620
paradigms, a deformed life force may be seriously difficult to reckon, certainly
as an appropriate starting point for all philosophy. Noting, in particular, the
moment of Pythagoras’ death, when he allegedly whispered, “better to be killed
than to speak.”
31
History records the betrayal of reason. The fragments of outrage
combining into an historic anti- vivisection movement suggest some degree of
hope amid darkness. Slamming scientists as proponents of “experimental torture,” Henry S. Salt, in his groundbreaking Animals’ Rights, compares our
“whole system” of “natural history” with “deplorably partial and misleading
method...” Like that “child” described by Michelet who “disports himself, shatters, and destroys; he finds his happiness in undoing.”
32
But such lessons, as articulated by Salt, are accentuated with every added blow.
Principles remain, of course, up to a point. Even the 69 pillars of the Parthenon
have barely managed to hold off disintegration, most notably during the conflict
between Venetian armies and those of the Ottoman Turks; one battle in particular
which, on September 26, 1687, resulted in a massive explosion that destroyed
much of the venerable Doric colossus on its hill. Nineteenth-century rusting iron
pins holding together much of the marble (prior to more recent restoration efforts
utilizing titanium) also contributed to the building’s veritable downfall.
33
The sum
total of fragile ethics whose pediments have been caught out in the convolutions of
human conflict and inconstancy eludes firm grasp swept ahead in a lava flow of
evolutionary transition. It is some kind of Yeti of the incredulity that is our purview
within this particular solar system we view as our temporary home; and these
bipedal bodies.
All of these ephemeral bastions of self-reference, these autobiographical selfabsorptions bespeak of a general theory of the vague, about which we have every
reason to be both terrified and interested. It is us, as much as we reject some of the
more damning claims.
31 See The History of Philosophy, by Thomas Stanley, 2nd edition, London, 1687, p. 506.
32 Henry S. Salt, Animals’ Rights -Considered in Relation to Social Progress, George Bell & Sons,
London, 1892, p. 92.
33 See “Parthenon,” https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-content/uploads
/2011/08/HIST361-2.2.2-Parthenon.pdf
65 The Great Divergence
paradigms, a deformed life force may be seriously difficult to reckon, certainly
as an appropriate starting point for all philosophy. Noting, in particular, the
moment of Pythagoras’ death, when he allegedly whispered, “better to be killed
than to speak.”
31
History records the betrayal of reason. The fragments of outrage
combining into an historic anti- vivisection movement suggest some degree of
hope amid darkness. Slamming scientists as proponents of “experimental torture,” Henry S. Salt, in his groundbreaking Animals’ Rights, compares our
“whole system” of “natural history” with “deplorably partial and misleading
method...” Like that “child” described by Michelet who “disports himself, shatters, and destroys; he finds his happiness in undoing.”
32
But such lessons, as articulated by Salt, are accentuated with every added blow.
Principles remain, of course, up to a point. Even the 69 pillars of the Parthenon
have barely managed to hold off disintegration, most notably during the conflict
between Venetian armies and those of the Ottoman Turks; one battle in particular
which, on September 26, 1687, resulted in a massive explosion that destroyed
much of the venerable Doric colossus on its hill. Nineteenth-century rusting iron
pins holding together much of the marble (prior to more recent restoration efforts
utilizing titanium) also contributed to the building’s veritable downfall.
33
The sum
total of fragile ethics whose pediments have been caught out in the convolutions of
human conflict and inconstancy eludes firm grasp swept ahead in a lava flow of
evolutionary transition. It is some kind of Yeti of the incredulity that is our purview
within this particular solar system we view as our temporary home; and these
bipedal bodies.
All of these ephemeral bastions of self-reference, these autobiographical selfabsorptions bespeak of a general theory of the vague, about which we have every
reason to be both terrified and interested. It is us, as much as we reject some of the
more damning claims.
31 See The History of Philosophy, by Thomas Stanley, 2nd edition, London, 1687, p. 506.
32 Henry S. Salt, Animals’ Rights -Considered in Relation to Social Progress, George Bell & Sons,
London, 1892, p. 92.
33 See “Parthenon,” https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-content/uploads
/2011/08/HIST361-2.2.2-Parthenon.pdf
65 The Great Divergence