How to Study Aristotle

I have read several philosophical books in my life. Some books flow like a novel and are easy to understand. Some, however, are gritty and full of terms and hard ideas. Socrates is very easy to read because he only used dialogue with others to express ideas. He follows a linear storyline. Imannuel Kant, however, uses very technical words that don't translate from German well. Aristotle is the same way. His work on mathematics requires the utmost attention to detail. Indeed, reading Aristotle is like reading the owners manual to your car, its very dry but can be very interesting if you are a mechanic are a car enthusiast. So, how do you get the most out of your experience in reading Aristotle's works?

First, don't be afraid to get a bright neon green highlighter. Aristotle isn't something you can just glance over. doing that will only result in you getting lost in the argument. highlighting keywords, phrases, and favorite passages is an essential step in understanding and retention. Additionally, don't be afraid to write notes in the margin. Try summarizing in your own words to check for understanding. 

Second, if your copy of the Nichomachian Ethics, or Aristotle's Physics that includes footnotes, use them! These footnotes provide context for what he said. They provide details on Grecian culture and history. They also reference philosophers that Aristotle took inspiration from as well as the thoughts and opinions of philosophers that Aristotle influenced in return. Sometimes, they simply define words that require a nuanced understanding. 

Third, be a peace with the fact that it might take you an hour to read just one page. Aristotle requires a lot of mental effort. You can't simply read over it! you have to think about what he said and judge the content. Aristotle didn't write for a mass market like authors do today. He didn't even write for students per se. His intended audience were fellow scholars and philosophers. His ideas don't come gift wrapped! They are raw and he expects you to challenge everything he says. 

Remember that understanding doesn't come all at once. It takes discipline. An experienced reader will have an easier time than a new one. If you are a new reader, or at least you don't feel up to reading Aristotle, don't let that stop you. It may be harder for you and take you more time to read, but if you want it badly enough you can do it. 

The rewards of reading Aristotle and philosophy are immeasurable. It may be hard but the benefits are worth it. Knowing wisdom will show a person how to live a good life, how to have discipline in life, and how to judge between right and wrong. It teaches logic and guides a person to wise choices. Wisdom is the greatest friend and most trusted advisor. 

Keep reading and keep learning!

Fahrenheit 451: The death of the renaissance

Guy Montag is not your average dystopian hero. He's not between the ages of 12 and 25 for one thing. It seems to me that most dystopian books of the past decade like the Hunger Games series and Insurgent follow roughly the same plot where an evil government has created an unnatural system for controlling the people and the main protagonist has to overthrow the oppressor. This is not the story Ray Bradbury told when he wrote Fahrenheit 451 more than half a century ago.

Guy Montag's character didn't go through today's usual motions. He wasn't born an orphan nor was he born in poverty. He didn't grow up on the outskirts of society nor was he completely friendless in this world. There were no prophecies made about him. He didn't have a young love interest or a best friend who also served as a comic relief. He didn't organize a partisan group and he didn't save the world. Other books are about David and Goliath: a young protagonist is overlooked and undervalued and he comes and takes out the aggressing giant. Bradbury's book isn't about that. It's about awakening.

The Renaissance from history was an awakening. In Italian, Renaissance means "rebirth." It was a time where people began to read again and ask real questions about the nature of the universe and
ethics. It was a time where European culture had returned to some of her ancient roots in the Romans and the greeks. Many lost books were reclaimed. Authors like Cicero who hadn't been read in centuries were rediscovered. This new spark of learning was a definitive point in modern history.

Guy had his own mini-renaissance in his own head. He grew up a cog in the system. He worked for the government as a professional book-burner. He lived in suburbia as a respected member of dystopian society. At this point, I might give a few spoilers, so if you plan on reading this book stop here.

Guy met a mentor in his life who caused him to think about the world differently. The person wasn't older than him like one might think a mentor should be nor was she incredibly learned or skilled. She was a young teenage girl who liked to walk in the rain and notice the poetry in nature. She liked to watch the sunrise and think about where all this stubborn really came from. Guy wasn't the sort to watch the sunrise. In fact, society looked down on that kind of sentimental behavior.

She caused him to wonder if there was more to life than living and dying. The girl disappeared without warning one day. Guy wondered if she had been "taken away." He went on with his life, but now it was with a disquieted disturbance. What had happened to the girl? Why were there bomber planes always overhead? Why were he and his colleagues burning all the books? At that point, he wasn't ready to challenge his reality yet, but a watershed moment in his life was soon to happen.

Montag was at work. He had his napalm ready as his fire-crew went into the house. They had been tipped off that hundreds of banned books were being hidden in the attic. The police were usually there before the fireman to arrest the offending citizen, but this time the police had not beaten the firetruck to the home. The old lady who lived there refused to give up her treasure so easily. She chose martyrdom as she lit a match and burned the library, house and herself. Her shrill voice cried a forgotten quote from the old renaissance: "Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out!" This was said by Hugh Latimer before he was burned for heresy. It was as if Latimer was God's angel sent to tell the world that The renaissance was upon them. Montag had been shocked by this woman's extreme reaction and passionate love for her books. How could anyone love a simple stack of paper? 

Montag's story begins at the moment the woman dropped her match. A war is waged in his head over the real qualities of life. He has changed completely. As if he didn't even see himself do it, he snatched a book from the flames to read and keep for himself. It was a copy of the bible and he didn't even know what the bible was. As the book progresses he has to wrestle with his awakened self. he is no longer content to be a cog. He has a greater mission in life. Anger begins to pump through his veins as he sees the corruption of his society. His head hurts as he tries to break the mental chains society has shackled him with. He has to deal with loneliness. Extreme loneliness. If anyone else thinks the way he now does they hide it for fear. Montag sees the light amid the darkness. Its as if a shaft from heaven has lit a circle around Montag and no one else. Montag's own wife is a victim to blind darkness.

I hope I didn't spoil anything for you. I tried to only talk about the things from the book that are relevant to what I want to say next. Fahrenheit 451 is a book about Guy Montag's renaissance, but it also has a dark side: It's a book about the death of the Renaissance. It is an allegory to our own intellectual and spiritual death as a world. I wonder at the dystopian world that Ray Bradbury portrayed. It was a little mirror held up to mankind.

The people of the book were a loathsome people. They were only concerned with shallow things. Their petty lives revolved around who was dressed best, who had the biggest TV, and who could have the most fun. Children were stuck in the public schools nine days out of ten and the times they were home they just watched TV. Women concerned themselves with the fake families on TV more than their real families, if they had any at all. Most people cared more about their individual rights more than the welfare of their families. There were fun houses that let people smash cars and break mirrors. It was a 1950's picture of corruption.

Honestly, our world isn't much different from the one written up by Bradbury. My peers are all addicted to Fortnite and cigarettes have been replaced by the new drug of vaping. Girls don't think they are pretty unless they have the newest Snapchat filter on. Fads in health go by faster than I can keep track of them. People group themselves into categories like Nerds, Jocks, Cheerleaders, etc. Men and Women are absorbed by their careers and don't take a moment to think about their own estates. Our land is laden with the professional poor. I don't mean to come off as judgmental and preachy, but I hope that I have painted a picture of how our own land is like the Bradbury's nightmare world. Few today are just and true. Great thoughts and great books are not opened. Schools may force the student to read The Iliad, but who has seen any student become a wit nobler for having read it.

I can't help but think we are on the cusp of a darker world to come. It's like I'm standing on the white cliffs of Dover and can see the waves lapping below. I can lift my arm and wave it over the void. I feel like Montag did.

The books have the answers in them. And not the average run of the mill kind they sell at the airport. The great books have the answers in them. Books like the Bible, the Karan, the Book of Mormon, and the Torah. Books like Aristotle, Plato, Tacitus, and Cicero. Books like The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Origin of Man, and The Wealth of Nations. Books like Tom Sawyer, The Lord of the Rings, and Jane Eyre. Books like The Foundation Trilogy, Ender's Game, and the one at hand; Fahrenheit 451.

The greatest ideas of all time are there. Wisdom from the ages. Wisdom for the ages. They contain the answers to life's greatest questions. They tell a man how to lead a rich and fulfilling life. They deepen the understanding and sharpen the wit. They are a treasure worth dying for. Perhaps we are in a new age of the world, a death of the renaissance, but let us say the same words that Latimer said while tied at the burning stake: "Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out!"

1: History of the British Empire (1870) by William Francis Collier, p. 124;

The Art of War and The Art of Football

Sun Tzu's Art of War, although written over twenty-five centuries ago, remains as one of the most authoritative books on military strategy ever written. Any general or war-time hero who would internalize its principles will be successful. You may think that this book is only for soldiers, but when I read it, I saw a thousand different uses. The primary use I thought of was for Football. 

Sun Tzu wrote for generals and potentates, but he might as well been writing for coaches and players in the NFL. Many of the principles he imparted in his book are perfectly applicable to the All-American line of Scrimmage. In Football, the point of the game is to get the ball into the end-zone, which requires a good deal of strategy and athletic ability. When playing at any level above middle school sports, every player is an athletic monster. At that point, many more games are won by the coach, then the players themselves. As George Washington said, A general must "out-general the other general, generally." The Art of War is a guidebook to any leader. 

Sun Tzu divides his masterwork into thirteen chapters: "Laying Plans, Waging War, Atack by Strategum, Tactical Dispositions, Use of Energy, Weak Points and Strong, Maneuvering an Army, Variation of Tactics, The Army on the March, Classification of Terrain, The Nine Situations, Attack by Fire, and the Use of Spies." We'll take a section from the first five chapters and demonstrate why The Art of War should be used by coaches. 

Laying Plans:

"18. All warfare is based on deception. 

19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."

In terms of football, the opposing team must be made to underestimate you. They can never know what you are capable of. Every play you run has to be a surprise to them. If they think you are going to throw, run it. If they think you are going to run on the outside, throw a Hail Mary way downfield. When running the football, the runner must outfox the defenders; he needs to turn on the speed at the right times, and juke at the last second. 

Waging War:

"2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength. 

3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain. 

4. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue."

Despite what most fans see from the bleachers, much of the game is won from the owner's office. He ha the power to draft new players, trade players, and present the team's image to the public. If his team goes through long seasons without winning decisive victories, their resources will come under strain and future victories will be harder to achieve. It's the brass tack's job to make sure that a team never enters an irreversible slump. Every other team in the league will take advantage of the team's weakness. To avert this eventuality, the team's leadership must set the team up to win quick and exact victories. Additionally, they have to consider the fans, sponsors, and other sources of revenue. 

Attack by Strategum:

3. Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities. 

These four guideposts say a great deal about a coach's ability to win the game. It is possible to win games by repeatedly throwing your MVPs against the wall, but this is poor coaching and is very unlikely to win many Lombardi Trophies. Good coaching is where your playbook is organized to absolutely destroy the opposition's plans. The next best is to keep the players on the other team from organizing properly. Perhaps a good example of disrupting the enemies forces is when the Linebacker gets behind the line and sacks the Quarterback. The third solution is to go toe to toe with the other team. Don't ever allow the coach on the other side of the field to balk your plans, prevent your plays, or perform well against your players. Place him in a position where he is always having to "besiege your walls."

Tactical Dispositions: 

1. Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. 

2. To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

It has been said of long time that a good defense is a good offense. Sun Tzu seems to disagree. He later goes on to explain that a general only has the power to make sure that he has a strong defense, but there is no saying how strong the opposite team's defense is. If your offense is destroyed, you have lost the game and your weak defense will spell defeat. Whereas a surer victory can be won by taking advantage of the enemy every time they screw up. Then victory comes not because of great effort on ourselves, but on the easy failures of the rival. 

Use of Energy: 

21. The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals. Hence his ability to pick out the right men and utilize combined energy. 

This entire chapter talks about how to use momentum during a game. It also talks about how to take the limited plays in the book and make infinite combinations. This particular verse works as an analogy for the cohesion of the team. A successful play is the result of every player fulfilling his role. Victory is not the result of the quarterback alone.

The book goes over every aspect of war and football. When you watch your next game, look at how the coaches run their team. Look at how the players perform. You will see Sun Tzu's principles at work. They are the foundation of strategy. The best players are not only in peak athletic condition but also have a head for the game. They understand the purpose of their plays and are well trained in them. Football is a model for military strategy. 

The Fifty Classic Books Challenge

Recently, I was reading another blog about classical literature, and they extended a challenge to read at least fifty classic books. I chose books mostly from Aristotle and Archimedes because that is about where I am in reading The Great Books of the Western World series, which catalog some of the most important books to western thought from Homer to Freud. Most of these works are mathematical or scientific so we'll see how that affects the reading. It's important to me to become a learned man because it's an essential component to living a solid and honest life. I'm committing right now to reading all of these books. I highly recommend that all you guys should do it too! At the bottom, I included a link to the Classics Club,
which is a blog dedicated to readings from the classics.
Wish me luck and happy reading to you!

My Classics List:

1. Art of War by Tsn Zu 
2. Wheelock’s Latin Primer 
3. Farenheit 451
4. The critique of practical reason by Immanuel Kant 
5. Categories by Aristotle 
6. On Interpretation by Aristotle 
7. Prior Analytics by Aristotle 
8. Posterior Analytics by Aristotle 
9. Topics by Aristotle 
10. Sophistical refutations by Aristotle 
11. Physics by Aristotle 
12. On the Heavens by Aristotle 
13. On Generation and Corruption by Aristotle 
14. Meteorology by Aristotle 
15. Metaphysics by Aristotle 
16. On the Soul by Aristotle 
17. History of Animals by Aristotle 
18. Parts of Animals by Aristotle 
19. On the Motion of Animals by Aristotle 
20. On the Gait of Animals by Aristotle 
21. On the Generation of Animals by Aristotle 
22. Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle 
23. Politics by Aristotle 
24. The Athenian Constitution by Aristotle 
25. Rhetoric by Aristotle 
26. Poetics by Aristotle 
27. The Discourses by Epictetus 
28. The works of Hippocrates 
29. On the Natural Faculties by Galen 
30. Euclid’s Elements 
31. On the Sphere and Cylinder by Archimedes
32. Measurement of a circle by Archimedes 
33. On Conoids and Spheroids by Archimedes 
34. On Spirals by Archimedes 
35. On the Equilibrium of Planes by Archimedes
36. The Sand Reckoner by Archimedes by Archimedes 
37. The Quadrature of the Parabola by Archimedes 
38. On Floating Bodies by Archimedes 
39. Book of Lemmas by Archimedes
40. The Method of Treating Mechanical Problems by Archimedes 
41. On Conic Sections by Apollonius of Perga 
42. Introduction to Arithmetic by Nicomachus of Gerasa
43. Fatal Discord: Erasmus, Luther and the Fight for the Western Mind by Michael Massing
44. The Book of Mormon by Various Authors
45. The Old Testament by various authors
46. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 
47. The Silmarillion 
48. As a Man Thinketh
49. Emile by Rousseau 
50. For The Cause Of Liberty: A Thousand Years Of Ireland's Heroes by Terry Golway

-https://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com/ 

The Allegory of Jignesh

There was a town in a valley where a curious boy lived. The town was full of regular, ordinary people. They lived their life for mirth as children do. Their thoughts were shallow and glory was unknown to them. The Curious Boy was named Jignesh. When he was young, he partook in societies values, but as he grew he became bored. The nothingness of the town begged him to find better entertainment, so he began a journey up the mountain. 

His curiosity grew as he discovered more new things and realized how little his fellows thought or felt. He claimed to the peak and found new enlightenment. He saw God. He found wisdom. And he discovered his own divinity. He dwelt on the mountain for many days. He walked along the razor peaks and went to those places where trees could no longer grow. He found caves and waterfalls, and he even found the ruins of an old civilization. It was a magnificent city once thriving on this mountain. He found artifacts there from a bygone age. He found manuscripts there that told the stories of the great men who built the city and their thoughts and feelings and values. Jignesh learned of a higher better culture than the petty valley people. As he acquainted himself with the dead, Jignesh grew disconsolate. There was no company on the mountain anymore.

As Jignesh went from boy to man, he realized that he must have a tribe, and a wife, and a family. But there were no people on the mountain. So the boy, in desperation, went down from the mountain. He passed his old discoveries and his sacred places. He went down into the firs and into the leaves and into the valley. He found many people there. The children he knew long ago had grown into adults, they were not the foolish children they once were but had metamorphosed into silly adults. They were men and woman who now had responsibilities and who had to work for a living and learn how to extract food from the valley’s ground, but they still managed to be petty still. A child wanders around in search for pleasure, while an adult is forced to work but still seeks the nonsense of a child’s life. 

At first, Jignesh was happy to have company and people to talk to. He sincerely enjoyed their human company. But they were a shallow lot, and his journey up the mountain had changed his eyes and his should so that he could not be content with the pettiness of his new friends. He left the village a second time and journeyed up the mountain to where the city of the dead lay. No one met him as he entered the crumbling place. He went to the books he had found and discovered that these ancient people were the ancestors of the valley dwellers. Jignesh cried. Why did the people abandon this place? He imagined that great teachers and orators and sophists had convinced the people to leave the mountain and journey to the shallow places of the world and that the great mountain city had been killed by them. 

Jignesh went back down the mountain, and continued to dwell among the valley culture. He built a house there and raised a family. He would go back up the mountain from time to time, but none ever went with him. After long years he died. He always wished that he could have dwelt in a past age where the mountain kingdom was thriving, for no one understood the man. He pretended to be as shallow as the people, but his face hid deep understanding and wisdom he obtained from God on the mountain. He always wondered throughout his life: is it better to live on the mountain enlightened but isolated, or to live in the valley accompanied but disgusted? Jignesh died without his answer. 

Stand and Be Better

I have a lot to say and no ability to say it. I wish I had eloquence and knowledge, but really I am just a simple man who deeply wants to protect his home and stand for what is right and true. I don't seek to excuse myself, but I do wish that the reader will take my words for what they are worth and not be overly concerned with how these words are delivered. 

I just finished watching "One Man's Hero." Its a sad tragedy of brave men who fought for their freedoms, but were overcome and hung for treason. It made me realize that we are not trying hard enough. I too often sit back and get swamped by things that are mundane and trivial. I'm going to college right now and I see all these youth around me and I worry about how little they care about truth and valor. They just care about tests, jobs, and flirting. None of those things are wrong but were it for their complete blindness to the Hell's campaign against them. 

None of them know what evil really looks like: men hanging from three feet of rope, gas chambers, starving children, the sound bullets make when they thump into friends or the treads of a tank. Their willful blindness is the cause of their future suffering. Only a great fool would say that a day of great darkness isn't on its way. Who here at college has the metal in them to stand and fight this evil? Do any of these classes prepare these youth, nay, kids for the onslaught they will face in life? Where is the soul in all of this? I'm tired of dealing with the pettiness of who likes who and who did what because why. This generation has a mission to accomplish! If we don't see to that mission, great suffering will inevitably pursue us!

They call us generation X, or they call us millennials, but our generation has not faced their demons yet. In fact, we are making them as we speak. This generation may be known as generation Z because "Z" is the last letter in the alphabet, or, It will be known as a generation of heroes who overcame Satan's plot to overthrow mankind. They will be known as virtue's soldiers. The keepers of peace and the stewards of plenty. But what are we going to do to make it the latter instead of the former? 

We have a story to write. But how will it be written and are we going to be the bad guys or the good guys? We need to stand and be better. We need to educate our minds with only the highest and loftiest books so that we can really understand the world and not tabloidic falsehood that newscasters and celebrities give us. We need to embrace our mission. We need to sweat and work long hours to better our situation. We need to put aside our petty lifestyles and become fierce defenders of truth and justice. No longer slump in sin and foolishness but stand and be ready for when the Captain calls you to rank. 

An Objective Code of Ethics

Code of Ethics 

It’s chimerical to believe that Ethics can be voted on. Ethics transcends human opinion and belongs in the realm of objective science. To prove my point, take a democracy, which, can by a ninety-nine percent vote decide to appropriate the property of the one percent and call it “ethical” behavior. Perhaps it is the greatest good for the greatest number of people, but the barbarism of the act is still self-evident. Therefore, I based these ten laws of ethics wholly on an objective viewpoint. 

1. Ethics transcend human behavior. Nature and Nature’s God are both the founders and the executers of the Ethic Law. 
2. Everyman has a natural right to his person; i.e. his life, agency, and the fruits of his agency which is property. 
3. Everyman, having a right to himself also has a right to his own beliefs and thoughts. 
4. Behavior that threatens or injures the rights of fellow human beings, waves the rights of the offender. 
5. Every man is responsible for his own behavior.
6. Everyman’s duty is to keep his word, honor his fellows, and place his family as the first priority. 
7. A man may defend his rights with force, if necessary. 
8. All people are required respect. 
9. A man’s duty is to grow, produce, and build. Although, he cannot be forced to do this, industry is still an ethical action. 
10. A man must seek truth, if his’ action is to be ethical. 

This code, as Im sure you can recognize, is based off of the views and beliefs that the founders had during the eighteenth century, which was nicknamed the Age of Enlightenment. Modern times have changed their belief about ethics considerably. Now days, ethics is just the composite opinions of society. A behavior becomes ethical if everyone says it is. I say nay to that. The Founders understood the world much better than we do. They saw it as an exact mechanism full of law and principles. We see the universe as an empty joke, where nothing is true or means anything and we can change the rock solid laws of nature by a simple propaganda campaign. 

The study of ethics has devolved from being the study of how man can be more moral. It has been changed to become how man can justify what he is already doing. Despite how loud we attest that our actions are justified, the almighty arbiter of morality will always be, as Thomas Jefferson said "Nature and Nature's God."