Johannes Kepler's Harmonices Mundi
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A Journal of Georgetown University’s Tocqueville Forum for Political Understanding VOLUME 12, ISSUE 2 Fall 2019 Featuring U TRAQUE Johannes Kepler’s Harmonices Mundi: U NUM Physics and Faith in a Musical Universe The Sources for Political Theory Empire-Building: The Discourse of Colonialism in British New Delhi “Bad, for the Greater Good”: Principle and Politics in Presidential Civil Rights Policy, 1945-1964 Religion and Civic Virtue in Dutch Golden Age Childhood The Effects of Indigenous Resistance on Colonial Rule in Africa Churchill: Historian and History VOLUME 12, ISSUE 2 ISSUE 12, VOLUME An Unavoidable Conclusion: Our Best Science Points to God “The Greatest Star”: Funny Girl’s Half-Formed Feminism in the Age of Women’s Liberation Digital Reader-Response and Structural Notions of Infinite in Julie Andem’s Skam Blessed Are the Meek: Vonnegut on Good Thinking History of the Philodemic Society, Pt. III UTRAQUE UNUM AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY utraqueunum.org | [email protected] Volume 12 Issue 2 Fall 2019 A Journal of Georgetown University’s Tocqueville Forum for Political Understanding Editor-in-Chief Mark McNiskin Managing Editor Emily X. Ren Editor-at-Large Christof Kuehne Section Editors Sachin Meier and Bianca Berman (The Forum) Aidan Poling and Jack Brownfield (The Archive) Michael DeFelice (The Sanctuary) Carrie Connelly and Nathalie Danso (The Parlor) Kathryn Blanco (The Clock Tower) Copy Editors Brent Smith Angela Zhou Nathalie Danso Interested in digital-exclusive content? The editorial staff of Utraque Unum is proud to present our new digital version of the journal, which can be found at utraqueunum.org. The website will feature digital-exclusive articles and interviews, letters from readers, a complete archive of the journal's collection, and the chance to engage other readers of the journal in conversation and scholarship. In addition, each new print edition will be available to read online. We encourage our readers to check out this exciting new chapter in our story. Please direct any reader responses or letters to [email protected]. Happy reading! Acknowledgements The publication of Utraque Unum was made possible by the generous support of the Collegiate Network, the Georgetown University Media Board, and the Tocqueville Forum for Political Understanding. The mission of the Tocqueville Forum for Political Understanding is to en- courage a deeper engagement with the intellectual and cultural traditions that form the basis of the American federal democratic republic. The Tocqueville Fo- rum sponsors these activities solely through the contributions of generous sup- porters of its mission. If you would like further information about supporting the Tocqueville Forum, please email [email protected] or visit http://government.georgetown.edu/tocquevilleforum. As always, we welcome your thoughts and comments regarding this jour- nal. If you are or once were a Georgetown University student, professor, or staff member, we would welcome the opportunity to review your work for publica- tion in Utraque Unum. In addition to writers, we are looking for artists, graphic designers, and web designers. If you wish to inquire about these positions or are interested in being added to the journal’s mailing list, please email the Editor-in- Chief at [email protected]. About Utraque Unum Since it was founded by students of the Tocqueville Forum in 2007, the editors of Utraque Unum have worked to provide you with the best student scholarship Georgetown University has to offer. The purpose of the journal is not only to celebrate student scholarship and acquaint students with the tasks of serious writing and editing, but also to encourage reflection on complex problems in politics, in culture, and in life on the Hilltop. We strive to facilitate productive, meaningful, and judicious discourse, and believe that undergraduates represent an oft-overlooked source of thought and analysis. Within these pages, you will find essays on political theory and politics, history, philosophy and theology, arts and culture, and campus life and liberal learning. If you would like to read work published in past editions of Utraque Unum, please visit our website at www.utraqueunum.org. If you are interested in submitting an essay for publication or would like to join our mailing list, please email utraqueunum@ georgetown.edu. | Utraque Unum Fall 2019 Volume 12, Issue 2 Table of Contents From the Editor-in-Chief ....................................................................1 From the Director The Sources for Political Theory, by Professor Thomas M. Kerch. 3 The Forum (Articles on Politics and Political Theory) Empire-Building: The Discourse of Colonialism in British New Delhi, by Charlie Goetzman ............5 “Bad, for the Greater Good”: Principle and Politics in Presidential Civil Rights Policy, 1945-1964, by Kailas Menon ............................................................................10 The Archive (Articles on History) Religion and Civic Virtue in Dutch Golden Age Childhood, by Hannah So .........................20 The Effects of Indigenous Resistance on Colonial Rule in Africa, by Cole Horton ....................25 Churchill: Historian and History, by Elizabeth Cresson ...........................................30 The Sanctuary (Articles on Philosophy and Religion) Johannes Kepler’s Harmonices Mundi: Physics and Faith in a Musical Universe, by Tommy Batterman ..35 An Unavoidable Conclusion: Our Best Science Points to God, by Alex Mirage. 43 The Parlor (Articles on Literature and the Arts) “The Greatest Star”: Funny Girl’s Half-Formed Feminism in the Age of Women’s Liberation, by Michelle Brown ..........................................................................47 Digital Reader-Response and Structural Notions of Infinite in JulieAndem’s Skam, by Jennifer Kret ...51 Blessed Are the Meek: Vonnegut on Good Thinking, by Gabriel Berger .............................58 The Clock Tower (Articles on Georgetown) History of the Philodemic Society, Pt. III, by Jonathan Marrow ....................................61 The Editor’s Desk ear Reader, Departments as diverse as Classics, African-American Studies, English, and Sociology, Dalong with many others at Georgetown, tout the “critical thinking” skills that students ac- quire from their majors. In addition to claiming that these skills are useful in academic contexts and cultivate lifelong learners, departments often argue that they are also practical and prepare students for career success in the ‘real world’ which awaits after graduation. I am majoring in Philosophy, and my courses have frequently cultivated the critical thinking skills that humanities departments prom- ise. However, in the classroom, where these skills are acquired and put to use, I have sometimes found a disconnect between these promises and reality. In my time at Georgetown, I have noticed a tendency in both myself and others to rush to critical judgments. In philosophy classes, with which I have the most experience, discussions sometimes become a race to deliver the biggest criticism of whatever work we are discussing. In this race, a complicated argument composed of many parts can be denied in a single sweeping judgment, and a thinker’s project can be dismissed on the basis of a brief excerpt from a single work. Taken liter- ally, as purely antagonistic, critical thinking becomes a shell of its richer self. Ideally, it should be constructive as well as destructive, or should at least destroy with nuance. I believe in, though I do not always live by, the principle that we should criticize others’ arguments only after seriously and honestly attempting to understand them. In class, however, it sometimes seems as though we are dismissing others’ arguments out of hand because they conflict with our own views, or even that we are trying to criticize every idea we encounter as quickly and as dramatically as possible. Why does this happen? Some of the blame falls on the nature of college itself. Almost all classes necessarily sacrifice depth for breadth. Professors also play a role by sometimes encouraging stu- dents to take extreme positions by limiting discussion to whether we agree or disagree with a per- son’s ideas. We students, however, cannot place all the burden on institutions and higher authorities. Our egos are partially responsible, and to improve the situation we must take pains to approach new ideas with humility, coming to class to learn as much as to voice our opinions. Otherwise, we undermine our own education and prevent ourselves from fully realizing all the benefits for the sake of which I chose my major and many others chose theirs. Not only are ego-driven discussions less fun and less intellectually stimulating, but by adopting the warped version of critical thinking, we also threaten the practical benefits that humanities departments pride themselves on imparting to their students. I am not claiming that my education has been a disappointment. In contrast, I have found it ex- tremely fulfilling, and class discussions have genuinely been some of the best experiences I have had at Georgetown. However, they also have the potential to be some of the worst. By talking about this negative aspect, I hope to urge us all, myself included, to avoid what I consider the wrong sort of thinking. Such a message of humility may be an ironic one to convey in the self-indulgent soapbox of a letter from the editor, but it is one that I deeply believe is true. The articles in