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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   3037 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 3, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

I'm finishing up a delightful little book by Étienne de la Boétie, The Politics of Obedience. It is a classic clarion call for individual liberty, eloquent and well-read in antiquity, remarkable in how much it makes one reflect on his own actions in life. I would not be surprised if it was an influence on 300.

I'm trying to finally get through the whole Quran. I highly recommend that anyone who attempts this reads it in revelation order. It is far more engaging like this if you're not reading for religious purposes.

Still working through McGilchrist and Monte Cristo.

In spite of my great fondness for Montaigne, I've not yet read his greatest (contemporary) muse, Boétie. What translation are you reading?

Working through I, Claudius at the moment. Very well written, although I cannot speak to the accuracy of the characters' depictions.

How’s I, Claudius? I almost bought a copy from eBay the other day.

Really quite good, I'm about halfway through and its a page turner. Even for those not particularly interested in historical fiction, I think this is just a intriguing novel in its own right. Lots of 'easter eggs' for Roman history aficionados as well I'm sure.

What translation are you reading?

Harry Kurz. It's a remarkable and short work, one of the best I've read.

Are you reading the Qur'an in Arabic?

I'm afraid not. I've wanted to learn Arabic for some time now but have never managed to persist in the required effort to learn the script and pronunciation.

I'm using M. A. S. Abdel Haleem's translation, as it seems suited to Western tastes and has useful introductions/footnotes for every Surah.

This evening I finished Ted Chiang's novella "The Lifecycle of Software Objects". Not my favourite entry in his collection Exhalation, but not the worst either. It managed the AI thing quite well of getting me to care about characters that I know aren't really "conscious" as such, and I cared about the human characters just as much.

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Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


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