The ancient Roman orator Cicero famously believed, ’If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.’ Contemporary philosopher Scott H. Moore agrees and puts this celebrated aphorism to the test.
In How to Burn a Goat: Farming with the Philosophers, Moore speculates on the practice of farming through the lens of philosophy and literature. He weaves together a tapestry of philosophical reflections on work and leisure, the nature of the virtues, and the role and limitations of technology and higher education with personal reflections on the joys and trials of farm life on his Crawford, Texas, farm.
Full of self-deprecating humor, Moore relates his own experience of a philosopher turned farmer. His efforts at scholar-farmer are haunted by questions from the world’s great minds—’Does Plato’s ‘city of sows’ ring true?, ‘ ’Can Ockham help break a recalcitrant heifer?, ‘ ’How can Heidegger help with raising swine?, ‘ ’What insights does Iris Murdoch offer for pest control?’ Combining insight with down-to-earth vignettes, Moore joins Wendell Berry, E. B. White, George Orwell, and many more in recognizing the truths deeply rooted in the management of the practical affairs of a farm.
Moore argues that a return to agrarian roots is needed to restore Aristotelian wonder and wisdom in a world increasingly defined by technology. Rejecting the idea that humans are simply cogs in a wheel, he shows how greater human happiness can be found in the meaningful labor of tending to nature, rather than the ever-expanding march of automation.
Inhoudsopgave
A Burnt Offering
Buying Geese
Coming to Terms with Shit
Lambing
Guinea Fowl
Red in Tooth and Claw
Playing by Ear
Homecoming and the Future of Higher Education
Doing It and Getting It Done
Fallacy of Acquisition
Mules
Septic Matters
Orphan Chicks
Silky Smooth’s Big Adventure
To a Hare, From a Louse
Farmers, Christians, and Intellectuals: Cultivating Humility and Hope
New Guineas
Skunks
Rattlesnakes
Dead Lambs
Alexander Mc Call Smith
Too Many Eggs
Ockham, Iris, and the Show Cattle
Wendell, Gene, and Joel: On the Difficulties of Theology and Agriculture
Do Sweat the Small Stuff
Not So Humble, but Near to the Ground
Saving Spiders
Snakes and Chicks
Tolstoy and Pahom
The Cow in the Parking Lot
Back to the Rough Ground: The Consolations of Techne
Calves
E. B. White’s Adventures in Contentment
Gussie, Lloyd, and Mocha
In Defense of Watching Grass Grow
Orchards
City of Sows
Farming with the Philosophers: Work, Leisure, Wonder, and Gratitude
Appendix
Iris Murdoch’s Vexed Relationship with Christian Faith
Over de auteur
Scott H. Moore is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Great Texts at Baylor University.