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Archive for April, 2015

Box 150: monthly update from Dr Michael Quinn

By Tim Causer, on 29 April 2015

Below is an update from Dr Michael Quinn, on how your transcripts of Box 150 manuscripts are helping in his editing of a volume of Bentham’s Collected Works.

——————-

My esteemed special constables,

I am delighted to report that we now have a corrected transcript of the complete text of Bentham’s Police Bill, and that work on editing it has commenced. Between ourselves, it’s not JB at his most fluent, but, given his laceration of the drafting of legislation previous to his entry upon the task, it is fascinating to see him attempting to instill the virtues of cognoscibility and clarity without making such revolutionary changes to the rules of Parliamentary draughtsmanship that the people he needs to convince will simply not recognize it as a draft Bill.

Even when limited by these constraints, Bentham reveals some aspects of his thought which are currently causing some ripple in the Bentham studies pond. Thus, one interesting question concerns the degree to which Bentham seeks to manipulate public opinion rather than convince it by strict rational argumentation. Here he is at UC cl. 279v (or JB/150/279/002 as is on TB) transcribed by volunteer Mary Foutz, musing on the possibility that the Police Gazette envisaged by the Bill, a government publication disseminating information on the incidence of crime and the pursuit of offenders, a sort of ‘Crime Watch monthly’, might also help with the unconscious formation of opinion. The emphasis is added:

 

            ‘But the sort of Sermon which might be practised, and practised without ceasing in the Police Gazette, this unannounced and unsuspected Sermon, cautiously, sparingly, and in a manner imperceptibly though at the same time unremittingly insinuated into a publication composed principally and to appearance exclusively of that sort of matter which, so long as man is man, can never lose or so much as relax its hold upon the affections—especially of those otherwise untutored minds, for whose direction it is more especially designed—there would be neither end nor limit to its influence.’

‘Unannounced and unsuspected’, ‘imperceptibly’, ‘insinuated’? Definitely issues for ‘Transparency Bentham’ there.

I have now begun checking the transcripts for Bentham’s ‘Observations’ on the Bill, in which I hope the lifting of the stylistic constraints mentioned above will liberate his pen. The signs are encouraging: already (UC cl. 434, or JB/150/434/001 as is on TB , transcribed by volunteer Keith Thompson) Bentham has contrasted ‘abstract utility’ with ‘precedent’, which got me quite excited (sad, I know!). Keep up the good work!

More soon,

Michael

Progress update, 18 to 24 April 2015

By Tim Causer, on 24 April 2015

Welcome along to the progress update for the period 18 to 24 April 2015, during which time excellent progress continues to be made by Transcribe Bentham volunteers.

12,925 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed by TB volunteers, and increase of 42 on this time last week. Of these transcripts, 11,869 (92%) have been checked and approved by TB staff, a real testament to the quality of the work of volunteer transcribers. With a bit of luck and a following wind, we should have our 13,000th transcript at some point during the next couple of weeks!

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

Box No. of manuscripts worked on No. of manuscripts in box Completion
Box 1 252 794 31%
Box 2 471 753 62%
Box 4 2 694 1%
Box 5 200 290 68%
Box 7 3 167 1%
Box 8 5 284 1%
Box 9 41 266 15%
Box 15 78 914 10%
Box 18 4 192 2%
Box 27 350 350 COMPLETE
Box 29 22 122 18%
Box 30 2 193 1%
Box 31 19 302 6%
Box 34 40 398 10%
Box 35 286 439 65%
Box 36 34 418 8%
Box 37 32 487 6%
Box 38 107 424 25%
Box 39 12 282 4%
Box 41 87 528 14%
Box 42 88 910 9%
Box 44 53 201 26%
Box 50 171 198 85%
Box 51 385 940 40%
Box 57 18 420 4%
Box 62 67 565 11%
Box 63 155 345 44%
Box 70 306 350 87%
Box 71 663 663 COMPLETE
Box 72 614 664 92%
Box 73 151 151 COMPLETE
Box 79 199 199 COMPLETE
Box 95 126 147 85%
Box 96 534 539 99%
Box 97 138 296 46%
Box 98 222 499 44%
Box 100 194 422 43%
Box 106 106 581 18%
Box 107 502 538 93%
Box 110 7 671 1%
Box 115 276 307 89%
Box 116 506 864 58%
Box 117 365 853 42%
Box 118 255 880 28%
Box 119 535 990 54%
Box 120 29 686 4%
Box 121 134 526 24%
Box 122 304 717 41%
Box 123 42 443 9%
Box 124 15 383 3%
Box 139 40 40 COMPLETE
Box 141 4 381 1%
Box 149 5 581 1%
Box 150 782 972 80%
Box 169 193 728 26%
Add MS 537 730 744 98%
Add MS 538 733 858 85%
Add MS 539 834 948 87%
Add MS 540 67 1012 6%
Add MS 541 330 1258 26%
Overall 12,925 31,767 40%

Thank you, as always, to all who have contributed to Transcribe Bentham during the last seven days. It remains as enormously appreciated as ever.

 

Progress update, 11 to 17 April 2015

By Tim Causer, on 17 April 2015

Welcome along to the progress update for the period 11 to 17 April 2015, during which time further steady progress has been made by Transcribe Bentham volunteers.

12,883 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed by TB volunteers. We are rapidly closing in on our 13,000th transcript, which will be an astonishing achievement on the part of everyone who has taken part in TB.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

Box No. of manuscripts worked on No. of manuscripts in box Completion
Box 1 252 794 31%
Box 2 471 753 62%
Box 4 2 694 1%
Box 5 200 290 68%
Box 7 3 167 1%
Box 8 5 284 1%
Box 9 41 266 15%
Box 15 78 914 10%
Box 18 4 192 2%
Box 27 350 350 COMPLETE
Box 29 22 122 18%
Box 30 2 193 1%
Box 31 19 302 6%
Box 34 40 398 10%
Box 35 286 439 65%
Box 36 34 418 8%
Box 37 32 487 6%
Box 38 103 424 24%
Box 39 12 282 4%
Box 41 87 528 14%
Box 42 88 910 9%
Box 44 53 201 26%
Box 50 171 198 85%
Box 51 385 940 40%
Box 57 18 420 4%
Box 62 67 565 11%
Box 63 155 345 44%
Box 70 306 350 87%
Box 71 663 663 COMPLETE
Box 72 614 664 92%
Box 73 151 151 COMPLETE
Box 79 199 199 COMPLETE
Box 95 126 147 85%
Box 96 534 539 99%
Box 97 138 296 46%
Box 98 222 499 44%
Box 100 194 422 43%
Box 106 103 581 17%
Box 107 502 538 93%
Box 110 7 671 1%
Box 115 276 307 89%
Box 116 506 864 58%
Box 117 365 853 42%
Box 118 255 880 28%
Box 119 535 990 54%
Box 120 29 686 4%
Box 121 134 526 24%
Box 122 304 717 41%
Box 123 42 443 9%
Box 124 15 383 3%
Box 139 40 40 COMPLETE
Box 141 4 381 1%
Box 149 5 581 1%
Box 150 753 972 77%
Box 169 193 728 26%
Add MS 537 730 744 98%
Add MS 538 729 858 84%
Add MS 539 834 948 87%
Add MS 540 67 1012 6%
Add MS 541 328 1258 25%
Overall 12,865 31,767 40%

Elsewhere, the latest volume of the Collected Work of Jeremy Bentham has been published by Oxford University Press. In The Book of Fallacies, edited by Professor Philip Schofield, Bentham identifies and criticises around fifty fallacious political arguments utilised by politicians in order to thwart measures of reform, and exposes the sinister interests that lead to their employment. The Book of Fallacies has a great deal of relevance to modern political debate and, given that we are in the midst of a general election campaign here in the UK, is (dare we say it) an essential companion in the next few weeks!

Thank you, as always, to everyone who has contributed to Transcribe Bentham during the last seven days. It is as greatly appreciated as ever by us all.

 

Thank you, as always, to ev

Progress update, 28 March to 10 April 2015

By Tim Causer, on 13 April 2015

Welcome to the progress update for the period 28 March to 10 April 2015 – thank you for bearing with us while UCL was closed for the recent Easter break, and normal service has now resumed. We are delighted to say that we have now caught up on the backlog of submitted transcripts, and submissions should now be checked more regularly by TB staff. Many thanks for your patience while we worked through them!

12,865 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed, which is an increase of 67 since the last progress update. Of these transcripts, 11,829 (92%) have now been checked and approved.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

Box No. of manuscripts worked on No. of manuscripts in box Completion
Box 1 251 794 31%
Box 2 471 753 62%
Box 4 2 694 1%
Box 5 200 290 68%
Box 7 3 167 1%
Box 8 5 284 1%
Box 9 41 266 15%
Box 15 78 914 10%
Box 18 4 192 2%
Box 27 350 350 COMPLETE
Box 29 22 122 18%
Box 30 2 193 1%
Box 31 19 302 6%
Box 34 40 398 10%
Box 35 286 439 65%
Box 36 34 418 8%
Box 37 32 487 6%
Box 38 103 424 24%
Box 39 12 282 4%
Box 41 87 528 14%
Box 42 88 910 9%
Box 44 53 201 26%
Box 50 171 198 85%
Box 51 385 940 40%
Box 57 18 420 4%
Box 62 67 565 11%
Box 63 155 345 44%
Box 70 306 350 87%
Box 71 663 663 COMPLETE
Box 72 614 664 92%
Box 73 151 151 COMPLETE
Box 79 199 199 COMPLETE
Box 95 126 147 85%
Box 96 534 539 99%
Box 97 138 296 46%
Box 98 222 499 44%
Box 100 194 422 43%
Box 106 102 581 17%
Box 107 502 538 93%
Box 110 7 671 1%
Box 115 276 307 89%
Box 116 506 864 58%
Box 117 365 853 42%
Box 118 255 880 28%
Box 119 535 990 54%
Box 120 28 686 4%
Box 121 134 526 24%
Box 122 304 717 41%
Box 123 42 443 9%
Box 124 15 383 3%
Box 139 40 40 COMPLETE
Box 141 4 381 1%
Box 149 5 581 1%
Box 150 742 972 76%
Box 169 193 728 26%
Add MS 537 730 744 98%
Add MS 538 727 858 84%
Add MS 539 834 948 87%
Add MS 540 65 1012 6%
Add MS 541 328 1258 25%
Overall 12,865 31,767 40%

Thank you, as always, to everyone who has contributed to Transcribe Bentham during the last couple of weeks. It remains as greatly appreciated as always.