Honors Test III

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Edmund Burke; details the fall of the monarchy in France and Burke's view that monarchy was the fabric holding together the European systems of power. Further, he argues that beauty is a necessity in the political game of power.

Speech on the Principles of Political Morality

Maximilien Robespierre; speech detailing the necessity of terror in forming the morality of the state. Terror is a good when it terrorizes those enemies of the state who oppose the advancement of political freedom.

Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery

Ottobah Cugoana; a work written by a former slave on the evils of the slave trade, it offers many arguments for the immorality of slavery - both biblical and philosophical.

Final Declaration

Touissant L'Ouverture; a speech given to promote the defense of Haiti if necessary and present his trust for the French to the Haitian colony.

To Touissant L'Ouverture

William Wordsworth; poem dedicated to the man, in lament for his fall and praise for his bravery.

The Declaration of Independence

Several Authors; lists the grievances of the American colonies against the British and proclaims their break-away from Britain directly to the King. No remorse here, all guns blazing for freedom. Lists the rights of the citizen (we hold these truths...")

The Federalist, no. 10

(James Madison) addresses the question of how to guard against "factions", or groups of citizens, with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community. Madison argued that a strong, united republic would be better able to guard against those dangers than would smaller republics—for instance, the individual states

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Multiple; declares and lists the explicit rights of man. Interesting contrast to the Declaration of Independence as it is more formal/clear in its declaration of rights.

The Vindication of the Rights of Women

Mary Wollstonecraft; in response to the declarations of the rights of men in the various revolutions, MW offers a compelling defense of the woman as person rather than simple object. She champions the necessity of freedom, education, and practicality for women in society - i.e. how they can be good mothers and wives rather than simply trophy wives and degrade themselves.

Considerations on France

Joseph DeMaistre; strongly conservative, almost reactionary polemic against the damage dealt by the French Revolution. He sees policy as necessarily tailored to the individual nation - you cannot abstract and legislate for the universal "man".

Study on Sovereignty

Joseph DeMaistre;

Address to the German Nation

Johann Gotlieb Fichte; Fichte advances a theory of nationalism which champions the uniqueness of the German nation. Sees language as the binding force that gives rise to a nation and the triumph of a nation and its people as the divine law on earth. Germany is being used for its goods- must be brought to its own away from others who manipulate.

Introduction to the Philosophy of History

Georg Wilhelm Fredrich Hegel; details the process of Spirit, the motivating force of history, and its gradual self-actualization within the historical process and final manifestation in State, the pinnacle of Freedom. Man brings forth Idea ion history through passion.

To Santafe! To Santafe!

Multiple; details the demands of the Comuneros, a popular movement in Columbia which opposed the overreach of the Spanish king in the state and economy. Very vacuous and unclear goal.

A King of Cups

Gregorio Jose Rodriguez Carillo, Bishop of Cartagena; a piece which attack the rise of and support for Bolivar as the new leader of Columbia and associated countries in South America. Main points of attack are the fact Bolivar and his armies use the people for war without having anything of their own to give. Essentially about whom should be obeyed and the nature of obedience/disobedience and the fruitlessness of independence (since Adam we have failed).

War to the Death

Simon Bolivar; we will fight till we're all dead for this cause. Those who oppose us and are foreign will be killed without remorse, those who are nationals will be kept alive even if they support Spain.

Address to the Congress of Angostura

Simon Bolivar; addressing the congress of the newly unified Gran Columbia as to why democracy is a bad option for them. Majority of the speech focuses on the fact that the people Bolivar is speaking to are not Europeans or Americans, but something new and unheard of, caught in a limbo state which they need to feel out and come to know. Proposes hereditary senate.

Letter to General Juan Jose Flores

Simon Bolivar; expresses the weight of defeat Bolivar feels as he sees his mission of South American liberation and unification fall apart around him. He claims his project was always doomed to fail, and that the above goals are impossible.

Frankenstein

Mary Shelly; a novel which examines several romantic themes, such as the power of nature, man's perversion of nature, and the idea of man in his genesis (i.e. the evolution of the creature).

The Confessions

Jean Jacques Rosseau; Rousseau's account of his life, rife with the Romantic sensibility of the importance of feeling and subjectivity. Details his life in all its falls and glory (and more than likely in fiction).

Lines Composed a Few Miles from Tintern Abbey

William Wordsworth; poem about the impact of nature upon the soul and how the simple enjoyment (apprehension) of nature in youth is nothing compared to mediating upon nature in its totality, which reveals to the the contemplative the spirit of nature.

Ode to Autumn

John Keats; poem broadly about autumn and the slipping beauty of the season, but more thematically detailing the slow process of sleep and death through the images of autumn and the natural world - theme of decay.

Meditations

Margaret Fuller; poem about the experience of the sublime (perhaps here the divine) through nature. Treats the divine in a very abstract, religion-in-the-moment way.

Flaxman

Margaret Fuller; poem about the joy of knowing and learning which was present in the past, and in the modern age has become a matter of systematics and analyzation, rather than a topic of contemplation which leads to the the source that undergirds all knowledge.

Frost at Midnight

Samuel Taylor Coleridge; poem about a winter scene which leads to meditation on the author's birth and young life, and the life of his child next to him. Ends on a note of happiness and joy in life - in warmth or cool.

The History and Doctrines of the Wahhabis

Ibn 'Abd Al-Wahhab; lists the teachings of the Wahhabi sect of Islam. Has a string emphasis on a return to the text, literalism, and returning to primary/true sources.

The French Revolution Refuted

Ottoman Imperial Proclamation; details a surface-level refutation of the French Revolution, but is broadly inclusive of the damage done to other Abrahamic traditions by the FR, and gives wider breadth than simply the Muslim position.

Chronicles (From "The History of the Period of the French Occupation")

Al-Jabarti; the excerpt gives the French document sent to the Egyptians notifying them of their control of the country. Written in a way that paints Napoleon and France in a good light, asserting the French are "good Muslims" and only there to help the oppressed Egyptians, but at the same time threatening them. Jabarti's commentary nitpicks the grammar of the letter and in doing so asserts the uniqueness of the Arabic culture and the its love of language.

The Extraction of Gold, or an Overview of Paris

Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahatawi; this text details the good things to be found in European Enlightenment thought to the Muslim mind, as well as focusing on the areas which need reform in the Ottoman Empire.

The Honest Guide for Girls and Boys

Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahatawi; an incorporation of Western Enlightenment political thought into the Muslim view of the state and its function. Deals with the ideas of freedom, love of the state, and ideals such as equality and justice. Essentially the opposite of the Wahhabis.

The Gulhane Decree

Anonymous; decree from the Ottoman state which promised to incorporate the idea of private, protected property for citizens into the state, as well as the details of substantial tax reforms and improved military conscription.

Poetry and Truth

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; an examination of Goethe's own encounter with philosophy and his dissatisfaction with its "pulling apart" of the beauty of the world. He goes on to explain the feeling of the sublime and how it is what men crave, for it is found in feeling and the passions.

Conversations with Ekermann

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; conversations about the concept of the "daemonic" (which seems to be some permutation of Hegel's 'Spirit') and its influence within the world and on whom it rests. Goethe seems to think it arises most clearly in the arts, and above all in music and poetry, which connect to the sublime.

Ode to Joy

Friedrich von Schiller; a poem about the incarnation and the transcendence of God.

Pan Tadeusz

Adam Mickiewicz; poem about the author's love for his homeland. Utilizes a lot of nature imagery as well as native foods to explain his joy.

Diary 1801

Alexander von Humboldt; a diary examining the new world with a heavy focus on the vegetation and plant life and how oppressive it is.

The Last Rose of Summer

Thomas Moore; poem about the very last rose alive in a flower bed and the feelings of sadness it summons upon its viewing. Focus on laying it to rest.

The Minstrel Boy

Thomas Moore; poem about the valor of a minstrel boy who goes to war and dies. The twist is that though he'll never play again, he will never play in captivity and subjugation. The theme of freedom is strong.