A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II — Themes and Context

Anecdote as Argument

De Morgan frequently uses anecdotes to illustrate the character and methods of paradoxers. The Laplace story, for instance, serves to highlight the tension between scientific rigor and religious orthodoxy, a theme that recurs throughout the volume. He does not merely report the anecdote but frames it with his own commentary, noting Laplace's political suppleness and intellectual inflexibility. This technique allows De Morgan to critique without direct confrontation, letting the story carry much of the argument. Elsewhere, he recounts receiving multiple letters from a correspondent in a single day, using the sheer volume to underscore the obsessiveness of certain paradoxers. The anecdotes are carefully chosen to reveal patterns of thought—such as the tendency to see hidden meanings in numbers or names—rather than to mock individuals.

The Texture of Obsession

The excerpts show De Morgan's fascination with the repetitive, almost compulsive nature of paradoxers. He describes them as "like the spiders who go on spinning after they have web enough," and notes that they offer their work as gifts, unasked. This observation is grounded in specific evidence: the Rev. D. Thom's elaborate theological numerology, which De Morgan reproduces at length, and the flurry of follow-up letters that arrive within hours. De Morgan does not dismiss these efforts outright but presents them as curiosities worthy of study. His own voice remains steady, even as the material grows more bizarre, creating a contrast between the orderly prose and the chaotic ideas it describes. The effect is to make the reader aware of the paradoxers' single-mindedness while also appreciating De Morgan's patience in documenting it.

Numbers and Their Discontents

A significant portion of the volume is devoted to numerical mysticism, particularly the calculation of 666 from various names and phrases. De Morgan reproduces one correspondent's elaborate Greek and Hebrew computations, including a breakdown of "Chevalier Au Cin" that yields 666. He does not refute these calculations step by step but lets them stand as examples of a particular mindset. His own interest seems to lie in the structure of such reasoning—the way numbers are manipulated to fit a predetermined result. The volume thus becomes a catalog of intellectual habits, from the trivial (misreading a date) to the elaborate (constructing a cosmology from biblical gematria). De Morgan's editorial presence is felt in the selection and arrangement of these examples, which he presents without overt judgment but with enough context to make their flaws apparent.

Readers approaching this volume should attend to De Morgan's shifting tone—now wry, now weary, now genuinely curious. The paradoxers he documents are not merely wrong; they are instructive in their persistence and ingenuity. The volume rewards those who read for voice as much as for argument, and who appreciate the way De Morgan turns a collection of oddities into a sustained meditation on the boundaries of reason.

The rain drummed a soft, persistent rhythm that afternoon, matching De Morgan’s unhurried, chiding wit as he dismantled yet another circle-squarer. His steady patience with their follies lingered after I closed the book. That quiet tolerance made me reach for Mental Philosophy: Including the Intellect, Sensibilities, and Will — Background and Themes, wondering how the mind sorts its stubborn delusions from its truer convictions.