A. My Background, Sources, Method
My degrees are in chemistry and biology. While raising a family I kept a side project of researching philosophy, logic and some politics. In the process I became curious about the logical content of the idea of reason presupposed by U.S. Founders and its influence on rational theory in the United States.
To research the rational theory common during our founding era, I studied the logical education popular in the late colonial period. I also tracked down many books our founders read, garnered out some of their ideas about reason and compared this information with actual writings of various founders. This was a fertile approach, at least from my point of view. I use this research as background in this presentation. I hope you will find something useful for yourself.
I have been on this project many years. As a result my sources would fill 30 pages and are too extensive to include here. The following short list hits a few highlights. If you are interested in more, talk to me personally.
1. Sources
Cicero (106-43 BC), especially his essays.
Livy (59BC-AD17)
Plutarch (AD46?-120? AD), The Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, Moralia.
1605: Advancement of Learning, Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
1620: Novum Organum, Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
1626: The New Atlantis, Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
1626: Burgersdicius Logic, followed by many editions. Eng trans 1697, Franco Burgersdijck (1590-1636?) Burgersdijck was professor of logic and ethics at Leiden Univ. [C17]
1628: Coke on Littleton
1662: Port Royal Logic, Arnauld
1687: Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
1691: Human Understanding, John Locke (1632-1704)
1724: Logick or the Right use of Reason, Isaac Watts (1674-1748):
1741: Improvement of the Mind, Isaac Watts: (1674-1748)
1709-1711: Tattler, Addison and Steele
1711-1712: Spectator, Addison and Steele
1713: The play Cato by Addison
1749: The Patriot King, Bolingbroke (all of his writings)
1760: Tristam Shandy, Laurence Sterne
1952: John Adams and the Prophets of Progress, Zolton Haraszti
Scottish philosophers,
Theater in general
Libraries, Colleges, Schools
[Information in square brackets after quotations refers to my personal code system. With this method, I can quickly locate the source of a quote. B stands for books I own. C stands for copies I have made. R stands for library books and other sources outside our home.]
IMPORTANT! Before using any of the following quotations, please double check with original sources to insure accuracy.