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W B Allen

Michigan State University, Political Philosophy, Emeritus

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Emeritus Dean and Professor, Michigan State University's James Madison College and Department of Political Science. For 2018-19, Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy, University of Colorado, Boulder. Previously, Visiting Senior Scholar, Matthew J. Ryan Center for the Study of Free Institutions and the Public Good, Villanova University

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Bowling Green State University

Charles University, Prague

Metropolitan University in Prague & Charles University

Robert Osenenko

Dobrota Pucherova

Slovak Academy of Sciences

University of South Florida

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Drafts by W B Allen

One America for all Americans

A presentation providing analysis of Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action and constituti... more

FROM THE COMMENTS IN THUCYDIDES ABOUT THE LIFE OF THE SAME THUCYIDES AND THE FORM OF HIS SPEECH

A translation without annotation of Marcellinus's commentary on the work and life of Thucydides.

Life of Thucydides

Marcellinus's Life of Thucydides, 2005

Translation of the work by Marcellinus without annotation

Police and Municipalities

Before developing the causes that have produced the changes that we perceive today in Europe's po... more Before developing the causes that have produced the changes that we perceive today in Europe's police, 1 we are going to establish some general 1 In the Petit Robert "la police" is derived from the Latin, politia, itself from the Greek, politeia, which comes from polis, the equivalent of the old French, cité. It's old meaning is

Police and Municipalities

Before developing the causes that have produced the changes that we perceive today in Europe's po... more Before developing the causes that have produced the changes that we perceive today in Europe's police, 1 we are going to establish some general 1 In the Petit Robert "la police" is derived from the Latin, politia, itself from the Greek, politeia, which comes from polis, the equivalent of the old French, cité. It's old meaning is

The Arc of Justice Runs Unbendingly through Personal and National Character

The unmediated character of a citizen body determines the prospects for democratic governing. Thi... more The unmediated character of a citizen body determines the prospects for democratic governing. This essay puts that proposition drawn from George Washington to the test, drawing forth from that example principles by which to assess character-forming statesmanship. We inquire whether the course or track of the nation's existence has been unbending since Washington set it on that path, or whether it has rather run on two or more tracks since that time. National character consisted in shaping distinctive manners and mores among the citizens as a necessary incident of republican self-government and prioritized the attainment of forbearance and justice within the citizen body as the independent variable enabling wise statesmanship and judicious deliberation to provide direction upon such a foundation. Washington so fervently believed this that, in his "Farewell Address," he reiterated it most powerfully in the pertinent observation that the conduct of national policy must be unswervingly just, as a reflection of the national character. Washington's observation, however, was challenged by Franklin Roosevelt, who shaped the United States no less decisively than Washington had previously done. Roosevelt did so in such a way as fundamentally to alter the national character by fostering personal dispositions inhospitable to the degree of responsibility summoned by Washington. His was a knowing redirection of society toward a conception of human community-and therefore national character-that was self-consciously aware of departing from the "apparent utopia" of the founding. Roosevelt advocated an explicit conception of public stewardship (prior to the cumulative contributions of individuals). This resulted in a conception of individual fates plastically shaped by circumstances beyond their control, requiring efforts to generalize human experiences to be framed upon the application of plastic arts to the subject matter For, inasmuch as national character is derivative from personal character, where personal character no longer inclines or arcs toward forbearance and justice, national character can no longer be predicated upon the preference for justice.

Down with Diversity; Liberalism's Demise A Lecture in the Series on American National Character

Down with Diversity; Libralism's Demise, 2020

We begin by clarifying the terms under which we conduct this inquiry. The title of the lecture be... more We begin by clarifying the terms under which we conduct this inquiry. The title of the lecture bears interpretation. After all, “down with diversity” is susceptible to diverse meanings. In the vernacular of the street, it could convey, ‘I’m down with diversity,’ meaning that I approve of it. Or it could echo shouts of “down with the Bastille,” conveying an urge to overturn established authority. It might even suggests something as benign as the observation that the “sun is going down,” perhaps to rise again. But its apposite, “liberalism’s demise” might be harder to understand. For we often use “demise” to mean defunct. But it could also convey downfall. More pertinently, perhaps we should recur to its etymological origins, which would carry us to old French, "desmettre," and perhaps further still, to the Latin "demittere." Taking that path we see that, while dismiss, destroy, or even reduce could translate demise, perhaps nothing would do so more informatively than “displace.” We suggest , therefore, that the dynamic involved in the relationship between “diversity” and “liberalism” is diversity’s effect of displacing liberalism.

Indian Policy – 6,190 Words Federal Indian Policy

Indian policy has its roots in the experience of the American Revolution and its aftermath. “The... more Indian policy has its roots in the experience of the American Revolution and its aftermath. “The three types of colony—provincial, proprietory, and charter—exercised varying degrees of self-government.” (1 Story, §159) By the time of the Revolution, however, all the colonies maintained that their authority to govern themselves derived from the British Crown. They argued that they were subjects of the King rather than of Parliament, which they claimed could not rightfully interfere with their internal affairs. (Bailyn, 224-25) They did not borrow their relationship to the Indians from England, because that would tend literally to undermine justifications of American independence and, more importantly, to surrender the claim to establish principles of human right, newly enunciated.
To understand what America owes to the Indian, U. S. policy toward Indians must be placed in the light of American claims of right.

WHO WILL ANSWER ARISTOTLE? A Meditation on the Meaning of Education

This a draft intended for publication in an anthology. It takes up Aristotle's observation that “... more This a draft intended for publication in an anthology. It takes up Aristotle's observation that “perhaps it is not the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen in every situation.” (Ethics, 1130b29 ) The argument broached is that the answer to the implicit question of whether a good man can be a good citizen in a bad regime is negative. For the good person would necessarily exert himself to supplant the good regime.

I solicit comments and references pertinent to the discussion.

Papers by W B Allen

Relating Black History Without History

National Review, 2023

The advent of a stand-alone curriculum in African-American History for the very first time in Flo... more The advent of a stand-alone curriculum in African-American History for the very first time in Florida or any state attracted a fire storm of distortion and outrage. Most notably, Vice President Kamala Harris sounded the rejectionist trumpet and was promptly echoed by agitprop battalions, most notably by the speciously serious discussion provided by Heather Cox Richardson in her Substack, “Letters from an American.” Where Harris’s initial comment was refuted by the very grammar of the supposedly offensive sentence, Richardson obligingly quotes the sentence accurately but then proceeds to interpret away its undeniable meaning, attributing to the African American History Work-group a dense of the thoroughly discredited 19th century argument of John C. Calhoun that slavery was a “positive good.” This essay explodes that mis-representation.

De Gravitatione et Aequipondio Fluidorum translation

http://williambarclayallen.com/translations/De_Gravitatione_et_Aequipondio_Fluidorum_tr anslation.htm. , 2008

This is a translation of the manuscript based on the text authenticated by A. Rupert Hall and Mar... more This is a translation of the manuscript based on the text authenticated by A. Rupert Hall and Marie Boas Hall. The conclusion of the essay, from “Def. 5” is offered in the Halls’ translation, which offers no special difficulty. For the rest, this rather ungracious, rough and ready translation pretends to offer the advantage of important literalness and consistency in important passages, at least for as much as it is correct. The serious reader is urged to consult Newton’s Latin, in Unpublished Scientific Papers of Isaac Newton, ed. by A. Rupert Hall and Marie Boas Hall, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962), pp.90-l2l. As the editors point out, the argument here is heavily echoed in the General Scholium of the Principia, as well as elsewhere. For reasons that are clear, I find that the grounds of Newton’s opposition to Descartes are much more comprehensive here, and more useful by way of the general analysis of the relation of the mechanical sciences to the human sciences. Bracketed entries indicate alternative, usually more literal translations; parentheses are either Newton’s own or indicate necessary grammatical structures which complete thoughts in English but are not actually required in Latin.

Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Spiritual Life by Nancy Koester

The Catholic Historical Review, 2015

Nancy Koester’s Spiritual Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) is deceptive, for it is so much... more Nancy Koester’s Spiritual Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) is deceptive, for it is so much more than a spiritual biography. It aims to demonstrate that Stowe’s spiritual journey and her literary journey are fully integrated. Accordingly, she presents a comprehensive overview of Stowe’s major works (although the discussion of Oldtown Folks [Boston, 1869]—the most important in terms of her theology—receives fairly short shrift as if it were merely a tract on the value of humanism in theology). The performance is stunningly intelligent, demonstrating in Stowe both a spirit of liberation (from inherited doctrine) and submission (to a refined understanding of gospel truth).

The Arc of Justice Runs Unbendingly through Personal and National Character

Perspectives on Political Science, 2020

Abstract The unmediated character of a citizen body determines the prospects for democratic gover... more Abstract The unmediated character of a citizen body determines the prospects for democratic governing. This essay puts that proposition drawn from George Washington to the test, drawing forth from that example principles by which to assess character-forming statesmanship. We inquire whether the course or track of the nation's existence has been unbending since Washington set it on that path, or whether it has rather run on two or more tracks since that time. National character consisted in shaping distinctive manners and mores among the citizens as a necessary incident of republican self-government and prioritized the attainment of forbearance and justice within the citizen body as the independent variable enabling wise statesmanship and judicious deliberation to provide direction upon such a foundation. Washington so fervently believed this that, in his “Farewell Address,” he reiterated it most powerfully in the pertinent observation that the conduct of national policy must be unswervingly just, as a reflection of the national character. Washington's observation, however, was challenged by Franklin Roosevelt, who shaped the United States no less decisively than Washington had previously done. Roosevelt did so in such a way as fundamentally to alter the national character by fostering personal dispositions inhospitable to the degree of responsibility summoned by Washington. His was a knowing redirection of society toward a conception of human community–and therefore national character–that was self-consciously aware of departing from the “apparent utopia” of the founding. Roosevelt advocated an explicit conception of public stewardship (prior to the cumulative contributions of individuals). This resulted in a conception of individual fates plastically shaped by circumstances beyond their control, requiring efforts to generalize human experiences to be framed upon the application of plastic arts to the subject matter For, inasmuch as national character is derivative from personal character, where personal character no longer inclines or arcs toward forbearance and justice, national character can no longer be predicated upon the preference for justice.

Patrick Smith . Time No Longer: Americans after the American Century . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013. Pp. 231. $30.50

American Political Thought, 2015

The Essential Antifederalist

Journal of the Early Republic, 1986

Affirmative action and the Constitution

A New Birth of Freedom: Fulfillment or Derailment?

In Search of Freedom: Slavery and the Principles of the American Founding

The American Journal of Jurisprudence, 1983

Works of Fisher Ames

William and Mary Quarterly, 1984

Works of Fisher Ames

The William and Mary Quarterly, 1984

One America for all Americans

A presentation providing analysis of Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action and constituti... more

FROM THE COMMENTS IN THUCYDIDES ABOUT THE LIFE OF THE SAME THUCYIDES AND THE FORM OF HIS SPEECH

A translation without annotation of Marcellinus's commentary on the work and life of Thucydides.

Life of Thucydides

Marcellinus's Life of Thucydides, 2005

Translation of the work by Marcellinus without annotation

Police and Municipalities

Before developing the causes that have produced the changes that we perceive today in Europe's po... more Before developing the causes that have produced the changes that we perceive today in Europe's police, 1 we are going to establish some general 1 In the Petit Robert "la police" is derived from the Latin, politia, itself from the Greek, politeia, which comes from polis, the equivalent of the old French, cité. It's old meaning is

Police and Municipalities

Before developing the causes that have produced the changes that we perceive today in Europe's po... more Before developing the causes that have produced the changes that we perceive today in Europe's police, 1 we are going to establish some general 1 In the Petit Robert "la police" is derived from the Latin, politia, itself from the Greek, politeia, which comes from polis, the equivalent of the old French, cité. It's old meaning is

The Arc of Justice Runs Unbendingly through Personal and National Character

The unmediated character of a citizen body determines the prospects for democratic governing. Thi... more The unmediated character of a citizen body determines the prospects for democratic governing. This essay puts that proposition drawn from George Washington to the test, drawing forth from that example principles by which to assess character-forming statesmanship. We inquire whether the course or track of the nation's existence has been unbending since Washington set it on that path, or whether it has rather run on two or more tracks since that time. National character consisted in shaping distinctive manners and mores among the citizens as a necessary incident of republican self-government and prioritized the attainment of forbearance and justice within the citizen body as the independent variable enabling wise statesmanship and judicious deliberation to provide direction upon such a foundation. Washington so fervently believed this that, in his "Farewell Address," he reiterated it most powerfully in the pertinent observation that the conduct of national policy must be unswervingly just, as a reflection of the national character. Washington's observation, however, was challenged by Franklin Roosevelt, who shaped the United States no less decisively than Washington had previously done. Roosevelt did so in such a way as fundamentally to alter the national character by fostering personal dispositions inhospitable to the degree of responsibility summoned by Washington. His was a knowing redirection of society toward a conception of human community-and therefore national character-that was self-consciously aware of departing from the "apparent utopia" of the founding. Roosevelt advocated an explicit conception of public stewardship (prior to the cumulative contributions of individuals). This resulted in a conception of individual fates plastically shaped by circumstances beyond their control, requiring efforts to generalize human experiences to be framed upon the application of plastic arts to the subject matter For, inasmuch as national character is derivative from personal character, where personal character no longer inclines or arcs toward forbearance and justice, national character can no longer be predicated upon the preference for justice.

Down with Diversity; Liberalism's Demise A Lecture in the Series on American National Character

Down with Diversity; Libralism's Demise, 2020

We begin by clarifying the terms under which we conduct this inquiry. The title of the lecture be... more We begin by clarifying the terms under which we conduct this inquiry. The title of the lecture bears interpretation. After all, “down with diversity” is susceptible to diverse meanings. In the vernacular of the street, it could convey, ‘I’m down with diversity,’ meaning that I approve of it. Or it could echo shouts of “down with the Bastille,” conveying an urge to overturn established authority. It might even suggests something as benign as the observation that the “sun is going down,” perhaps to rise again. But its apposite, “liberalism’s demise” might be harder to understand. For we often use “demise” to mean defunct. But it could also convey downfall. More pertinently, perhaps we should recur to its etymological origins, which would carry us to old French, "desmettre," and perhaps further still, to the Latin "demittere." Taking that path we see that, while dismiss, destroy, or even reduce could translate demise, perhaps nothing would do so more informatively than “displace.” We suggest , therefore, that the dynamic involved in the relationship between “diversity” and “liberalism” is diversity’s effect of displacing liberalism.

Indian Policy – 6,190 Words Federal Indian Policy

Indian policy has its roots in the experience of the American Revolution and its aftermath. “The... more Indian policy has its roots in the experience of the American Revolution and its aftermath. “The three types of colony—provincial, proprietory, and charter—exercised varying degrees of self-government.” (1 Story, §159) By the time of the Revolution, however, all the colonies maintained that their authority to govern themselves derived from the British Crown. They argued that they were subjects of the King rather than of Parliament, which they claimed could not rightfully interfere with their internal affairs. (Bailyn, 224-25) They did not borrow their relationship to the Indians from England, because that would tend literally to undermine justifications of American independence and, more importantly, to surrender the claim to establish principles of human right, newly enunciated.
To understand what America owes to the Indian, U. S. policy toward Indians must be placed in the light of American claims of right.

WHO WILL ANSWER ARISTOTLE? A Meditation on the Meaning of Education

This a draft intended for publication in an anthology. It takes up Aristotle's observation that “... more This a draft intended for publication in an anthology. It takes up Aristotle's observation that “perhaps it is not the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen in every situation.” (Ethics, 1130b29 ) The argument broached is that the answer to the implicit question of whether a good man can be a good citizen in a bad regime is negative. For the good person would necessarily exert himself to supplant the good regime.

I solicit comments and references pertinent to the discussion.

Relating Black History Without History

National Review, 2023

The advent of a stand-alone curriculum in African-American History for the very first time in Flo... more The advent of a stand-alone curriculum in African-American History for the very first time in Florida or any state attracted a fire storm of distortion and outrage. Most notably, Vice President Kamala Harris sounded the rejectionist trumpet and was promptly echoed by agitprop battalions, most notably by the speciously serious discussion provided by Heather Cox Richardson in her Substack, “Letters from an American.” Where Harris’s initial comment was refuted by the very grammar of the supposedly offensive sentence, Richardson obligingly quotes the sentence accurately but then proceeds to interpret away its undeniable meaning, attributing to the African American History Work-group a dense of the thoroughly discredited 19th century argument of John C. Calhoun that slavery was a “positive good.” This essay explodes that mis-representation.

De Gravitatione et Aequipondio Fluidorum translation

http://williambarclayallen.com/translations/De_Gravitatione_et_Aequipondio_Fluidorum_tr anslation.htm. , 2008

This is a translation of the manuscript based on the text authenticated by A. Rupert Hall and Mar... more This is a translation of the manuscript based on the text authenticated by A. Rupert Hall and Marie Boas Hall. The conclusion of the essay, from “Def. 5” is offered in the Halls’ translation, which offers no special difficulty. For the rest, this rather ungracious, rough and ready translation pretends to offer the advantage of important literalness and consistency in important passages, at least for as much as it is correct. The serious reader is urged to consult Newton’s Latin, in Unpublished Scientific Papers of Isaac Newton, ed. by A. Rupert Hall and Marie Boas Hall, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962), pp.90-l2l. As the editors point out, the argument here is heavily echoed in the General Scholium of the Principia, as well as elsewhere. For reasons that are clear, I find that the grounds of Newton’s opposition to Descartes are much more comprehensive here, and more useful by way of the general analysis of the relation of the mechanical sciences to the human sciences. Bracketed entries indicate alternative, usually more literal translations; parentheses are either Newton’s own or indicate necessary grammatical structures which complete thoughts in English but are not actually required in Latin.

Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Spiritual Life by Nancy Koester

The Catholic Historical Review, 2015

Nancy Koester’s Spiritual Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) is deceptive, for it is so much... more Nancy Koester’s Spiritual Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) is deceptive, for it is so much more than a spiritual biography. It aims to demonstrate that Stowe’s spiritual journey and her literary journey are fully integrated. Accordingly, she presents a comprehensive overview of Stowe’s major works (although the discussion of Oldtown Folks [Boston, 1869]—the most important in terms of her theology—receives fairly short shrift as if it were merely a tract on the value of humanism in theology). The performance is stunningly intelligent, demonstrating in Stowe both a spirit of liberation (from inherited doctrine) and submission (to a refined understanding of gospel truth).

The Arc of Justice Runs Unbendingly through Personal and National Character

Perspectives on Political Science, 2020

Abstract The unmediated character of a citizen body determines the prospects for democratic gover... more Abstract The unmediated character of a citizen body determines the prospects for democratic governing. This essay puts that proposition drawn from George Washington to the test, drawing forth from that example principles by which to assess character-forming statesmanship. We inquire whether the course or track of the nation's existence has been unbending since Washington set it on that path, or whether it has rather run on two or more tracks since that time. National character consisted in shaping distinctive manners and mores among the citizens as a necessary incident of republican self-government and prioritized the attainment of forbearance and justice within the citizen body as the independent variable enabling wise statesmanship and judicious deliberation to provide direction upon such a foundation. Washington so fervently believed this that, in his “Farewell Address,” he reiterated it most powerfully in the pertinent observation that the conduct of national policy must be unswervingly just, as a reflection of the national character. Washington's observation, however, was challenged by Franklin Roosevelt, who shaped the United States no less decisively than Washington had previously done. Roosevelt did so in such a way as fundamentally to alter the national character by fostering personal dispositions inhospitable to the degree of responsibility summoned by Washington. His was a knowing redirection of society toward a conception of human community–and therefore national character–that was self-consciously aware of departing from the “apparent utopia” of the founding. Roosevelt advocated an explicit conception of public stewardship (prior to the cumulative contributions of individuals). This resulted in a conception of individual fates plastically shaped by circumstances beyond their control, requiring efforts to generalize human experiences to be framed upon the application of plastic arts to the subject matter For, inasmuch as national character is derivative from personal character, where personal character no longer inclines or arcs toward forbearance and justice, national character can no longer be predicated upon the preference for justice.

Patrick Smith . Time No Longer: Americans after the American Century . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013. Pp. 231. $30.50

American Political Thought, 2015

The Essential Antifederalist

Journal of the Early Republic, 1986

Affirmative action and the Constitution

A New Birth of Freedom: Fulfillment or Derailment?

In Search of Freedom: Slavery and the Principles of the American Founding

The American Journal of Jurisprudence, 1983

Works of Fisher Ames

William and Mary Quarterly, 1984

Works of Fisher Ames

The William and Mary Quarterly, 1984

International Relations and Politics

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1983

Works of Fisher Ames as Published by Seth Ames, 2 vols. Edited by W. B. Allen. (Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1983. Pp. lii + 841 and xxxvii + 773. $30.00/set, cloth; $15.00/set, paper.)

American Political Science Review, 1984

Black and White Together: A Reconsideration

Social Philosophy and Policy, Mar 1, 1991

Principled discussions of civil rights became inherently less likely as a direct result of the ob... more Principled discussions of civil rights became inherently less likely as a direct result of the observation by Earl Warren, in Brown v. Board of Education, that, respecting freedmen, “Education of Negroes was almost non-existent, and practically all of the race were illiterate,” and in proportion as that observation increasingly became the foundation of common opinion on the subject. Warren&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s observation was not true in any meaningful or non-trivial sense. Nevertheless, it served to perpetuate the myth of a backward people needing help to catch up instead of the truth of a people being held back. That is the perspective – the disadvantaged group perspective – that ultimately infected all discussion of civil rights, even after the designation of so-called “disadvantaged groups” had been extended beyond American blacks.To define civil rights, we may well begin with what all mankind would likely recognize. Thus the dictionary definition of “civil rights” stands: “the rights that belong to all individuals in a nation or community touching property, marriage, and the like.” In that definition the term “rights” may be further expanded to mean “legitimate claims,” following the definition of right as law – as “a claim or title or interest in anything whatever that is enforceable by law.” This definition applies with minimal distinction of regimes intruding and, therefore, without the host of recent complications in the United States that create the impression that civil rights have something to do with pluralism. Previously, the generic definition was thought to exhaust the meaning of the term in the United States.

Response to a" White Discourse on White Racism

International Relations and Politics AU W. B. Allen - Annals of Am Acad of Political and Social Science

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1983

The "Baton Rouge Lectures" provide a commentary on "The Federalist Papers." The "Epilogue" survey... more

God Alone Can Save Them

Conference on Virtue and the Free Society, 1993

Thirty years ago I discussed the intersection of crime, poverty, and moral decay. In this present... more Thirty years ago I discussed the intersection of crime, poverty, and moral decay. In this presentation I suggest a link between the failures of elites and the failures of non-elites. Social theorists are cited to develop the insight that "the analytics of 'social choice' obscure the precise nature of the dilemma we ace." For, with reference to drug use, "if everyone of us indulged an appetite for mood altering drugs, it would still not be the case that "we" do so collectively or in an institutional sense, since our choices would not have been made with reference to a common aim but with reference each particular aim.

Foundations of Western Civilization: The Empire of Modern Science

Syllabus for a seminar taught at Univ. of Colorado-Boulder 2018-2020. This seminar was offered in... more

CONVERSATION WITH VACLAV HAVEL in THE PRAGUE CIRCLE OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

A broad discussion between Vaclav Havel and several scholars and Czech political observers held S... more A broad discussion between Vaclav Havel and several scholars and Czech political observers held September 25, 1992. Of the session, Havel said, "I have been moved and gratified to see that I have become the subject of this discussion. Thirdly, let me say that the two papers we have just heard have revealed to me a new knowledge of what I am doing and a new insight into my way of thinking. And I am fascinated by the fact that the previous speaker even remembers my support for an amendment in the statutes of the writers' association, one of the most dumb proposals I have ever made."

CONVERSATION WITH VACLAV HAVEL in THE PRAGUE CIRCLE OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Havel: A broad discussion about Havel's principles and activities held September 25, 1992. I shou... more Havel: A broad discussion about Havel's principles and activities held September 25, 1992. I should like to say that I have been moved and gratified to see that I have become the subject of this discussion. Thirdly, let me say that the two papers we have just heard have revealed to me a new knowledge of what I am doing and a new insight into my way of thinking. And I am fascinated by the fact that the previous speaker even remembers my support for an amendment in the statutes of the writers' association, one of the most dumb proposals I have ever made.