Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Seek



Seek
Value
寻求价值
Xúnqiú jiàzhí
値を探す
Atai o sagasu
ps96

Agreement in essential things
is a blessing that constancy sings.

Sing a song for the nation.
Sing thanks for the gift of salvation.

Sing to celebrate the whole earth.
Sing to conserve things of essential worth.

Sing to the Creator to consecrate and refine
knowledge incarnate of the design which is divine.

Sing a new song for consecration.
That which is incarnate is great for the celebration of station.

The search for worth in old or new things
increases the value for seeking knowledge with a clarity that rings.

Declare divine glory to all the people.
Let your glory shine to avoid that which is evil.

Even the wealth of the labor for all the nations
does not shine as bright as the sun in the heavenly oblation.

The majesty of the divine presence is magnificent.
It enhances your ability to work as a participant.

The splendor of the sanctified sanctuary emits power.
Eternity honors the intricate division of each hour.

Ascribe honor and power to the sacred Name.
Offer your products to show reverence as a claim.

Worship divine essence in the beauty of holiness.
Association will rejoice in each melodious associate.

Revolution will not rock the reign of deity.
Insurrection will not rule the faithful society.
Plots of murder will not be seen as acts of piety.

Ascribe to Leadership responsibility for due diligence in representation.
The management of government is for social gestation.

Let the heavens rejoice. Let the sea be glad.
Let the earth be the third part of the joyous triad.




Let the rain fall on all the earth
that plant and animal life may grow and flourish.

Then will the trees of the wood sing with joy
before the Leader comes to see what resources can be employed.

Letters form sound for words. Words make sentences.
The enlightened crow only reads threat in that which menaces.


The legal code is the measure for knowledge of law.
Let your vision penetrate beyond the edge of greatness to avoid tragic flaw.

When the Judge comes to review the earth,
the world will be evaluated for worth.


96 Cantate Domino
1 Sing to the Lord a new song; *
sing to the Lord, all the whole earth.
2 Sing to the Lord and bless his Name; *
proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations *
and his wonders among all peoples.
4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; *
he is more to be feared than all gods.
5 As for all the gods of the nations, they are but idols; *
but it is the Lord who made the heavens.
6 Oh, the majesty and magnificence of his presence! *
Oh, the power and the splendor of his sanctuary!
7 Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples; *
ascribe to the Lord honor and power.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the honor due his Name; *
bring offerings and come into his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; *
let the whole earth tremble before him.
10 Tell it out among the nations: "The Lord is King! *
he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity."
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
let the sea thunder and all that is in it; *
let the field be joyful and all that is therein.
12 Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joy
before the Lord when he comes, *
when he comes to judge the earth.
13 He will judge the world with righteousness *
and the peoples with his truth.

Eph.3:7
I have become a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God's grace that was given to me by the working of his power.

------------------------------------

I have become the servant of the gospel by grace.
Good news will influence how you choose the method for your pace
in the human race.

==========================

Mark 16:15
Jesus said to them, 'Go into the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.'

------------------------------------

The Savior said, 'Go into the world to proclaim the word for creation.'
The gospel will generate significant sensation.

==========================

Cyril and Methodius

Cyril was born as Constantine in about 826 CE. Methodius was given the name Michael. He was born about 828 CE.

The ethnic origins of the brothers are unknown. There is controversy as to whether they were of Slavic, Byzantine Greek or both. Their mission suggests that they were born in the Thessalonica of Slavic descent.

Their father, Leo, was an officer of the Byzantine theme in Thessalonica. Their mother was named Maria.

Their uncle was a powerful minister. Theoktistos became their protector after their father died. He was responsible for postal services and diplomatic relations in the empire. He started the educational program along with Bardas that culminated in the establishment of the College of Magnaura in the Imperial University of Constantinople.

The University had been founded in 425 by Theodosius II. It lasted until the 15th century.

The Magnaura was a large building that housed the Senate. This was located near Hagia Sophia, the Augustaion and the Chalke gate of the Great Palace. The school associated with the building did not last long, but it was instrumental in outreach through missionary work.

Theoktistos invited Constantine to Constantinople to continue his studies at the university. Constantine was ordained as a deacon while he was in the city. He was knowledgeable in theology and had a good command of the Arabic and Hebrew languages. He adopted the name Cyril when he was ordained as a priest.

His first state mission was in the Abbasid Caliphate. He was sent to discuss the principle of the Holy Trinity with Arab theologians selected by Al-Mutawakkil. The mission was intended to improve diplomatic relations with the Abbasid Caliphate.

Theoktistos also arranged a position as an official for Michael in the Slavic administration of the empire. He soon traveled to the monastery at Mount Olympus where he was tonsured with the name Methodius. He later became the governor for Macedonia and the abbot for the monastery.

Cyril was sent on a missionary expedition to the Khagan of the Khazars by Emperor Michael III and Patriarch Photius in 860. He was given the task to use his knowledge of foreign languages to forestall the Khagan from embracing Judaism.

The Latin “Legenda” states that he learned the Khazar language while he stayed in Cherson on the Crimean peninsula. The mission was unsuccessful. The Khagan chose Judaism for his people. There were those who welcomed Christianity though.

Cyril was appointed as the professor of philosophy in the university upon his return.

The Moravian Prince Ratislav requested that Michael III send missionaries to Moravia to explain Christianity in “their own language.” Cyril and Methodius were sent. The two had developed a reputation as thinkers and administrators.

The people of Moravia had already accepted the Christian religion with the Roman Church with the influence of the Frankish King Louis the Pious. Ratislav was seeking to assert independence by what amounted to a request for translators from the Byzantine Empire.

The Glagolithic alphabet was devised to be used for translation into the Slavic language. The descendant script is called Cyrillic. It is used by a number of languages today.
The brothers started by training assistants. They started to translate the Bible into what is now known as Old Church Slavonic. Then they traveled to Great Moravia to promote the translation of the liturgy into Slavonic. The brothers wrote the Civil Code in Slavic for use in Great Moravia.
They ran into trouble with German missionaries who opposed their efforts to create a specifically Slavic liturgy.

The missionaries to the East and South Slavs had success in part because they used the people’s native language rather than Latin or Greek. Cyril and Methodius encountered Frankish missionaries from Germany who represented the Latin branch of the Church.

The western church represented the Holy Roman Empire as founded by Charlemagne. These Franks were committed to linguistic and cultural uniformity. They insisted on the use of the Latin liturgy. They regarded Moravia and the Slavic people as part of their missionary jurisdiction.

When friction developed, the brothers were invited to Rome to see Pope Nicholas in 867. They were not willing to be the cause of dissention among Christians. They sought to make an agreement that would avoid quarreling between the missionaries in the field. Pope Nicholas died before the issue was resolved.

Pope Adrian II gave Methodius the title of Archbishop of Sirmium in 868. Sirmium is now Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia. Cyril died in Rome. Methodius was given jurisdiction over Moravia and Pannonia. He was authorized to use the Slavonic liturgy.

He continued the work among the Slavs alone in Pannonia. Great Moravia was in a state of transition. Ratislav was taken captive by his nephew Syatopluk. He was delivered to Carloman and condemned in a diet of the empire at the end of 870.

The activity in Pannonia made a conflict with the German episcopate and especially the bishop of Salzburg inevitable. Pannonia had been in the jurisdiction of Salzburg for 75 years.

Bishop Adalwin was found exercising rights there in 865. The administration under him was in the hands of the archpriest Riehbald. The archpriest was obliged to retire to Salzburg, but his superior was naturally not inclined to abandon his claims.

Methodius sought support from Rome. Friendly relations had been established with Kocef on the journey to Rome. Kocef sent him back with an escort to receive Episcopal consecration.

When
Pope Adrian named Methodius archbishop of Sirmium with jurisdiction over Great Moravia and Pannonia, the older title superseded the claims of Salzburg. Adrian had consecrated him as archbishop with jurisdiction not only in Great Moravia and Pannonia, but Serbia as well.

When Ratislav died in 870, his successor did not support Methodius. The Frankish king Louis and his bishops convened a synod at Ratisbon that deposed Methodius. He was imprisoned for a little over two years.

Methodius was summoned to Rome on charges of heresy and for using Slavonic in 878. Pope John VIII secured his release with permission to use the Slavonic liturgy. He was sent back cleared of the charges.

Pope Stephen V reversed John VIII’s ruling and forbade the use of the Slavonic liturgy after Methodius’ death. Wiching, Methodius’ successor, drove the disciples of Cyril and Methodius into exile. Many found refuge with Boris of Bulgaria under whom they re-organized a Slavic speaking Church.

Pope John’s successors adopted a Latin-only policy that lasted for centuries. 

------------------------

Cyril and Methodius
S.
西里尔和的迪
T.西里爾的迪烏斯

西 Xi  west              西 nishi        west         Ki            Si    city   
li   inside            ri              village      ri            lil    reel       
er  you           ore             you           ru           gwa and        
he  and               wa              and         to          Me  me           
De  truly             teki           target       Me         de   place          
di   enlighten    susumu       edify       to           ti     tea               
wu  crow            karasu       crow       di            u     right     
si   Slovakia         shi            this          i              seu switch           
                                                                       u 
 
                                                                      su 
------------------------------------

Letters form sound for words. Words make sentences.
The enlightened crow only reads threat in that which menaces.

==========================

Max Horkheimer
2.14.1895, Stuttgart, Germany
7.7.1973, Nuremberg, Germany

Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen

Stuttgart went by the name of Zuffenhausen. The name was changed when Zuffenhausen incorporated with Zazenhausen in 1931. The towns were united due to the depression.

The etymological roots for "Zuffenhausen" are traced to the name used for an Alemanni settler, "uffo" or "offo."  It translates as the 'house of settlement' in the upper Rhine dialect.

The Alemanni were a confederation of tribes located near the upper Rhine River in southern Germany.  The confederation was first mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213. Caracalla was a Roman emperor also known as Antoninus. He ruled from 198 to 217 CE. He was a member of the Severan dynasty.

The Alemanni captured the Agri Decumates in 260. The Agri Decumates included the Black Forest and the areas between the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers in southwestern Germany.

They later expanded to present-day Alsace and northern Switzerland. The Old High German language was used in the expanded territory. The region was named Alammania by the 8th century.

The Alemanni were conquered by Frankish leader Clovis in 496. They were incorporated into his dominions. They retained their status as pagan allies until the 7th century. They were gradually Christianized over this one hundred year period of time.

The Lex Alamannorum recorded the customary law for the Alemanni. Frankish suzerainty over Alamannia was mostly nominal until the 8th century. Carloman, aka Charlemagne, executed the Alamannic nobility and installed Frankish dukes after an uprising by Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia. 

The Alemannic counts became almost independent during the later and weaker years of the Carolingian Empire. A struggle for supremacy took place between them and the religious leadership that would later become the Bishopric of Constance. This was an imperial state in the Holy Roman Empire from the mid-12th century until its secularization in 1802-3.

The oldest official denotation of Zuffenhausen was when it was documented as a property of Bebenhausen Abbey by Pope Innocent III on May 18, 1204.

The city is located in a river valley that was carved into existence by the Feuerbach River. There are two distinct elevations with a difference of 3 m (10 ft.). There is the level at 255 m (837 ft.). There is the other level at 252 m (827 ft.).

A vast stretch of rolling hills extends to the north and northwest on a height of over 300 m (980 ft.). The hills rise to a peak of 327 m (1,073 ft.) near Neuwirthshaus. The Stuttgart mountains rise in the south. The Nekar valley is situated to the east.


People have considerably changed the geographical features of Zuffenhausen since the 19th century. The development of railway lines and roads have altered the landscape. The excavated material was used to fill depressions and drained ponds.

There was an expansion of the settlement beyond the Feuerback valley to the west and to the east during the second half of the 19th century.

The flora and fauna are diverse. Animal life has decreased in number since the introduction of sealed roads after World War II. Birds were less affected by the loss of habitat. Generously sized home gardens and the preservation of primoridal forest in the Hofkammer Wald.

Larger forests and different types of semi-arid grassland are located west of Zuffenhausen. Fields are increasingly marginal. Pastures and orchards are almost totally absent. Agriculture was the most important part of the economy until 1907.

Zuffenhausen is the headquarters for the Porsche car manufacturing company.

Max Horkheimer

Max was born in Zuffenhausen on February 14, 1895. He was the only son of Moriz and Babetta Horkheimer.  Moritz was a successful businessman who owned several textile factories. He expected his son to follow in his footsteps. He wanted him to own the family business.

Max was taken out of school to work in the family business in 1910. He eventually became a junior manager. He started two relationships during this period that would last for the rest of his life.

He met Friedrich Pollock. He would later become a close academic colleague. He also met Rose Riekher. She was his father's personal secretary. She was eight years older than Max, a gentile and from an economically lower class.

Max called her Maidon. She was not considered to be a suitable match by Moritz. Max and Maidon married in 1926. They remained together until her death in 1969.

His manufacturing career ended when he was drafted for World War I. His chances for taking over the family business were interrupted. He was denied enlistment on medical grounds. He failed the army physical in the spring of 1919.

He enrolled at Munich University. He was mistaken for the revolutionary playwright Ernst Toller while living in Munich. He was arrested and imprisoned. He moved to Frankfurt am Main after his release.

He studied philosophy and psychology under the respectable Hans Cornelius. He met Theodor Adorno. Theodor was his junior by several years, but the two formed a lasting friendship and a collaborative relationship.

Max completed his dissertation The Antinomy of Teleological Judgment with Cornelius's direction. He was habilitated for professorship with Kant's Critique of Judgement as Mediation between Practical and Theoretical Philosophy in 1925.

The Institute for Social Research was founded by Felix Weil in 1923. It was intended to be an independent academy for Marxism to rival any University in the standards of scholarship.

The institute carried out important research on the history and condition of the German workers' movement. It was possibly the first body to use opinion polls as a research tool.

Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Leo Lowenthal, Raymond Aron, Erich Fromm, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin and Ernst Krenek were associated with the Institute.

The German Revolution was defeated in 1923. Horkheimer and other members of the Institute drew the conclusion that the working class could never be the vehicle for social change as a result of participation in the production process. The development of theory itself could be the cause of liberation.

Horkheimer co-authored the Dialectic of Enlightenment with Odorno in the the 1940's while they were in the US. 

The Power of Society
"Enlightenment as Mass Deception"


Horkheimer defined the power of society as irrational in "Enlightenment as Mass Deception" (1944): 

"While the mechanism [of intuition] is to all appearances planned by those who serve up the data of experience, that is, by the culture industry, it is in fact forced upon the latter by the power of society, which remains irrational, however we may try to rationalize it; and this inescapable force is processed by commercial agencies so that they give an artificial impression of being in command."
It would be more optimistic to define knowledge of custom, language and people as the power of society. The definition of the power as irrational is the logical consequence of pulling back from Marxism into Hegelian dialectic.

Horkheimer wrote the Critique of Instrumental Reason in 1949.

He returned to Frankfurt to re-establish the Institute for Social Research in the same year.

He retired to Switzerland in 1958.



Jeremy Bentham
2.15.1748 London, England
6.6.1832 London, England

London
Early 18th Century

Parliament

The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707. The ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliaments of England and Scotland created a new government called the Kingdom of Great Britain. The English and Scottish parliaments were dissolved. 

The government was housed in the former home for the English parliament in the Palace of Westminster near the city of London.

The union lasted nearly a century. The Act of Union in 1800 merged the separate British and Irish Parliaments into a single body for the United Kingdom.

George II
(1683-1760)

George II was the King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lunesberg (Hanover) and prince-elector for the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death in 1760.

George was the last British monarch born outside of Great Britain. He was born and raised in northern Germany. His grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, became second in line to the British throne after about 50 Catholics higher in line were excluded by the Act of Settlement 1701 and the Acts of Union 1707. The royal line of succession was limited to Protestants.

His father George I, Elector of Hanover, inherited the British throne after the deaths of Sophia and Anne, Queen of Great Britain, in 1714. George II was associated with opposition politicians in the first years of his father’s reign as king. The opposition rejoined the governing party in 1720.

George II exercised little control over British domestic policy after he became king in 1727. The policy was largely controlled by the Parliament of Great Britain. He spent 12 summers in Hanover. 

He had more influence over government policy as elector there. He also had a difficult relationship with his eldest son. Frederick supported the parliamentary opposition.

Henry Pelham
(1694-1754)

Henry Pelham served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 27 August 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle. Thomas served in Henry’s government and succeeded him as Prime Minister.

Henry is generally considered to have been Britain’s third Prime Minister after Sir Robert Walpole and the Earl of Wilmington.

Henry Pelham’s premiership was relatively uneventful in domestic affairs except for the tumult of the Jacobite uprising in 1745. The Jacobite Rebellion was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart.

It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession. The bulk of the British Army was fighting in mainland Europe. It proved to be the last in a series of revolts that began in 1689. There were major outbreaks in 1708, 1715 and 1719.

Jacobus was the Latin form for James. James Stuart was known as the second for the throne of England and Ireland. He was known as the seventh for the kingdom of Scotland. He went into exile after the Revolution in 1688.

The Jacobites supported the restoration of James as the monarch from the House of Stuart to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. They supported the divine right of kings and tolerance for Catholics.

Charles had launched the rebellion on 19 August 1745 at Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands. Edinburgh was captured. The Battle of Prestonpans was won in September. The Scots agreed to invade England after Charles assured them of substantial support from English Jacobites with a simultaneous French landing in southern England. The Jacobite army entered England in early November. They reached Derby on 4 December, but decided to turn back.



The promised English support failed to materialize. The Scottish Jacobites were in danger of having their retreat cut off. Another victory was won at Falkirk Muir in January 1746, but the Battle of Culloden ended the rebellion in April.  Backing for the Stuart cause was lost. Charles escaped to France. He failed to win support for another attempt. He died in Rome in 1788.

1748

A fire in the city caused over a million pounds of damage on 28 March.

The Bow Street Runners were established by Henry Fielding in 1748. Fielding is known as the author of the novel Tom Jones.  Law enforcement was in the hands of private citizens and single individuals prior to the founding of the force.

Henry Fielding was the Bow Street magistrate. Six men were selected by him for law enforcement. The judge decided to legalize their activity due to high rates of mistaken arrests based on malicious reports. The men represented a formalization of existing police methods.

The men were paid by the magistrate's office with funds from the central government. They did not patrol the streets. They served writs of notice from the magistrates. They would travel nationwide to apprehend those charged with criminal acts.

The George and Vulture pub was built in London in 1748. The pub was mentioned at least 20 times in The Pickwick Papers (1836-7) by Charles Dickens. He was a patron there.

It was reputed to be the meeting place for the notorius Hellfire Club. The members of the club often dressed up like characters from the bible to offer satirical commentary on the Puritan influence over society.

The pub was the headquarters for the city chapter of the Pickwick Club from its foundation. 

Realism in Dickens questioned the justice of the legal system. The full title for the Pickwick Papers is The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

The club was an actual social organization that met in the George and Vulture pub. The leader for the club was the central character, Samuel Pickwick. He led the organization in the consideration of social injustice in their time.

There was always something to discuss, but the focus on injustice in society can have a detrimental affect. When it is used to challenge Parliament or Congress to promote conservative measures for progress in reconstruction it is a good thing. When it is used to reject those who promote conservative progression, it is counter-productive.

The reinstatement of slavery as an institution was actually a liberal policy when it was first introduced to imperial government. It allowed merchants in the slave trade to move up the social ladder while it prohibited advance by those who were enslaved.

Once it was reinstated as a legal institution however, the defense for the same may have been adopted by 'conservatives.'

It was a liberal policy nevertheless. The government used tax money as the resource to defend the institution for those who profited from the trade. Government officials participated in the trade in order to increase their power. Such was the case with John Locke.

Locke had argued against absolute power for the monarch as though it were the cause for all crime by officials, but his doctrine for destruction was used to support war and enslavement. He was largely responsible for 'legally' establishing the slave trade in the southern British colonies in that which is now the US.

The overall effect for the trade was detrimental to the representation of liberty in the law for people.
The proposal for a constitutional monarchy promotes the policy for entertaining democracy within the monarchy.

People simply vote for the leaders who serve in the Parliament that was established by the monarchy so the people could govern themselves. This was accepted by the European world as the first step in the reconstruction of classical consciousness.

The opposition of democracy and monarchy was not the case  when Pericles and Protagoras introduced the form to Athens. Votes reduced the guesswork regarding what people supported.

Pickwick Papers

Jeremy Bentham was an advocate for utilitarianism. Pain and pleasure were presented as the primary principles for the regulation of utility. It was an alignment of natural with legislated law in terms of the principles.

He had agreement with Locke and Hume. This had good and bad consequences. He stated opposition against legislation against slavery as an institution, but he did so with respect for decrease in cruelty in punishment.

Legislated law had a heavy reliance on reports to the public about torture and the death penalty as punitive measures for infraction in the law. The English bill of rights had stated opposition to cruelty in punishment, but Locke had made his statement for the right to destroy those who intended to destroy him. His argument was also presented in the context of opposition to the divine right of kings as an expression of absolute power.

The divine right was intended to defend the existence of monarchy in the multi-lingual Roman Empire. It was paired with the ‘sword of Damocles’ as a template for public communications. 

The ‘sword’ essentially allowed for fictional descriptions of events with the intent of deterring insurrection, subversion, terrorism or assassination. The trouble with the ‘sword’ as a basis for deterrence was the confusion that was caused with the public record.

When the sword was attached to precipitation for profit from war by contract with the government and forced emigration, the result was a cause of international mayhem.

Bentham repeats the word “sanctions” as a political tool repeatedly. 

This strikes contemporary relevance as a kind of excess. When constitutional governments that differ from that of the US with respect for term limits are defined as authoritarian regimes, the liberal element for spending tax dollars has used the sword with fake news or extreme prejudice for invasion, occupation, air strikes or economic sanction to express opposition.

The context for the repetition however was to decrease dependency upon telling the public that opposition to precipitation or the sword in government policy would result in being defined as an ‘enemy to the state.’ Enemies were deposed, deported or actually executed. 

Sanction by fine or imprisonment represented a lesser form of punishment. It was actually a step in the direction of decreasing cruelty in punishment. The value of the step was obscured by Bentham's support for revolution.

Bentham expressed distaste for slavery, but he didn't argue to have it outlawed.  He proposed the confidence that the greatest happiness principle would build consensus against it to eliminate it by statistical inference. If the institution were seen as the establishment of misery, it would not be recognized as having a social value for happiness.

Slavery was not an effective deterrent to rebellion.



The threat of abuse to the enslaved was not an effective tool for voluntary persuasion. Thus, it was not good for voluntary participation in government. This made it bad for the state.

William Wilberforce had lobbied parliament for 18 years to have the trade, then the institution abolished. He finally saw his proposal enacted in 1833, the year of his death. The organization established by him would direct parliament to abolish slavery for the British empire. They proceeded to negotiate treaties with foreign powers to have the trade, then the institute outlawed. It was an impressive accomplishment as a political action that started with the conviction of one man.

Locke, Hume and Bentham were models for modern liberalism in terms of their policy. The goal of reducing cruelty in punishment or deceptive news reports was relatively reasonable in terms of increasing education for the public for building consensus in agreement in self-government.

The re-institution of slavery however did not present a reasonable model for democracy in political reason. It made the advocacy for private property look like a promotion of slavery through tyranny in the republican form for government.

Locke and Bentham increased their wealth and power by not arguing for legislation against slavery in the British colonies. Hume opened the door for prejudice with his declaration of support for passion.

Jeremy Bentham
(1748-1832)

Jeremy Bentham was born in Houndsditch, London. His parents supported the Tory party. Samuel Bentham was his one surviving sibling.

He attended Westminster School. He was sent by his father to Queen's College, Oxford at age 12 in 1760. He completed his bachelor's degree in 1763. He was awarded his master's degree in 1766.
He was trained as a lawyer. He was called to the bar in 1769, but declined the association. He had become frustrated with the complexity of the English legal code. He called it the "Demon of Chicane."

When the American colonial government published the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the British parliament did not issue an official response. They secretly commissioned London pamphleteer John Lind to publish a rebuttal.

His 130 page tract was distributed in the colonies. It contained an essay entitled "Short Review of the Declaration" by Bentham, a friend of Lind. The essay mocked American political philosophy and attacked the ideas expressed in the document.

He proposed the Panopticon as the basis for the design of building prisons. He spent 16 years developing the design in the hope that he would be appointed as contractor-governor for a national penitentiary. The concept had an influence on later generations of thinkers. The 20th century French philosopher, Michel Foucault, argued that the Panopticon was paradigmatic for several 19th century "disciplinary" institutions.

While detention in prison is oppressive when sentencing is severe, it is not as cruel as the use of the death penalty for crimes lesser in severity than murder. Bentham argued that his plan for Panopticon was thwarted by the King and the aristocratic elite. He developed a position against the "sinister interest" of those who opposed his broader arguments for reform.

 He was more successful in his cooperation with Patrick Colquhoun in tackling the corruption in the Pool of London. The Pool was the stretch of the River Thames on the south side of London. It was vitally important to the city for centuries.

Bede called it the reason for the existence of the port in the 7th century. The quays for the area had extended into the wharves along both banks by the time that it reached the peak of importance in the 18th century. Hundreds of ships moored in the rivers or along side quays.
Smuggling, theft and vandalism of cargoes were rife on both the busy open wharves and in the crowded warehouses. Bentham and Colquhoun sponsored the Thames Police Bill of 1798. The bill was passed in 1800. It created the Thames River Police. It was the first preventive police force in the country. It was a precedent for Robert Peel's reforms 30 years later.
Bentham corresponded with a number of influential people. He shared correspondence with the aging Adam Smith in the 1780's. He was unsuccessful in the attempt to convince Smith that interest rates should be allowed to float freely.
His correspondence with Mirabeau and other leaders of the French Revolution resulted in his declaration as an honorary citizen of France. This was the case even though he was an outspoken critic of the revolutionary discourse on natural rights and of the violence that arose after the Jacobins took power (1792).
Bentham held a personal friendship with the precursor to Latin American independence Francisco de Miranda between 1808 and 1810. He paid visits to Miranda's house  on Grafton Street.
Miranda was a Venezuelan who lived in London from 1803 until 1810. His family had been banished during the Spanish Inquisition at the end of the 15th century. He had taken part in the Spanish involvement in the American Revolution (1776-81).
Miranda was actively involved with the French revolution (1791-98). He led an expedition to liberate Venezuela (1806-1808). He had been a subject of the Inquisition throughout. He was imprisoned after Bolivar handed him over to the Spanish Royal Army in 1812. He died in prison before any trial.
Bentham co-founded The Westminster Review with James Mill as a journal for "Philosophical Radicals" in 1823. John Bowring was appointed the political editor and eventually the literary executor.  Edwin Chadwick wrote about hygiene, sanitation and police work. He was a major contributor to the Poor Law Amendment Act.
The Poor Law Amendment Act was passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey in 1834. It replaced earlier legislation based on the Poor Law of 1601. It attempted to fundamentally change the poverty relief system in England and Wales. Similar changes were made to the poor law for Scotland in 1845. The system essentially required that the poor vote for Whigs and support Whig initiatives in order to get benefits.
Chadwick was also employed as a secretary. He was left a substantial legacy.
Bentham died on 6 June 1832 at the age of 84 in his residence at Queen Square Place in Westminster, London, England. 
He had continued to write up to a month before his death. He had made careful preparations for the dissection of his body and its preservation as an auto-icon after his death. A paper dated 30 May 1832 instructing Thomas Southwood Smith to create the auto-icon was attached to his last will.

Jeremy Bentham
杰里米边沁
傑里米邊沁
  Jie     heroic              ketsu   greatness       Ji~e    じぇ    ジェ      je    my                     
  li        internal           ri           village         re                       le    re        
  mi     meter              mai      meter             mi-      み-    ミ-       mi   beauty         
  Bian  edge                hen      edge              Ben     べん   ベン    Ben Ben   
  qin     percolate         shin     penetrate       samu   さむ  haem  ham                                         

------------------------------

The legal code is the measure for knowledge of law.
Let your vision penetrate beyond the edge of greatness to avoid tragic flaw.

======================                    

No comments:

Post a Comment