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The encyclopædia of stupidity / Matthijs van Boxsel ; translated by Arnold and Erica Pomerans.

BF431 .B631913 2003

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Format:: Book
Author/Creator:: Boxsel, Matthijs van, 1957-
Standardized Title:: Encyclopedie van de domheid. English
Language:: Dutch; English
Subjects (All):: Stupidity.
Physical Description:: 205 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Edition:: Revised & enlarged edition.
Place of Publication:: London : Reaktion, [2003]
Language Note:: Translated from the Dutch.
Summary:: In The Encyclopaedia of Stupidity Matthijs van Boxsel introduces us to a past and present world of mishaps and misunder-standings, from twoer-builders who lack a ladder to get into their tower to peasants who collect water with a sieve. In a myriad of instructive and entertaining anecdotes, such as 'The Eggshells of Ignorance', 'The Hell of Fools', 'The Logic of Dual Stupidity', 'The Not Terribly Good Club', and 'On the Origin of Dullards', we are shown that stupidity is in fact the foundation of our civilization. And in an attempt to fathom the logic of this nether world, the author posits that no one is intelligent enough to understand their own stupidity. Nor can anyone hope to comprehend all the institutional stupidity that results from science and academia. In this erudite and witty book Matthijs van Boxsel argues that -- contrary to what we've always thought -- stupidity is a crucial condition for intelligence, that blunders stimulate progress, and that failure is the basis for success.
Contents:: I The Black Flag; The Academy of Stupidity 13; The Discovery 17; The Profile of Stupidity 19; The Terrarium 24; The Premise 25; The Design 25; Shagreen 26; The Peepshow 26; The Vanishing Handkerchief 27; Well-trodden Paths 28; II The Blunderers' Club; The Knight in the Bog 29; The Topology of Stupidity 29; Road Signs 30; The Fatal Combination 30; The Principle of the Woodcutter out on a Limb 31; The Not Terribly Good Club 32; The Amsterdammer 32; Eggshells of Ignorance 33; No Pleasure without Pain 35; The Fluke 35; Adversity and Wisdom 36; The Retroactive Effect 36; Esprit d'escalier 37; Epimetheus 37; Productive Delusion 38; Stupidity as the Mystical Foundation of our Existence 39; The Automaton 39; The Credo of Stupidity 40; The Reversal 41; The Invisible Treasure 41; The Judge Judged 41; 'Kannitverstan' 42; Blessed are the Poor in Spirit 43; La Boetie and Boeotiana 43; Gothamite Wisdom 45; The Logic of Dual Stupidity 46; The Comic Hiatus 47; The Seventh Heaven 47; The Secret of Suspended Life 48; The Stupidity of Intelligence 49; The Riches of Spijk 50; Sowing Salt 51; Lodged in Stupidity 52; Methodical Stupidity 52; III Fallor, the Aerobat; Credo 54; Who is Fallor? 54; A Feast for Pessimists 55; The Earlobe 55; Personal Column 55; Towards an Aesthetics of Stupidity 55; Further Contributions to the Aesthetics of Stupidity 56; Homeopathic Stupidity 56; From the Sublime to the Ridiculous 57; The Unheard-of Study 57; Morology 58; Fallor on Holiday 58; IV The Ha-ha; Three Stupid Maps 59; The Foolishness of the French Garden 60; The Ah-ah! 61; The Foolishness of the English Garden 63; The Ha-ha 64; Second Nature 66; Nature's Orchestra Pit 67; Erotic Empiricism 68; The Metaphysics of the Zigzag 70; The Moral 71; V Simpletons in Hell; The Hell of Fools 74; Ataraxia 75; Boeotian Hell 75; The Gate of Hell 77; The Final Anamorphosis 79; The Haunted House 80; The Gift of Discernment 81; Limbo 82; The Blot 83; The Paradise of Fools 84; The Ceiling of Stupidity 85; The Will to be Stupid 88; Appendix The Apotheosis of a Gnat 90; VI The Genealogy of Dullards; On the Origin of Dullards 91; The Power of Palliatives 92; The Word made Flesh 93; The Triumph of Poor Excuses 94; The Hour of All 95; Zero Hour 97; The Jovial Gesture 98; The Unity of Opposites 99; VII On the Inherent Stupidity of Constitutional Monarchies; Prologue: The Frogs who Wanted a King 101; 1 Stupidity as the Basis of Civilization; The First Stupid Act (A Fable) 103; Savageness and Rudeness 104; The Scorpion and the Tortoise 105; The Reversal 105; 2 Man is a Grape; Ecstacy 107; Self-Love and Self-Liking 107; The Trick 108; Dumbing Down 109; Hypocrisy 109; The Good in Evil 110; The Fable of the Bees 112; The Fable of the Social Contract 113; The Punch-bowl 115; 3 The Trifling Difference; The Truth of the Truth 117; Man is Good but not Stupid 118; The Legislator 118; The Fourth Kind of Law 119; The Rod and the Serpent 120; The Aesthetic of the Empty Gesture 122; The Holy Democrat 122; The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing 123; The Strength of Democracy 124; 4 Election Fever; The Paradox of Democracy 126; Elections 126; The Election Machine 128; Election Madness 131; The Centre of Power 132; The Terror 132; Stupor 134; 5 Frogs, Logs, Snakes and Masks (Twelve Uneasy Pieces); I The Log in the Lake 136; II The Sanctified Space 137; III Elbow Room 138; IV The Subject of Democracy 138; V The Body Politic 139; VI 'A Mirror for Princes' 139; VII Pinocchio 141; VIII Failure as a ratio cognoscendi 142; IX I Will 143; X The Point of Folly 143; XI L'etat c'est moi 144; XII Stupor mundi 144; 6 The Emperor's New Clothes; Esse est non percipi 146; How Till Eulenspiegel Painted the Landgrave of Hesse 146; The Monarch's Two Bodies 148; Voluntary Slavery 149; The Justification 150; The Emperor's New Clothes 151; The Hypothetical Fool 153; Who did not Know? 154; Stupidity in Three Periods 157; The Fame Machine (With No State Guarantee) 159; Modern Ritual 161; A Final Note: Canned Laughter 161; VIII The Darwin Awards; 1 Ecstasy; Nominations 164; Stupidity as the Basis of Civilization 166; An Explosive Mixture 166; Cunning Stupidity 168; 2 The Missing Link; The Lapse 171; Forbidden Fruit 172; Buridan's Ass 172; The Castle in the Air 173; Gatekeepers 174; Who am I? 176; The Boeotian Sphinx 176; Man's Being 177; Errare humanum est 177; Bloomers 178; Second Nature 180; Hypothetical Stupidity and Toilet Paper 180; The Crux of the Matter 181; The Stone of Contention 182; Paradise Damned 182; 3 Holy Madness; Nasreddin 183; I The Encyclopaedia 184; II The Biggest Fool 184; III Happiness Favours the Foolish 185; IV The Eighteenth Camel 185; V The Holy Ass 186; VI Keeping your Head 187; VII Fifty Lashes 187; The Enlightened Fool 188; Morosophy 188; 4 Clinamen; The Catastrophe 189; The Myth 189; Dumb Luck 191; Idiocy 191; Duplication 192; Nature, Chance and Artifice 193; Kairos 194; 5 'Pataphysics; The Science of Imaginary Solutions 195; 6 The Stupidity of Encyclopaedias; The Two Sides of the Apple 200; The Courage of Despair 200; The Spectre of Encyclopaedias 203; The Spectre of Satire 204; The Encyclopaedia of the Stupidity of Encyclopaedias 204; The Syrup 205; The Choreography of Knowledge and Morality 205.
Notes:: "Revised and enlarged edition of De encyclopedie van de Domheid"--T.p. verso.
ISBN:: 1861891598
OCLC:: 51108349

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The encyclopædia of stupidity / Matthijs van Boxsel ; translated by Arnold and Erica Pomerans.

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