There have been men in all ages, who have been impelled as by an instinct to propose their own nature as a problem, and who devote their attempts to its solution.
I read this today, the sentence striking upon me as if encountered for the first time; and thought - Yes! And I am one of those men.
1 comment:
the outrigger
said...
That’s weird. I followed the link and had a “moment of significance significant to no one but my ownsome” of my own when down the page Coleridge refers to Descartes… and Condillac: There are some islands off the northwest coast of Australia called the Institut Group, which in the days before curated adventure tourism took some getting to, and may still do. They were named by a French scientific/treasure hunting/beat the English* expedition and memorialize those considered French big guns circa 1800: Descartes, Laplace, Lagrange, Montesquieu, Moliere, Racine, Voltaire, Pascal, Lavoisier, it goes on and on… and Condillac. I did not know who Condillac was then, and don’t recall ever seeing his name in print again until today. Oh! The Institut Group were within Coleridge’s purview as well. He really was a ringside participant in the invention of the modern mind... with two hundred years less grime in the rearview mirror on the medieval mind to boot. More Coleridge rummaging is indicated.
*When the English surveyed these waters some years later, nearby geographic eminences were named Mt Trafalgar and Mt Waterloo.
1 comment:
That’s weird. I followed the link and had a “moment of significance significant to no one but my ownsome” of my own when down the page Coleridge refers to Descartes… and Condillac: There are some islands off the northwest coast of Australia called the Institut Group, which in the days before curated adventure tourism took some getting to, and may still do. They were named by a French scientific/treasure hunting/beat the English* expedition and memorialize those considered French big guns circa 1800: Descartes, Laplace, Lagrange, Montesquieu, Moliere, Racine, Voltaire, Pascal, Lavoisier, it goes on and on… and Condillac. I did not know who Condillac was then, and don’t recall ever seeing his name in print again until today. Oh! The Institut Group were within Coleridge’s purview as well. He really was a ringside participant in the invention of the modern mind... with two hundred years less grime in the rearview mirror on the medieval mind to boot. More Coleridge rummaging is indicated.
*When the English surveyed these waters some years later, nearby geographic eminences were named Mt Trafalgar and Mt Waterloo.
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