Edmund Burke

"Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion."
Edmund Burke

While Burke himself was Irish, his observations on the nature of representation and government have played an important role in the development of the American Republic.

From Wikipedia:
Edmund Burke (12 January 1729^[1] – 9 July 1797) was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher who, after relocating to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as a member of the Whig party. He is mainly remembered for his opposition to the French Revolution. It led to his becoming the leading figure within the conservative faction of the Whig party, which he dubbed the "Old Whigs", in opposition to the pro-French-Revolution "New Whigs" led by Charles James Fox. He is generally viewed as the philosophical founder of modern conservatism.^[2]

Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke
Full name	Edmund Burke
Born	January 12, 1729 Dublin, Ireland
Died	July 9, 1797 (aged 68) Beaconsfield, England
School/tradition	Old Whig, Liberal conservatism
Main interests	Social and political philosophy

Lewis Hine

Lewis Hine was one of the great documentary photographers of the 20th century. He is most well known for his photographs of immigrants arriving in America and for his work documenting child labor during the Progressive Era.

Hine was an artist and social reformer as the photograph to the right will show. The power of his images stepped beyond the boundaries of simply documenting his subjects to a place where subject, composition and style merged into an image that captured moments and moods.



Video Clip - Lewis Hine Documents Child Labor

Images of Lewis Hine

Thomas Paine

Declared by Washington as the man who kept the revolution alive in its darkest hours Thomas Paine is probably the most tragic figure of the revolution - revered for his words and his thoughts with regard to the revolution and reviled when he turned his great mind to religion some years later. Paine's Pamphlets, The Crisis and Common Sense, did more to strengthen the cause of the Revolution than any other publications or speeches of their time. From USHistory.org "These are the times that try men's souls." This simple quotation from Founding Father Thomas Paine's The Crisis not only describes the beginnings of the American Revolution, but also the life of Paine himself. Throughout most of his life, his writings inspired passion, but also brought him great criticism. He communicated the ideas of the Revolution to common farmers as easily as to intellectuals, creating prose that stirred the hearts of the fledgling United States. He had a grand vision for society: he was staunchly anti-slavery, and he was one of the first to advocate a world peace organization and social security for the poor and elderly. But his radical views on religion would destroy his success, and by the end of his life, only a handful of people attended his funeral. More COMMON SENSE (1776) Paine's call to arms for America. Common Sense THE CRISIS (1776-77) "These are the times that try men's souls." THE RIGHTS OF MAN (1791-92) Paine's reply to an attack on the French Revolution by Edmund Burke. AGE OF REASON (1794, 1796) Paine's biting criticism of the Bible and religion. This document created the wedge between Paine and his admirers during the Revolutionary era and caused Paine's later years to be lived in obscurity. Ironically, many of the Founders would have agreed with its sentiments but understood that speaking them would destroy their reputations among common folk.

Albert Einstein

The greatest mind of the 20th Century if not the entire millenium, Albert Einstein was not only a physicist but a philosopher, peace activist and aesthetic. He enjoyed things of beauty of every kind from an equation to a beautiful woman.


E=MC2













Einstein's Equation of Life and Death

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3



Part 4



Part 5




Partv6


Part 7

George Santayana

Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer: there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged for fidelity and happiness.

George Santayana
US (Spanish-born) philosopher (1863 - 1952)

Although his broader legacy is largely defined by his aphorisms, Santayana was among the greatest thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A Philosopher, poet, essayist and novelist, Santayana influenced such noted thinkers as Bertrand Russell, John Dewey and the poet Wallace Stevens.

A prolific writer, Santayana's defining work was probaby his five-volume work "The Life of Reason" which is widely considered to be one of the most poetic and well-written works of philosophy in Western history.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" is but one quote taken from the work.

Wikipedia synopsis of "The Life of Reason".

This book and others by Santayana are available on line at no cost - as they are now in the public domain. Project Gutenberg has compiled the work here.

Wikipedia Biography


Blue Curtain on Arch Window


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Jane Addams

B. September 6, 1860 – D. May 21, 1935

"the good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in mid-air, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life."

Jane Addams was a founder of the U.S. Settlement House movement, and one of the first women to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She was a leading figure in the Progressive era. Born into wealth and tempered by tragedy (three of her siblings died in infancy and her mother died from tuberculosis during pregnancy when Jane was just two years old.) Jane used her considerable empathy and skills to exert her influence on a world where a thirst for leaders offered opportunity and a willing public.

Jane's father, John H. Addams, was the President of The Second National Bank of Freeport, Senator from Illinois (1854 to 1870), and a founding member of the Republican Party and supporter Abraham Lincoln.

Unlike the Republican party of today, the Republican party's roots were not only progressive (liberal) but they were the "home" for a major force of activists in the early 20th century, engaged on nearly every progressive front including the peace movement, the social welfare movement and early years of activism advocating environmental protection.

Known as one of the founders of the Social Science movement, Addams' research and activism deeply influenced the professional and the disciplines encompassed by the rapidly growing movement in its early years and for years beyond her death in 1935.

Wikipedia Biography


Readings:
Public Activities and Investigations
Twenty Years at Hull House (Book)
The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements

"Longview Flowers"

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Ken Burns

It can be fairly and objectively said that Ken Burns represents, perhaps even established, the "gold standard" in documentary film making in America.