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# 2016-12-29 - Citizen of the World by Oliver Goldsmith | |
Wild bird of planet earth | |
Book review from 2009. | |
A collection of letters from a fictional Chinese philosopher who | |
visits England in the mid-1700's. The style is similar to Goldsmith's | |
Friend Abroad and also other writings by Mark Twain. I read an | |
edition that included more modern typography, explanatory footnotes, | |
and woodcut illustrations. I was surprised how philosophical some of | |
the letters were, and in some cases almost satirical. | |
The preface starts by introducing a poetical scale, which maxes out | |
at 20 and reminds me a little of ADND. | |
In letter XV the Chinese philosopher advocates vegetarianism to avoid | |
cruelty to animals. | |
In letter XVII the Chinese philosopher discusses the English and | |
French dispute over the northwest American territories. He says that | |
it is bad for territories to become too populated, because then they | |
become too powerful and independent. "Yet, obvious as these truths | |
are, there are many Englishmen who are for transplanting new colonies | |
into this late acquisition, for peopling the deserts of America with | |
the refuse of their countrymen, and (as they express it) with the | |
waste of an exuberant nation. But who are those unhappy creatures who | |
are to be thus drained away? Not the sickly, for they are unwelcome | |
guests abroad as well as at home; nor the idle, for they would starve | |
as well behind the Appalachian mountains as in the streets of London. | |
This refuse is composed of the laborious and enterprising-of such | |
men as can be serviceable to their country at home-of men who ought | |
to be regarded as the sinews of the people, and cherished with every | |
degree of political indulgence. And what are the commodities which | |
this colony, when established, are to produce in return? Why, raw | |
silk, hemp, and tobacco. England, therefore, must make an exchange of | |
her best and bravest subjects for raw silk, hemp, and tobacco; her | |
hardy veterans and honest tradesmen must be trucked for a box of | |
snuff or a silk petticoat. Strange absurdity! Surely the politics of | |
the Daures are not more strange, who sell their religion, their | |
wives, and their liberty for a glass bead, or a paltry pen-knife." | |
Letter XXV uses simple language to describe the natural rise and | |
decline of nations. | |
Letter LXXXII argued that "In order to make the sciences useful in | |
any country it must first become populous ... The sciences are not | |
the cause of luxury, but its consequence." This is a subtle argument. | |
Luxury may produce laws and science, but science may produce an | |
infrastructure that is not a luxury. A luxury in the context of the | |
18th century may have become a matter of life or death in the context | |
of 21st century population density. | |
Letter CXXI asserted that reason contributes to confusion and | |
injustice. "The man who examines a complicated subject on every side, | |
and calls in reason to his assistance, will frequently change; will | |
find himself distracted by opposing probabilities and contending | |
proofs; every alteration of place will diversify the prospect, will | |
give some latent argument new force, and contribute to maintain an | |
anarchy in the mind." The letter argues that a totalitarian | |
government of ignorant subjects, though less reasonable, is safer | |
because it is more stable and predictable. "It is extremely difficult | |
to induce a number of free beings to cooperate for their mutual | |
benefit; every possible advantage will necessarily be sought, and | |
every attempt to procure it must be attended with a new fermentation; | |
various reasons will lead different ways, and equity and advantage | |
will often be out-balanced by a combination of clamour and prejudice." | |
author: Goldsmith, Oliver, 1730-1774 | |
LOC: PR3485 .C5 | |
source: gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/ia/details/lettersfromcitiz00golduoft | |
tags: ebook,fiction,political | |
title: The Citizen Of The World | |
# Tags | |
ebook | |
fiction | |
political |