Synthesized answer
The passages indicate that "A Budget of Paradoxes" is described as having a "miscellaneous and discursive character" and being "difficult of completion" due to its nature as a "receptacle for the author's thoughts on any literary, scientific, or social question" [3]. This structure suggests that intellectual inquiry during De Morgan's era was not narrowly specialized but rather broad and eclectic, allowing for the intermingling of diverse topics without strict boundaries. The author's aim to show paradoxers "how they look in a lump" [2] further implies a method of collecting and comparing ideas across fields, rather than focusing on isolated, rigorous proofs.
However, the passages do not explicitly state the predominant methods or aims of intellectual inquiry in De Morgan's era. They show that the Budget was published serially in the *Athenæum* for amusement [1], and that De Morgan contrasted the "worship of reason" with "dogmatic authority" [4], hinting at a tension between rational demonstration and rejection of authority. But the question of whether this unique structure reflects broader trends—such as an emphasis on discursive, cross-disciplinary critique versus systematic…
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
character of the book be thought necessary, it may be found in the author's own words at page 281 of the second volume. The publication of the Budget could not have been delayed without lessening the interest attaching to the writer's thoughts upon questions of our own day. I trust that, incomplete as the work is compared with what it might have been, I shall not be held mistaken in giving it to the world. Rather let me hope that it will be welcomed as an old friend returning under great disadvantages, but bringing a pleasant remembrance of the amusement which its weekly appearance in the…
admissible, some unprovoked, and some capital jokes, true or false: the author of Vestiges of Creation is an instance. I expect that my old correspondent, General Perronet Thompson, will admit that his geometry is part and parcel of my plan; and also that, if that plan embraced politics, he would claim a place for his Catechism on the Corn Laws , a work at one time paradoxical, but which had more to do with the abolition of the bread-tax than Sir Robert Peel. My intention in publishing this Budget in the Athenæum is to enable those who have been puzzled by one or two discoverers to see how…
← A Budget of Paradoxes by Augustus De Morgan Introductory 1489-1599 → 134520 A Budget of Paradoxes — Introductory Augustus De Morgan PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. (1872) edit It is not without hesitation that I have taken upon myself the editorship of a work left avowedly imperfect by the author, and, from its miscellaneous and discursive character, difficult of completion with due regard to editorial limitations by a less able hand. Had the author lived to carry out his purpose he would have looked through his Budget again, amplifying and probably rearranging some of its contents. He had…
l a été ordonné, Monsieur, il a été ordonné," as the apothecary said when he wanted to operate upon poor de Porceaugnac. Very much changed: but whether for good or for evil does not now matter; the question is, whether contempt of demonstration such as our paradoxers show has augmented with the rejection of dogmatic authority . It ought to be just the other way: for the worship of reason is the system on which, if we trust them, the deniers of guidance ground their plan of life. The following attempt at an experiment on this point is the best which I can make; and, so far as I know, the first…
← 1650-1699 A Budget of Paradoxes by Augustus De Morgan 1700-1749 1750-1799 → 134538 A Budget of Paradoxes — 1700-1749 Augustus De Morgan THE ARISTOCRAT AS A SCIENTIST. edit Copernicans of all sorts convicted ... to which is added a Treatise of the Magnet. By the Hon. Edw. Howard, of Berks. London, 1705, 8vo. Not all the blood of all the Howards will gain respect for a writer who maintains that eclipses admit no possible explanation under the Copernican hypothesis, and who asks how a man can "go 200 yards to any place if the moving superficies of the earth does carry it from him?" Horace…
More questions about this book
- Imagine you are explaining to a friend what the editor of 'A Budget of Paradoxes' found most challenging about preparing De Morgan's manuscript for publication. What was the central problem, and how did the editor attempt to balance preserving De Morgan's vision with making the work publishable?
- De Morgan aimed to 'scrutinize and castigate' both 'heterodox ignorance' and later 'orthodox learning.' What do these two targets suggest about his underlying definition of a 'paradox,' and how might addressing both types of 'inconsistencies' shape the overall philosophical message of his work?
- The editor states that alterations were 'slight and few,' yet also mentions 'one rather large omission.' How can both these statements be true, and what does this apparent contradiction reveal about the editor's understanding of their role versus the integrity of the original text?
- If De Morgan had completed his intended second part, scrutinizing 'orthodox learning,' how might this addition have fundamentally altered the book's intellectual impact and its place within academic discourse, beyond just expanding its content?