Language in Emerson's Self-reliance essay

[Theory5]

Greetings all. This week in school we are reading excerps of Emerson's "Self-Reliance".
There is some wording in this essay that strikes me a being a little to modern, Something that usually wouldnt come up in 19th century talk.
"The other terror that scares us from self trust is our consistency; a reverance for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other Data for computer our orbitThan our past acts, and we are loth to disappoint them...."
Doesnt that seem a little odd to you? Does anyone know something about the 19th century that I dont? Im not going to jump to the obvious we-have-time-travel thing. Thats is really absurd. I want this to be a serious discussion about the essay "Self-Reliance" and why he chose those words.
please comment.

[pamela]

If you look at the history and meaning of the words computer and data, it will make more sense

Origin: computer
1640–50; compute + -er 1 ; cf. MF computeur
a person who compues; computist

Origin: data
1640–50; < L: a thing given, neut. ptp. of dare to give
pl. da·ta (-tə) A fact or proposition used to draw a conclusion or make a decision.
( dictionary.com)

loosley put together would be something like this-
"The other terror that scares us from self trust is our consistency; a reverance for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other conclusions drawn for calculating our course. Than our past acts, and we are loth to disappoint them...."

[Pyrotex]

The correct quote from Emerson is:

The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.

Edmond Halley and other astronomers were computing the orbits of planets and comets nearly TWO centuries before Emerson lived. They did so entirely with paper and pencil. So, "computing an orbit" is not a 20th Century anachronism.

Basically this "translates" as: ...because other people have no way of predicting our future behavior than from judging our past behavior...

[belovelife]

On this topic i would bring up Galileo.
And i would also bring up duality.

so the quote:
"The other terror that scares us from self trust is our consistency; a reverance for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other Data for computer our orbit Than our past acts, and we are loth to disappoint them...."

Baically saying that the eyes of the past are watching. Since we are searching for thruth, we want to get it right.

Now for the fact that a computer is called a computer.
Origin: computer
1640–50; compute + -er 1 ; cf. MF computeur
a person who compues; computist

The current term for computer includes :
1.A device that computes, especially a programmable electronic machine that performs high-speed mathematical or logical operations or that assembles, stores, correlates, or otherwise processes information.

In addition to the fore mentioned definition. This is probly due to the members of Ma Bell.
They chose this word to describe a machine they built.
So the future tense, (present tense), use of the word computer was already universal
in the language that we uses. As opposed to making a new word that would have to be
learned.

[Pyrotex]

Originally Posted by belovelife

On this topic i would bring up...the fact that a computer is called a computer....

If you will google the first half sentence in that paragraph from "Self-Reliance", you will see that the correct word in the original poem is "computing" not "computer".

[Theory5]

Sorry for the typo.
But is this a phrase that was common(as it is today)?
Emerson Wasn't a scientist was he?

[belovelife]

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, philosopher, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century. His teachings directly influenced the growing New Thought movement of the mid 1800s.

But remember at the time free thought was still new. Not long before scientist were being
killed by the church for new ideas.
Nicolaus Copernicus
Galileo Galilei

This was so extreme that Leonardo DaVinci wrote left handed backwards so that only he could read
it. In the time of Emmerson, free thought was eveywhere. He was a master of the trade of phylosophy, his apprentace being Henry David Thoreau. It may help to look at phylosophy as a science, and a trade.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Theory5

...Does anyone know something about the 19th century that I dont? Im not going to jump to the obvious we-have-time-travel thing. Thats is really absurd. I want this to be a serious discussion about the essay "Self-Reliance" and why he chose those words.
please comment.

Yes; I do. In the 1800's, people who did computations/calculations for a living, particularly in business accounting, were called "computers", just as we call people who farm, "farmers." Below is the only source that I have found yet that refers to this usage.

Origin of the word "computer"

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "computer" was first used to describe a mechanical calculating device in 1897. Although the word existed previously, it had been used to describe "a person who computes or performs calculations."

[Pyrotex]

Originally Posted by Theory5

Sorry for the typo.
But is this a phrase that was common(as it is today)?
Emerson Wasn't a scientist was he?

In common street speech, I doubt seriously if the phrase was common at all.
But Emerson uses a LOT of unusual, arcane, archaic and rare phrasing (and words) in this poem.
Among planetary astronomers, to "compute an orbit" would have been common usage, and I dare say, Emerson picked it up perhaps in an astronomy book (he was an avid reader) and liked the exotic flavor of the phrase, and its connotation of predicting the future in a scientific, deterministic way.
It leads to the metaphorical imagery of one's life as a "path" through the stars, and to keep to that path out of fear of disappointing others being a cowardly act of abandoning self-reliance.
This is fully compatible with many other examples of metaphor and esoteric language in Emerson's poem. (He's trying to impress you with how big his vocabulary is )

[belovelife]

Originally Posted by Pyrotex

In common street speech, I doubt seriously if the phrase was common at all.
But Emerson uses a LOT of unusual, arcane, archaic and rare phrasing (and words) in this poem.
Among planetary astronomers, to "compute an orbit" would have been common usage, and I dare say, Emerson picked it up perhaps in an astronomy book (he was an avid reader) and liked the exotic flavor of the phrase, and its connotation of predicting the future in a scientific, deterministic way.
It leads to the metaphorical imagery of one's life as a "path" through the stars, and to keep to that path out of fear of disappointing others being a cowardly act of abandoning self-reliance.
This is fully compatible with many other examples of metaphor and esoteric language in Emerson's poem. (He's trying to impress you with how big his vocabulary is )

I would also remind you that the word ORBIT itself induces thought. From history the concept and its actual truths were a subject of debate, to the point of death or excommunication in some examples. The word in this case was stated to produce the thought that truth is sometimes fought against, and the point was to seek for truth. This then caused self disipline so the errors of the past were not allowed to happen.