiantly for. The appropriations bill was written in a way that the state could basically take land by force for the parks. This issue won al smith re-election comfortably even when the ticket flipped everywhere else. When the wealthy land owners came to fight Al smith they ticked him off by disparaging the working men like him and this cemented his support for the seizure of land from the rich for the parkways. The people fought moses with principles but moses used every underhanded trick in the book and twisted words to win in the court of public opinion and his nyt article which was slanted and biased swayed support for him even though what he was doing was illegal he used his power and influence to lie and win public opinion. Moved from principles to power focused. What they were doing was clearly illegal but if they could win in the court of public opinion before the trial they could pull it off. They delayed the hearing with injunctions for months and smith wanted to wait for the right time to call his special session. Others pushed him earlier but he waited until the first big heat wave of the summer then gave a 2 hour us vs them speech on the need for Parks. Political genius. Smith appealed at the end to the will of the people and said it was their decision while the republicans harped on legality. It was just too damn hot to give rich people the merits of law so all the poor people could roost in nyc. The times used their image as the arbiter of truth to act as a mouthpiece for parks putting very slanted story’s for the parks on the front page while hiding in the back pages the other side of the story. Al smith was a good friend of the man who owned the times. Moses kept getting rebuffed in court and it looked like the parks he fought so hard for would never be a reality given republicans opposition but only 3 years later they were.

Moses took charge of the parks commission and wrote the bill that would give him total and complete power within the commission. Buried within the legalese no one read was the document that cemented and kicked off moses reign. Gone was the need to be honest and help. He had made his play and grasped true legal and near complete power by the law he wrote and convinced others to truth him not to read.

Moses saw Long Island as the place to build parks for people to get out of the city but the wealthy and powerful tried to restrict this building and this lead to a fight for the land with him going up against the richest people in the world for land. He built the first freeway to these new public beaches he wanted ti build. The people loved the idea of parks and this led Al smith to support moses project. Moses hatched an incredibly ambitious plan.

Al smith was born in the 4th ward very religious his dad worked hard a died young so he needed to support his family from the 8th grade. He got into politics because he had a natural way of public speaking and didn’t want to do the manual labor. When he got elected to the state legislature he couldn’t even read but he spent every night reading the bills. He then went back to nyc and spent time reading all the old bills and working with clerks to understand the legalese. He may have been the first person ever to read and understand the state appropriations bill. Al smith had friends across the aisle and was very popular understood everything about every bill. Smith was a real person who worked hard and went above and beyond what was expected of the normal cabinet member. Smith was a reformer who always fought for the system. Smith was a practical man who wanted to get things done and had a great relationship with Moses. Moses started to trade his integrity for political power with smith and lost his reform first mindset.

Moskowiz’s wife lady M was a master politician who gave Moses his first real taste of power. She gained the trust of Albert smith an in educated Tammany man who seemed as anti reform of any by helping him procure the independent vote when his campaign was stagnating in the middle and gave him valuable counsel that flipped his campaign to success. As a result she was invited into his cabinet and when asked how to go about ruling she talked not of high sky reforms but tangible actions to secure power. When she was a younger reformer the women’s social clubs were basically brothels and this was put in the news an uproar was made but no chance occurred. Belle or lady m went to the owners in secret and threatened them which helped enact real lasting change. When in state government her reforms didn’t come from idealism but from the practicality of splitting the opposing party and focusing on the influential donor class as a pre amble for winning re election. She was a politician above all else. Belle taught Bob how to get things done. When Bob wrote his high in the sky reform she told him about all the considerations that overlapped and how he needed to consider the system to get something done he couldn’t come up with the right answer and everyone would agree. Bob realized this was his last shot and in the past when he was brash with his superiors here he was discrete with all and conscious of the machine. Belle after he learned the ropes of how things really got done gave him free reign. Moses commishiom created a 375 page report that analyzed each of the 180 civil groups as well as other states working day and night at the end he gave his commission no credit. Al smith lost his next race but Moses and him became very good friends after and for life despite their opposite backgrounds and moses would be a key figure in Al’s next term.

In ny the jobs were determined by the unions and how much you meant to them. Everything was was corrupt everyone was getting paid off and the corruption ran deep. The system was crafted so well reform was near impossible. Moses was tapped to be in a minor reform position but his thesis and the class undertones got blasted in the news by the Tammany hall faithful. He was learning politics fights dirty. Moses first take at reform was fanatic detailed fully meritocratic and very idealistic. Moses created levels based fully on merit requiring grades on even personality that would differentiate janitors. High modernism at its finest. Knew idea would work. Moses was very pompous and confident he wanted to take peoples jobs and the workers revolted he represented everything the workers hated. He was an idealist not motivated by money. In the end his system was resisted and a new group came to power. In this even Moses learned that to get things done you needed power. Moses was near 30 becoming disillusioned with 2 young kids and no money. He was a man in crisis at a crossroads.

Local government was incredibly corrupt and for many years there were no budgets and revenue bonds would be issued when there were overages. Prime for reform. Young group started reforming. Moses jointed city hall but had ambitions to be in government and part of the action. Moses looked out at the city and saw what it could be and how he could change it to be better. He studied the poor neighborhoods every day after work and thought of reform. His early days were spent preparing for physical and social reform of neighborhoods even though he was not very popular with coworkers he was doing mental reps and idea generation for what would be his life’s work.

Moses then went to Oxford where he picked up the upper class aristocratic ideals and contempt for lower people. Moses wrote his thesis on civil service and it came from a genuine place of idealism. Moses belief in equality and merit was reserved only for those in the upper class. He thought that having the educated elite is charge was for the best.

At Yale he was 2 years younger and not from the prep school background of his classmates and for his first 2 years he was a loner, but his intelligence was so strong it helped him gain an in. He was 1 of 5 Jews in his class. At Yale he went from no one to taking on Walter camp the football coach and most powerful person on campus in the organization of the minor sports league. Moses wasn’t involved in the traditional powers at Yale but would often create his own world of minor sports or news papers where he was in charge. He was a voracious reader reading everything even when it did not pertain to his classes.