John Selden (1584-1654) had this insight: “We measure the excellency of other men by some excellency we conceive to be in ourselves.” * Is there a negative corollary of this?
Say you play the ukulele well enough for singing folk songs in a family gathering, and then you hear someone play “The Flight of the Bumblebee” on the instrument. I know it’s a stretch of the musical imagination, but I also know that in my hypothetical performance scenario, you would judge on the basis of your limitations on ukulele proficiency. Selden’s principle probably applies to many of our judgments and evaluations. For some of us, the comparison engenders wonder, praise, and emulation, but in others, it engenders envy.
I ask, “Is there a level of any ‘excellency’ in you that exists without begging comparisons?”
I also give you the task of discovering whether or not Selden’s principle has a negative corollary. And if you do discover that corollary, I leave you to ponder whether or not it applies to you.
**“The Measure of Things,” in The Table Talk of John Selden. Reynolds, Samuel Harvey Reynolds, ED., Oxford. The Clarendon Press, 1892. Chapter LXXXVI. Online at https://books.google.com/books?id=2Jc_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=john+selden+the+measure+of+things&source=bl&ots=c9ZPDMPu_k&sig=ACfU3U1F3r9YLDLfYgdSu7bE1VqXgb44ig&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwja_LGFm47hAhULvFkKHcOqCoUQ6AEwB3oECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=john%20selden%20the%20measure%20of%20things&f=false Accessed March 19, 2019.
Say you play the ukulele well enough for singing folk songs in a family gathering, and then you hear someone play “The Flight of the Bumblebee” on the instrument. I know it’s a stretch of the musical imagination, but I also know that in my hypothetical performance scenario, you would judge on the basis of your limitations on ukulele proficiency. Selden’s principle probably applies to many of our judgments and evaluations. For some of us, the comparison engenders wonder, praise, and emulation, but in others, it engenders envy.
I ask, “Is there a level of any ‘excellency’ in you that exists without begging comparisons?”
I also give you the task of discovering whether or not Selden’s principle has a negative corollary. And if you do discover that corollary, I leave you to ponder whether or not it applies to you.
**“The Measure of Things,” in The Table Talk of John Selden. Reynolds, Samuel Harvey Reynolds, ED., Oxford. The Clarendon Press, 1892. Chapter LXXXVI. Online at https://books.google.com/books?id=2Jc_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=john+selden+the+measure+of+things&source=bl&ots=c9ZPDMPu_k&sig=ACfU3U1F3r9YLDLfYgdSu7bE1VqXgb44ig&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwja_LGFm47hAhULvFkKHcOqCoUQ6AEwB3oECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=john%20selden%20the%20measure%20of%20things&f=false Accessed March 19, 2019.
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