Comments on: Crosby – The Measure of Reality – Quantification and Western Society 1250-1600

By: Lex

Lex — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 02:18:19 +0000

7 pt is too tiny for my eyeballs. I’m more likely to print it out in 14 pt because 12 is too small But, hey, whatever works for you.

By: Richard Heddleson

Richard Heddleson — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 17:09:40 +0000

Lex, as do I. I print them in 7 pt font two columns, landscape. That usually reduces them to 2 or 3 pages that can be folded up for my shirt pocket to be read whenever I have unexpected free time. Makes it easier to jot marginal notes and save after reading

By: Ginny

Ginny — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 03:25:49 +0000

Thanks James. As usual, you are print-worthy.
And thanks for the review.

I, too, print out James’s rewiews & other lengthier ones, such as John Jay’s. My husband seldom reads blogs but is a big admirer of Bennett & other Anglosphere approaches, so I pile up print-outs next to his pillow. Of course, I’m an idiot and tend to print them out as they are – which wastes good paper. Lex clearly has more common sense.

By: Lex

Lex — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 01:31:36 +0000

Incidentally, it has been suggested to me that I was being somehow flippant or disparaging in saying that James’ articles should be printed out and read that way rather than on the screen.

By no means.

I think James’ contribution has been extraordinary, and I do quite literally cut-and-paste the longer pieces into a Word doc and print them so they are easier to read.

No kidding.

By: Lex

Lex — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:11:33 +0000

James, thanks.

As is usually the case with James’ posts, it is best to cut and paste this into a Word document and print it out to read. At 10 pages and 4,600 words, it deserves to be treated as the article (rather than “post”) that it is.

By: John

John — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:24:05 +0000

My advisor used to say that if you can’t put a number to it, it’s not science. That is the difference between Natural History and science. Natural History has its place, and is not as widely regarded as it should be in biology, but science is measurement.

One piece of the puzzle for the European explosion has to be the balance between competition and cohesiveness in Europe�s politics. States vied with each other economically, politically, and militarily, and this facilitates progress. Italy�s regional divisions played a similar role in the Renaissance. China’s culture valued social cohesion over scientific debate, and the centralized power in that civilization squashed a lot of innovation.

In Europe, an innovator stifled by politics could easily move to another state with a less rigid view, which encouraged competition. This was not a great political structure to have in the face of the Turks, and you can see the problem of too much independence and power given to individual petty governments in the partitions of Poland. But competition in the realm of ideas is necessary for long-term progress. The competitive system just has to be protected from short-term existential threats such as the Turks.