The words covered in this article are seminal, perpetual and perpetuate, propensity, prudence and imprudence, forfeit, derision and diminution, diminish and diminutive. Previously done words that will reoccur today are promulgation, capricious, whim, dissemination, mutability, undermine, warranted, prospect, indiscretion, incessant, deplorable, reverence, banish, and resolve.
We know well by now that promulgation is vital to a law’s validity. The usual time-gap between the passage of a law and its coming into effect is thirty to ninety days.
What if, while promulgation of a new law was still underway, the government passed an amendment to it, and then, soon after the amended law came into force, yet another significant change was made to it, and then another and another? What would your response be, as a citizen, to such a law and such a government?
Yesterday, you learnt that among Lon Fuller’s criteria for a law to be moral, two were that the law should be obeyable and that it should be relatively stable. Recall what he wrote:
“Certainly there can be no rational ground for asserting that a man can have a moral obligation to obey a legal rule that . . . commanded the impossible, or changed every minute.”
A command to obey a rule that changes “every minute” is in fact a command to do “the impossible.” An everchanging law is an unobeyable law.
When the lawmaker is a capricious tyrant like the Roman emperor Caligula, one understands how the laws may keep getting changed as per his whims and fancies. There simply are no checks and balances on his power to prevent him from announcing tomorrow that he encourages citizens to do action X after having declared X to be illegal today. What may surprise you is that such instability may also happen in well-functioning democracies.
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Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) was a French aristocrat and diplomat who visited the United States for nine months in 1831 and maintained careful notes of his observations during his wide travels in that country. After returning to France, he kept working on his notes and eventually published them as the book Democracy in America whose first volume came out in 1835 and the second in 1840. This book is today considered to be one of the seminal texts of sociology and political science.
Seminal
The adjective seminal means related to a seed or the semen, or like a seed.
A book that creates a whole new genre of writing may be called a seminal book, because it proved to be seed-like: just as a seed is the originator of a big tree, this book was the originator of a big tree of ideas and publications. It was hugely influential.
Origin: Latin semen, seed. You have met this root before, in Day 20, when you learnt the word disseminate.
In the below excerpt from the book, Tocqueville explains how democracy in America, by its very nature, made it difficult to have a stable body of laws:
“When elections recur at long intervals the State is exposed to violent agitation every time they take place. Parties exert themselves to the utmost in order to gain a prize which is so rarely within their reach . . . if, on the other hand, the legal struggle can be repeated within a short space of time, the defeated parties take patience.
When elections occur frequently, their recurrence keeps society in a perpetual state of feverish excitement and imparts a continual instability to public affairs.
Thus, on the one hand the State is exposed to the perils of a revolution, on the other to perpetual mutability; the former system threatens the very existence of the Government, the latter is an obstacle to all steady and consistent policy. The Americans have preferred the second of these evils to the first; but they were led to this conclusion by their instinct much more than by their reason; for a taste for variety is one of the characteristic passions of democracy.”
Perpetual
The adjective perpetual means everlasting, never-ending.
The verb form of the word is perpetuate which means to make something last forever.
A place whose residents complain of perpetual rains would be one where not one day in the year seems to go by without rainfall.
Let’s unpack what Tocqueville says above.
Consider two scenarios:
- Scenario 1: The time-gap between elections is huge (say 20 years)
- The candidates in each election will make the contest a do-or-die situation. For a 50-year-old candidate, this may be his only shot to grab power, and his desperation may drive him to try all schemes, fair or foul, that may help him win, even including revolution and bloodshed.
- Scenario 2: The time-gap between elections is short (say 1 year)
- It would be easier for the candidates facing defeat to reassure themselves with the hope of better luck next time, as the next election would not seem so far away. Few people would deem it worthwhile to incite a revolution just for this short duration in power.
- However, the politicians would always be in campaign mode, and with each change of rulers, the rules would change too, and so, the system would be quite unstable.
To further elaborate on how frequent elections undermine the stability of law, I will quote from The Federalist Papers. This is a collection of 85 essays written between 1787 and 1788, before the American Constitution came into operation. The essays were the joint work of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, all Founding Fathers of the United States. This work is regarded as America’s greatest contribution to political science and was praised by Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the country, as “the best commentary on the principles of government which was ever written.”
With this context-setting, I will let The Federalist Papers do the talking. I will only make a few brief pauses at the end of paragraphs that contain new GRE words, to define those words.
“To reverse and undo what has been done by a predecessor, is very often considered by a successor as the best proof he can give of his own capacity . . .; and in addition to this propensity, where the alteration has been the result of public choice, the person substituted is warranted in supposing that the dismission of his predecessor has proceeded from a dislike to his measures; and that the less he resembles him, the more he will recommend himself to the favor of his constituents . . . It is not generally to be expected, that men will vary and measures remain uniform. The contrary is the usual course of things.”
The Federalist Papers: No. 72
Propensity
The noun propensity means natural inclination, tendency.
“Every new election in the States is found to change one half of the representatives. From this change of men must proceed a change of opinions; and from a change of opinions, a change of measures. But a continual change even of good measures is inconsistent with every rule of prudence and every prospect of success.”
The Federalist Papers: No. 62
Prudence
The noun prudence means wisdom, especially in planning for the future, and in knowing what one ought to say or do in a particular situation.
The adjective form of the word is prudent, the opposite of which is imprudent, which means unwise.
Federalist No. 62 elaborates on its claim that continual change in policy is imprudent and brings down the chances of the young nation’s success. Here are a few of the harmful effects of mutable policy described in this paper:
“A mutable government . . . forfeits the respect and confidence of other nations . . .
An individual who is observed to be inconstant to his plans, or perhaps to carry on his affairs without any plan at all, is marked at once, by all prudent people, as a speedy victim to his own unsteadiness and folly. His more friendly neighbors may pity him, but all will decline to connect their fortunes with his; and not a few will seize the opportunity of making their fortunes out of his.
One nation is to another what one individual is to another . . . [in fact nations] are under fewer restraints . . . [than individuals] from taking undue advantage from the indiscretions of each other. . . [America] finds that she is held in no respect by her friends; that she is the derision of her enemies; and that she is a prey to every nation which has an interest in speculating on her fluctuating councils and embarrassed affairs.”
Forfeit
The verb forfeit means to lose something as punishment for a mistake, crime, or breach of contract. The noun form of the word is forfeiture.
The verb forfeit means to lose something as punishment for a mistake, crime, or breach of contract. The noun form of the word is forfeiture.
Derision
Derision is the act of laughing at someone or something. Derisive words or actions are those with which you make fun of someone or something. To deride someone is to laugh at him.
Origin: Latin de-, down + ridere, to laugh => ‘to laugh someone down’.
The word ‘ridicule’ is also from the same root and means the same as deride.
After pointing out the impact of inconstant policy on America’s relations with other countries, the paper turns its attention to how it effects Americans themselves and their confidence and pride in their government:
“The internal effects of a mutable policy are still more calamitous. It poisons the blessing of liberty itself.
If [the laws] . . . undergo . . . incessant changes . . . no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed? . . .
The want of confidence in the public councils damps every useful undertaking, the success and profit of which may depend on a continuance of existing arrangements. What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows . . .that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed? What farmer or manufacturer will [make investments based on] the encouragement given [by the government] to any particular cultivation or establishment, when he can have no assurance that his preparatory labors and advances will not render him a victim to an inconstant government? . . .
But the most deplorable effect of all is that diminution of attachment and reverence which steals into the hearts of the people, towards a political system which betrays so many marks of infirmity and disappoints so many of their flattering hopes. No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable, without possessing a certain portion of order and stability.”
The Federalist Papers: No. 62
Diminution
The verb diminish means to lessen, to make smaller. Diminution is the noun form of diminish and denotes lessening, decrease.
The adjective form of the word is diminutive, which means very small.
Origin: Latin de-, down + minuere, make small => ‘to take down in size and make smaller’
The Latin minuere is related with the Latin word minor, which means ‘less, small.’ The English words ‘minor’, ‘minus’ and ‘minute’ come from the Latin minor. A ‘minor’ is a person whose age is lesser than the legal age of responsibility. ‘Minor’ matters are the matters of lesser importance. To do six ‘minus’ five is to make six smaller by five units. The adjective ‘minute’ means ‘very small’, as used in this sentence: the detective noticed every minute detail in the crime scene.
With this, we are done with Day 27. Before you go, here are a few more usage examples of the words you learnt today:
- Steve Marcus wrote quite a derisive review of the book ‘Obedience to Authority,’ even referring to a part of the book as “general disaster” and “a pretty bad joke.”
- The royal doctor promised to forfeit his life if he failed to cure the king’s leprosy.
- Civil asset forfeiture laws in the United States allow police to seize property, money, or assets if police merely believe it is connected to criminal activity. These laws were originally intended as a way to cripple organized crime but have been used in many instances to harass innocent citizens, many of whom never recover the lawful assets taken from them.
- Ups and downs keep life interesting. Perpetual happiness would quickly get boring.
- “America is a deeply anti-intellectual culture. We’re derisive of somebody with a Ph.D; we’re derisive about “smarts” and love plain-spoken people.” Ron Marasco, an actor.
- Girls seem to have a propensity to play with dolls, while boys tend to like playing with cars and guns. Whether this is due to nature or nurture remains debatable.
- “If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” Abraham Lincoln
- When the pampered prince Salim showed a propensity for wine and women, his father, Emperor Akbar, banished him to a battlefield with the hope that hardships would have an improving effect on him.
- All truth passes through three stages. First, it is derided. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as an obvious fact.
- “In their seminal paper on deliberate practice, Anders Ericsson and his collaborators . . . note that for someone new to such practice (citing, in particular, a child in the early stages of developing an expert-level skill), an hour a day is a reasonable limit. For those familiar with the rigors of such activities, the limit expands to something like four hours, but rarely more.” Cal Newport, Deep Work
- “We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.” Arthur Schopenhauer
- Mrs. Dashwood’s stepson John had promised to his dying father that he would look after Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters. But over time, Mrs. Dashwood began to realize that John would do nothing more for them than letting them stay at their former home, which he had inherited after his father’s death, for six months. “He so frequently talked of the increasing expenses of housekeeping, and of the perpetual demands upon his purse . . . that he seemed rather to stand in need of more money himself than to have any design of giving money away.” Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
- Mrs. Dashwood eagerly looked for a place to rent, but “she could hear of no situation that at once answered her notions of comfort and ease, and suited the prudence of her eldest daughter, whose steadier judgment rejected several houses as too large for their income, which her mother would have approved.” Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
- “Elinor . . . possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother, and enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all, that eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led to imprudence. She had an excellent heart; her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught.
Marianne’s abilities were, in many respects, quite equal to Elinor’s. She was sensible and clever; but eager in everything: her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation. She was generous, amiable, interesting: she was everything but prudent. The resemblance between her and her mother was strikingly great.” Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
- Marianne promised to Elinor that she would see Edward, if chance should bring them together, without any diminution of her usual cordiality.
- In the image below, a soldier is deriding Jesus before his crucifixion. Jesus calmly bore all the derision and physical tortures that were heaped on him and never threatened or mocked his tormentors in return. Using this example, the Bible teaches Christians to never respond to an unkindness with unkindness.
