| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended
address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat
in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper.
Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations
have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great
contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies
of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress
of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known
to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory
and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction
in regard to it is ventured.
Second Inaugural Address |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: searched throughout his kingdom for the most desirable women he
could find. He found pretty ones and witty ones and laughing ones
and moody ones and smart ones and elegant ones and plain ones and
philosophical ones and decorated ones--women of every proportion,
size, color, personality, and talent, and he married a hundred of
them, some of whom loved him even more than those among the first
few dozen he was already married to. And the king found much
pleasure in his wives, but he was still not truly happy.
"The king will find happiness only in wisdom," said one of the
king's scholars. "For it is written that 'truth is a joy unto
itself.'" So the king applied himself to books of wisdom, and to
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: PHILOSOPHY 4
1. Thales, Zeno, Parmenides, Heracleitos, Anaxagoras. State briefly
the doctrine of each.
2. Phenomenon, noumenon. Discuss these terms. Name their modern
descendants.
3. Thought=Being. Assuming this, state the difference, if any, between
(1) memory and anticipation; (2) sleep and waking.
4. Democritus, Pythagoras, Bacon. State the relation between them. In
what terms must the objective world ultimately be stated? Why?
5. Experience is the result of time and space being included in the
nature of mind. Discuss this.
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx: set factories ablaze, they seek to restore by force the vanished
status of the workman of the Middle Ages.
At this stage the labourers still form an incoherent mass
scattered over the whole country, and broken up by their mutual
competition. If anywhere they unite to form more compact bodies,
this is not yet the consequence of their own active union, but of
the union of the bourgeoisie, which class, in order to attain its
own political ends, is compelled to set the whole proletariat in
motion, and is moreover yet, for a time, able to do so. At this
stage, therefore, the proletarians do not fight their enemies,
but the enemies of their enemies, the remnants of absolute
The Communist Manifesto |
