The current political crisis in Brazil sharply divides the opinions of those who are interested in such matters. To some, Dilma is more sinned against than sinning. In this view, she is the victim of a shadowy (possibly US-inspired) desire for “regime change light.” Journalist Pepe Escobar is an insistent exponent of this view.
Those acquainted with modern Chinese literature tell us that Lu Hsun (1881-1936) is one of its most towering figures. His stories are of the most intimate type: he chronicles his thoughts, feelings, and impressions in a free-flowing manner, unrestrained by convention or rule. He did not subscribe to any political affiliation, preferring to remain beholden to no one. It is this streak of stubborn independence that attracts us to his writings.
There used to exist a literary genre called the consolatio, or consolatory essay. It is the type of thing that would be written by one person to another on the event of some terrible personal tragedy, such as the loss of a loved one. Sometimes (e.g., in the case of Boethius) the writer simply wrote it for himself. The ancient authors recognized it as a form of oratory, but it has been out of fashion for a long time now.
I have finally finished the complete translation of Cicero’s On Duties. It has been an exhausting, laborious, maddening, and joyous experience. There still remains a lot of work to do before it is finally ready for publication: revising, editing, adding more textual notes, indices, explanatory essays, and a few other things. But the end is finally in sight.
I have lately been testing the durability of the idea of human “progress.” It is a subject that has interested me now for some time. We recently examined the idea of progress advocated by Fontenelle. We will now turn to another important French thinker who played a significant role in the idea of progress, a man whose name is unfortunately almost forgotten today. His name is Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, but this is usually shortened to Abbé de Saint-Pierre (1658-1743).
It is a cliche that knowledge is power. But sometimes, not knowing something is also power. There is power in saying “I Don’t Know.” Let me explain what I mean.
The first Western thinker to come up with a comprehensive theory of “progress” was Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757). His importance today rests on the fact that he was a promoter and popularizer of the ideas of Rene Descartes in the face of the sustained attacks that Cartesian ideas came under from established religious and academic circles. Descartes was one of the true visionaries of the Western tradition, and is rightly considered to be one of the fathers of modern philosophy and science.
Everyone thinks of Leonardo da Vinci as the paragon of Renaissance virtue. He could paint, design, and use intuition as an aid to creativity, when he felt like doing so. But a closer look at the record paints a picture of a chronic procrastinator, a man of dubious reliability, and an idler who was more preoccupied with his daydreams than with perfecting his craft. He had genius, of course. But that is never enough. Harness, discipline, and application are far more important.
Vo Nguyen Giap (1911-2013) was the architect of the Vietnamese victory in the “Second Indo-China War” (called in the United States the “Vietnam War”), which took place from 1960 to 1975. He must also be credited with winning the “First Indo-China War,” which was waged against the French from 1946 to 1954. He proved to be a master of both conventional and guerrilla tactics, and displayed an incredible single-mindedness and foresight in pursuing his objectives to ultimate victory.
The science fiction genre is filled–too filled–with stories about what might happen if extraterrestrials came into contact with human beings. It is a favorite subject of writers, who use the theme to explore deeper truths about man and his place in the universe. And this is all well and good.
Quintus Curtius 
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