Liberal Arts Blog — The Third Delphic Maxim — What Is It? Who Cares? Who Should?
Liberal Arts Blog — Tuesday is the Joy of Literature, Language, Religion, and Culture Day
Today’s Topic: The Third Delphic Maxim — What Is It? Who Cares? Who Should?
Did the Greeks nail it? Did the three Delphic maxims zero in on the three things most remembering in life? Just to remind you — the first is, of course, to Know Yourself. The second, Everything in Moderation. The third “Engya para d’ate” is less well known and has been translated in many different ways. One is “A pledge, then calamity.” A second: “surety brings ruin.” A third: “Make plans and the Gods laugh.” A fourth: “a pledge is a curse.” A fifth: “Beware false certainty.” My spin: always keep an open mind, an open heart, and open eyes. Consider any opinion as a working hypothesis to be junked should the data change. Today, some diverse, but related quotes on the virtues of skepticism, as well as the kindred values of curiosity and humility. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
OLIVER CROMWELL, GEORGE CARLIN, WALT WHITMAN (photo below)
1. Oliver Cromwell: “I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible that you might be mistaken.”
2. George Carlin: “Tell people there’s an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.”
3. Walt Whitman: “I like the scientific spirit — the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them: this is ultimately fine — it always keeps the way beyond open — always gives life, thought, affection, the whole man, a chance to try over again after a mistake — after a wrong guess.”
NB: Voltaire: “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”
DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN, JEAN PAUL SARTRE, JOHN DEWEY (photo below)
1. Moynihan: “Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from life what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government agencies to do good.”
2. Sartre: “She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist.”
3. Dewey: “Skepticism: the mark and even the pose of the educated mind.”
NB: Samuel Eliot Morrison (historian): “Skepticism is an important historical tool. It is the starting point of all revision of hitherto accepted history.”
RELATED NOTIONS: CURIOSITY AND HUMILITY (Eleanor Roosevelt, Samuel Johnson, Mahatma Gandhi)
1. Eleanor Roosevelt (above): “I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.”
2. Samuel Johnson: “Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.”
3. Mahatma Gandhi: “It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
CONCLUSION — A Crazy Proposal for a New Ritual to Enable Conversations About Topics Otherwise Too Controversial to Broach in Polite Company
1. An affirmation of shared values — eg. curiosity, skepticism, humility, gratitude, kindness.
2. A statement of commitment to a process that reflects these values — eg. temperate speech, close listening, equal time to each participant.
3. The most important things to talk about together are the hardest things to talk about. I like to think of the What Matters Table as an experiment in finding a place where this is possible.
NB: Have you ever found such a place? Is it a story worth sharing? Any related thoughts? Practical tips?
Skepticism Quotes (476 quotes)
Curiosity Quotes (1083 quotes)
A LINK TO THE LAST THREE YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned this week related to words, language, literature, religion, culture. Or, even better, the coolest or most important thing you learned in your life related to Words, Language, Literature (eg. quotes, poetry, vocabulary) that you have not yet shared.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or to cement in your own mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
