THE CRAFTSMAN

Richard Sennett

\'ALE l:NIVERSITl' l'IIliSS NEW HAVEN 1', LONDON

!
can no mure forp.ct Einstein's 11mbiliun Ih,1Il lin instrument maker a
Str"dh'lfius's suund,
..:- .:- ~;.:
The hislor) of the \\orkshop sho\ls. in sum,:1 n:cil'e for hindin" people
tightly 1~'Clher. -IlIC e'sendal ingrcdients of Ihis recipe were religion
and rituill.•<\ more !l'Cul::lr :lJtc replaced Ihese ingredients with origi.
n:lUry-a condit inn separate in ils 1'1111:lic~lltcnns from aUlOnOm~.
inality impl~ing in the \Iorkshop a new fonn of authorit,~ an authority
frequenll)· shurt-Ihetl and silent.
One mCln.. of the moc.Iern I'orld is thm \'e ha,'C DL""--ume as \\orried
about pa}ing obeisance 10 aUlhoril)' in Ihis perwnali7t>d form as to
authori\\" ..f an older. more religious sort. To (juole JUSI om: instance of
this worn": Cellini's near-eontempordl) Etienne de La Boetie was one
of the first 10 question submission to hightor aUlhorit~ through either
admirntion or imit:ltion. In his ,;t':\\. people are more capable of free-
dom. 10 Ihe Di.scullne rf\'ulIllI'''f) Sen'jlude, he \\TOte: -So man)' men.
50 molO)' \ill:'ges, MI man~ cities. so rn::any natiOnS sometimes suffer
under CI single 1)T"dnt" ho has not other power th:1Il thc IlVwcr thc~' g.i\"C:
\\ ho could do them absolutcl)' no injuT)' unlns th~· preferred 10 put up
\\ ilh him rather than cOllll'3dkt him.. , , It is Iherefort" Ihe inhabitants
themsckt:s II ho I~rmit, or rd(her. hring about Iheir o\\n sel"\iluck. ~J'
Scl"\iwdc Ihrough admir;ltion lIr tmditi..n must he cast off. If COrTt.'ct,
then the workshop cannO! he II comfortahle home for (he <;mftsman,
fur its \~r)' el>scnee lies ill the personalized. face-tl,-filce aUlhorif)' of
knuwledge. And re( it is II lIeeessaT)' home. Since Ihe:rt" cao I~ no
~killt:11 Ilurk Ililhotll sll1nd;trds, it is infinitely preferable th:ll these
St(lOdards be embodied in il hum:1O l>einp; than in II lifeless. sllllic cade
uf pr:lctict:. The cmfl.~man's \\'orkilwp is 0111.' sill.' in whkh lhe modern.
pt'rhtlps unresul.,tlblt, conlliet betw~t:n 'lUlOnumy alld authority plays
OUI.
c;HM'JEH THnEE
Machines
orig-
htl gre:llest dilcmnl8 facl-c.l b)' (he. mtMkrn artisan-
T
erartsman Is the m3chi04". Is il OJ Friendl~ tool or:1O enem)
replacing work of the human hand? In the t'<:unomk: his-
lory of slilled m'lnual labor. machinery th..t bewtn as a
friellil has oftcn conde<! up as an encm~: \\'ean~rs. bilkers, and steel-
worl.>N h:ll·e all embraet'd tools that C\'enlually turned againsl them,
Trw.l:I)'lhe lKkent of microelectronics means that intelligent machineli
c:!n im'llde realms of \1 hile-eollar blbar like medical diap;nusis or finan-
eial SCl"\iccs once reserved for human judgment.
'11,1' seduction ofc,.\D lies in its speed, thto fa!;:t it newr lires, and
iOlked in the rt"alil)' that its capacities 10 compule 1Irt" superior (0 those
ofanyone \\lOrting out :I drnwing h)' hand. YCI people can 1'3)':1 personal
price for mechaoilation: misu~ nfGAD pr~r::tmminI:JiminishedIhe
mental undt-rstandinJt of its uS<'rs. This Sl'cms a sml stoT)', hut perhaps
it elm be told in a differenl way. Mi$l.ht we:, in uur \·CT)' compardli\'(,
Irnperfc<:lioll. learn sumething pusitil·c :Ibout heing human?
Workers as much us writers slflIAAIt:d \Iith Ihis philosophiclll qucs-
tion :lIthe dawn of lhe: Industrial A~e in lhc cighu:eOfh cemury. Their
o!lscr'l'atiullS and llTgumenlS \\'e:re hased on an e.~pt'ri~nee of mOlcrial
cultUI'C thai htltllong predaled machine pmduclion,
As early liS lhe fifteCnlh ccnlll,..", Europe had bcen sulTused by whot
the hblOri:lII Simon Schanm has called ":m embarnusmcnt of ricl,cs,~
a new cornucopia of mat~ri..1 goods. In the Renaissance, tr.ule with
l
non-Europt'ans and th~ ~\'er'gre;lIer number of artisans working in
to\\ns )\ll'lIl'd thl' gtJtXls at pcuple's dislKlSUI. J('r'1' Brunun anc.llisa
Janlinc ~"'Ik~ th~ "Iid~ uf n~w mat~rial obj~ct.s" fin;t flooding into Ital·
ian homes in the fifl~~nth c~nlU'1"! Ry Ihe early 160cs in the Nether-
lands. Brilain. <lnd Fr-dnce. "1I1t'Te was an Unprl'1:~-dl'n1ed demand
dcsks. talJleli, sidt'ixllIrc.k ~ts uf h;mging shein.')' :lnd cupbo;Irds. all
suiled 10 th~ housing :md display of new possasions." in Ihe words of
John Hille} As maccrialllbundancl' Sl'C1ll'd downward. il c.\h:ndcd 10
the most orc.lina'1' maCtel'S. like pusscssing ~1·er.11 pots tu lvuk \lith.
c.lilTf'rent plates til eat urr, more th,ln a single p;:iir of shoes to wear. and
dilTerent clothes fnr \~I);nK seasons. Things Ihal we no\\ laken for
granted as necessilies Ilere increasinw~ a\-ailable to orc.lina'1 people.'
It \\ilS in ehroniclinj;t this flood lic.le of thin~ that Sch:un::l lip-
plied the phmsc "an cmbarmssment of riches" 10 the si\1.eenth- and
~1;'nteenth~enlul'}' Dutch, who wcrc long UK'd to scrimping and 501\'-
ing. The phr-dsc can be misleading. since atthl' da"n of the modem er.t
an.\.ict~ lIas often people's n::actiun to the I\calth of things at their
dispoSlil. The enriched Ilorld of oIJjecls prompteJ intense tht:Ological
worr), in both ndormmion llnd Counler-Rerormlltion ci~les llOOuI
m,ucrial seduction: bcnC;lth Ihe Iheological horizon. this fcar atlUched
e\'en to such innocuous obj«ls of daily Iif~ as children '.I toys.
In the hlle shlecnth and t":trly St:\'cntl'l'illh centurics European
chilJren liN't hCW'lIi ttl cnjo) an abundance Clf ttl~'S. I'rel10usly-anJ
strongd~' to uS-::ldults :lmused themSf'l\es with dolls, toy soldiers, and
the othL'r artir;ICLS of childhood: such toys wen: Few in number lind
castlr, As th~ euSI l\~nt duwn the numhcr Clf toys increased. [n this
pruccss wy uhjccts 1Iisu hl'CHOIe the dislinl·th·c property of children.
The incre,lse in toys Introduced Ihe Iinl discussions-indecd lhc .'ery
concepl-of "spuilin~" children.
The :ld\'ent (Jf machines in the cigll1eenth cenlury only inereilsca
,he an.\ict~'lIfriches. ,\!(c-old questions of d~pri\11tion ami lack did nOI
Il<ll."ar-the masses of Eumpcans stililil'ed in a sc,.reily sociely-but
in:lchine production of tlllJleware. c1othinR,. bricks, :lmJ ttlass added to
Ihis mller dimension of \Iorry: how 10 usc these Rocxls well. \\ hat ubun-
J:U1CC mighl be for, how nOlto he sllOilcd by possessions.
On Doll:mce, Ihc eighteenth eentu'1' embmcl'd the \irtue of llhun-
for dllncc, Illl-chllnically produced. :lOd so should I\-C, As consumers the m:l-
chine chen Ilromiscd and by the t\\-enty-firsc ccnul~ has infinitely im-
I'TO' cd the qualiryofour Ihl"S: mon~ ,md beller mcllidncs. hou~, food-
an endle)s list. Thl' m::ltenal qualitp,flife for the European \\orking poor
in fOlIlkm times is in m;-.ny ways hi~hcr than of the OOuT)1eOis chlSSeS of
thc ~enteenlh cenlurr Even 'Iartin Ht'K1l'gger ('\'Cntualt)' installed
c1l'Clricit~ and modem plumbing in his Black Foresl hut, What ~lillht.
cnmcnt l\riters\IOfril-d mureabout was the ImlChinc's pruductiwsidc, its
influences on the e.'peri~nceQfmalting-and these \IOrril"$ rem.:tin.
Tu some figures in Ihe Enlightenmenl, the superioritr of m:lcnines
\\as nn eliUse for human despair, Isaac '1l'\\lon had aftll':r all dellictll':d
all of nature as a giant machine, II ,"itc'w blken to an extreme in the
e!j;thtccnth centul'}' by writers like Julien O!Tr-oly de la l\lemic. Other
writers subscribed til 'leu'S of ralional improlelllclll'llrugrl"SS, .md Ihe
"~rfectibilit~' of Man: modeled on th<' efficiency of ne\1 maehincl1'
lik J:II11e~ Watt's steam engine. But still others thought in II diller.:nt
Ilil)' about this model. and not as truditinllliliSls refusing the new:
rather, till' comparison of man and mllchine eliust:c.I them to think morc
abuut rn:ln. I·luman ,irtuc~ of rcstminl and simplicity came to the fore
as man's conlrihutinl) 10 hum;ln culture: none of Ihese sentiments
coulll be c:lllt'd mechaniCal. PeQplc so minJed had a particular interest
in craftsmallship: it seemed to m",di:i1e belwccn machined ahundancc
and the 1ll00tesll)' hunmnc.
Sodnll)', craftsmen Illok " new turn. \Vult'S eilo:hteenth,ccntury
steam engine. uriginlilly built in w(Jrk~hop condit lOllS llllit resembled
the studio or Anlonio Slmdi\'ari, soon came to u.: rllbricflted, lind then

deploye!d, in:1 mdically diffe!renl social selling, Tile recipe for making"
steam enginc hec:ulle enlird)' codili:lhle by .813 in documellls: the
nUtster-and \\'g.. himselfbcha\'ed like il Str'.IJi\1ui of engineering-no
lunger hat! st.·crets to kC!t!p, This mirron; a Igrger change in nincteenth-
centul') engin~ring th<tt has alre3d~ appoeared to us in the histol')' of
the blueprint: a mon'menl from hands-on knowledge Ullhc duminant
authority of explicit kno" led~e, \\'orkshnp \\ork ofcourse continued in
\'arious forms. in the art.s. in C\'el')'da~ commerce. as in the sdt'nees,
bUI tin' \\'orbhop seemed increllsing merel)' the means to establishing
anocher in.stitution= the \,orkshop as a WilY station 10 the factol)~
As machine culture mtltured. chI;' crdftsman in the nineleenth cen-
tury appeared evcr less a mcdiillur and Cl'er mure an enemy of the
machine, No\\'. against Ihe rigorous perfeClion of thc madlinc. the
craftsman became an emblem of humilfl indh iduality, this emblem
comptu£'d concretdy hy lIu.'llositive \'31ue placed on \'arilltiuns. flaws,
and irregularities in handwnrk. Eighleenth-centuf)' glassmllking had
foreshadu"ed Ihis change in cultural \'alues; now the \\'ritin~s of John
Ruskin. Ihe great I\umantic analp.t of emf!. regretted the loss of the
workshops of the preindustrial paSI ;Jnt! made uf the craftsman's 13bors
in his own :.ge:. Malon of resistancc-fClIiiSlanet' to capilalism eOllpk-d
uith resistance to m;«:hinl$,
These cullUml and social changes remain "ith us. Cllhuroll)' we
are sliII slruggling to understand uur limits positivel~. in comparison to
the mC'Chanical: socially we are still slrugglinK \\ ith anti-u.-chnlliogism:
crnftwork remains the focus of ooth.
The l\lirrorTool
Ilel,tic:rmts alld Rowts
A mirror-tool-my coinage-is nn implement that irwit£'s us to
think noout ourselves, There lIrc two kinds of mirror-ll)<ll.s, These nre
the reillicant and the rohot.
;\IACHH"IlS 8;
The modem name for the first comes From the Him R/mle Rmmcr,
\\-hich features copies of human beings. The IlCrfcel \Iomen created in
Ira Le\in's nO\'ellltc SIcpftmJ H'irn: are "Iso replic::mts. In the r~al
world. pacemakers for the he:lrt sen e a.s replicanl machint-"S. pro\iding
tile ene~ charge net:ded for the hean to funClion as it shuuld biulug-
it.-aI1y. AlIl~ artifices mirror u§ b) mimicking us.
By controlSI. a rohotic machin~ is uursellcs enlargt'd: it is stronger.
works faster. and nc\cr tires_ Still. ..IC make $Cnse of its functiuns h~'
referring til our o\\"n human measure_ '(be Bnlt' iPod possesses. for
instance. tht' memn')' of a rohot; curr£'ntJy. the machine is capable or
containinl( more thlln Ihirty-fh·c thous....nd minutes of music. ncarlr the
enlire I\rinen Output of J, S, Bach. which is more Ih:m lm)' human
brilin etln remember, The robol is like a mirror in :t fun fair_ enl;trginl(
human memory In giant si'le. Yet thi.s giant mClllol')' is OrA3nized lC(:h-
aically to sen'(-' the smull hUllliln m~;lSUrl! of S()nJ.:.<; or other music of
com)lrchensible length, iPod lisleners n~\er use the full mcmory ell-
paeit~' of the machine at a Ri\'('n moment.
An amhigullus LOne exisls bcrwecn replicant and robot, hO::I ....een
mimickinganJ enlarging. In the lilm Ufmlt: Hillmer the replicant copies
of human beings enlarge the particula~- hruta!. .. icious aspects of
C\·ef)·tlay lif('. COllversely Mal')' Shelley's FTllll~llStcjll rccounlS the
SIOl')' of a man-made giant \\ ho want5 to ()(' a replicant. trelltt-od just :l.~ a
normal human bcin~. Dut. in ~en£'rol. the rcplicant shows US:-IS we :-Ire.
Ihe robot as \\e might be.
Size and scale pro,ide twu measur~ uf ho\\ larJte is Menlarged.MIn
architecture, \c'}' laqee IlUildin~~ t.-:m set!m On an int;m:He human
scale!. whereas some .small-sized structures fcd \'cl)' hig. Tu the his-
lorian Geoffre~' ScOIl. \'3St B'lfnque churches seem intimate in scale
bc(;ausc their undtllatin~ walls and decur mimic the motinns the 1m-
",till hoo)' makes, whereas Bram:mte's motionlcss little Tcmpicllo f(-'els
a.s hi~, 3S enlarged. as th~ Pantheon un which it is mtKl~leJ_' Just
the sallie tliSlinctioll between Si7C :md scole oJlJllics 10 nmchincs; thc
kidn~)' dhllysis m:lchinc is :I large r~p1icant, the lItmosllhcrC-Cilting
robots in the ilsiroph)'sicisl ~Iartin Bees's cabinet of horrors arc
rnicrorobolS,
-:,: :.;... -:-
In the Enlighlcnment, when Ilrt!dse replicants began to he conslructed,
the machines seemed at firsl heni~n 10)'5. In 1738 a shop in Paris dis-
pl<l~et1 an eMmordin:I~':tutomalOn conslnlctcd by Jacques de Vaucan-
sun. a Jesuit-educated mech;lnio..-,d im'enlor. Vaucanson's FIUle Pla~1:'r
was a life-sitt fillurc five and a half feel lall Ihal plaYL't! the flute. The
\\onder was the fluU' iuclf. for a mechanical figure coult! much more
easil~' play t~ harpsichort!. \\hich would require the machine only to
strike a key. The problem \\ilh pla~ing a flute is that the IOnc comes
through breathing as \\ell as finger action. Soon after. Vaueanson cre-
ated his Shining Duck.:l mechanical creature Ihat ~ppearcd 10 ingest
grains with its mouth and defe,."t....te in short ordcr at its llnus. The
Shitlin~ Uuck prO\"t"d to be a fraud (Ihe :lnus \\";)S Sluffed), though an
interestinj;t one: the Flute PllI}er was ~enuine.·
To make thL' Flute Pla)'er work, Vaucanson created, at the figure's
baS<'. a complicllted sp.tem of nine bellO\I'5 that passed into the robol'S
chest Ihrough three pipes. \\ hich pro\'it.led the breath: a sepamte set of
lc..'\'ers operated a mechanical tongue, amI another set tnOn'd the lips in
amlnut. The \\ hole thing was a mechanical m3n'd, Voltaire e\uked lhe
:me it ;Inlllsed in eillJing VaucanSOIl Mthe modern Prometheus. ~
But Ihis muehine remained a rejllicanl beciHl5e the Flule Player
W:IS nO god. VlIucansoo's llulomllton playeJ no faster than a hum:1O
flutis\. As an artisl it was limited, pmduein$!: only simple loul.!-soft
COtltl'i\sts illld unable to plH)' 1t:j.\;ItCl. where onc note dissoh"es liquidly
into the lle.\t. So this was a reassuring rt'plicant; its working.~ could be
mcasurt'tl Ill' lhe strmJarus or hurnrm music muking. The imaginllth·c
stimulus il IIfforded visitors III VaUellnson's shop lay in wondering
:1!>tJut lhe means of mimicl)': how coull.! ninc bcllo\1 S{Iuached to three
pipt!s he akin In human breathing?
·nlls replica nt, unfortunlliely, bred :I rol)l)t. Louis ;1,,'\1. though not
scientifically minded. sllspccted that Valle~mson's talents could be
put \0 Detter use than makinJa an intriglling loy. In 1741 Ill' g;1\'C the
in1elllor charge of French silk manufacturinJa. The silk produced in
elu'ir·cightccnth-century France. particularly in Lyon. was nO( of uni-
formly goot.l quality: the tools "ere poor. the wea\·ers pourly pnid
:ml.! often on strike. Dnu\ing 00 his knowlooge of the replicllnl. Vau-
COlnson SOURht 10 produce a robot Ihal would dlminale the human
problem.
\'aucansoo transferreu the kno\\ledge of breathing tension he had
gained in The 1·lute Player to wea\inl!, machines Ihill had to hold
Ihreads in tension. The shuttle action in his machines mo\ct.I br mi-
nutely. precisd)- mCOlsurinl! the tension. and so the rightness, of \\ea\·e:
pTC\iuusly workers procC'Cded by Mrt"Cl~ and \;sual inspL"Ction. His loom
In tum increased the,.' number of colored strands of silk til"l could be
held in equal tensiOn during the wea\;ng process. far mure strarms
than coulu I)rt.'\iousl) be maflaged b)'two human hands.
In Lyon. as elsewhere, im·cstment in such machines became
c:hellpcr thlln in\'CSlmenl in labur. as well as doing better work. Glib)'
Wood gelS at rhe conundrum in obsening Ih:1I "hert'lIS thc Flute
Pla)~r ~WllS dC'Signed for milO'S cntertainmenl.~ Vaucanllon's loomsln
Lrons were ~n1calltlo shn\\' man th3t he was dispcns."lble.-r Lyunnllis
wean~rs lIss311hed \':mcan5011 in Lhe Streets when(:l'cr in the li.-OS :Illd
1750S he dare,.'t! apreilr. He pro\"flked Ihem further by lk'Signing" ma-
chine to lI'eale an intricate design of flowers and hirds. this compli-
cated luom powered h)' II donkey.
ll,us began lhe classic slory of <lisphlcement of Cf""'arlsman by the
Inll.chlne. Villlc3nson's milchines scem an t'el,"omic gcrm tlmt hllS sick-
ened the modern anisan: the rubot rather than lhe rCl'lic:mtllHlghr thIs
ncgath'c, thrt:atcningstory of human limits. What kindlier mirrONooIs
IUluid Shllll a more posithe im:ljl:e?
The Enlightened Crnflsmon
Didcrot's Encydopt"dia
To unpack this qut"Stion wc \\ill rn..'Cd to plungt" intu th~ wurd
fllliR'llemllellt itself. and we could easily drown in the process. IJter-
all>, ,,"1ig./l!c"'''Cllt, German AujklJinlllg, and French klflircissem,,"1
M
all meiln "tn shed light on ; one French phmsc for thc historical En-
H
lightenment, siedc des LlIlIlicfCS, is ~ct"nrul1' of luminarid. Under·
stood as the process of casting tlK' light of reason Ol·...r the mann~", and
mores of societ~" Enlightcnment hecllrlll! a hU1Zword in the eijthteenth
ccntury (m\lch as "idt'ntit}'" is tuday), th~ wurJ heeominj.: currl.'nt in
Paris in the IpOS and reachinlo: Rerlin II genewtinn !flter. There "'liS il
miJcclltury American Enlip,htenment whose leading light was Ben-
jamin FrJnIJin :mJ a Scottish EnliJl,htenment composed of philoso-
phers lind economists sl-'Cking for mental sunlight in th... mists of
Edinburgh.
Perh<lps the most l·onci.s~ wa) tn fmme Mlhe Enlighl~nm ...nl'sH rela·
tion 10 material culture. and in particular to the machirte. is to tr.a\·c1
mentall)' 10 Berlin. In Dcc~mbcr li83, th~ theologian Johann ZOllner
im itetl re.auers or the lJerli"isdle j\IOIIlllSte/lTifllO respond to the ques·
lion. M\\'hiIt is Enlightcnmcnt?R This nl'\\~p"per series then ran for
tw~h"(' years. M<lny eOnlributon answered his question by inmking
Ilrogn.'S$ and improvement. The ene"ID for Enlightcnmcntla) in IheK
wt,...ds: lIIan could take grcalcr conlrol O\'er his m<llerial cin::umSlanccs.
PastOr Ztlliner found quite troubling these responses. which celebraled
the cxpansion of human powers mtllcr Ihan their limitation. Hi~ pa-
rishioners seemed studiou~I)' ~Ilitc when hc read out in church the
Biblc's ~torles :thou\ humnn sins: they wefe mcrcly I..'ourtcous whcn he
sl~ke to thcm :tbuut the tbngcrs fnclng Ih~ir immortal souls. Tol...nlncc
hud become the urbane cousin of eondesccnsion: confident reason WilS
in a way Wllrse than th~ flrc-brellthing. salanic heresies of thc past.
The leading writers who fe-sponded to his apP<'al had a passion of
their own: this \\~IS the human lIduil's cap.1cit) 10 li,·(' without dogma.
lllC gr"'i1U'SI Sl.at...mcnt nf Ihis pilssionate cOlll'ietion Cllme from Im-
m:lnud }o;ant, \I ho wmle in Ih(' Septcmbt~'r 30 issue of lhe turlilliSt;'le
.H,mar.uerijl of li8..: HEnlightenmenl is mankind's e~il fmm its self-
inculTell immmoril): IlI/lIIl1lllril) is the inllbiliry to make usc of one's
(I\\n unJcrstanding \Iilhout Ihe guidance of another. Sclf-itlc-lfrTcd is
Ihis in<lbili~, If ill> cause lies nm in Ihe lack of understanding bUI mther
in the lack of reslllutioll and the coumgc to usc it I\ithout the guidancE'
of anothcr. &IIUlfe mule! 1·lave the cooTllge to use rour 0\\11 unJcr-
standinp:! is thus thc molln of enli~hl~nment.'"The emphasis here is
un Ihe /lct of reasoning. Frecdum in r~;lsoninl.f. improl'cs tllc mind 1>)'
casting oil" childish cerlalntie~.
Rl'asoning of thIs frcc SOrt has nothing mech:lniclll ..hum it. The
eight~cnth cenlUl1', it is ~olllctimcs S1lid. look roo much to hcart Ncw-
toni:ln mechanics. "Ollllire did so hy asserting thnt the lllachin~'1' of
natu~ t'.'lllic:ucd in NeIlton's pages. prccille and exactly oolanced,
should SCIYC as a modd for Ihe social order, ph)'Sics pro\ iJing societ)'
an absolute ~landllrd. This w.as not Kant's way of reasoning. He hoped
of coorse tMt Ilestnlcth'e superstitions IUlOld lose their hold on Ihe
adolt mind but did not imagill(" the m<lchine's routines;l$:I substitute
fur pr:l~er. The frC'C' mind will alwa.~'s suhjcct its own regulations and
rules to critical judgment and therefore change: lhem: Kanl's focus is
on juJl'ing :Ind rclll'Ction upon rnther than on pilloning order. Can free
reason degrade, then, to the 0PIJOsite pol~ of disorJ...r? As the French
Rel'olwinn darkcncU, l-"l.·en political acthists likt' Johann l\dam Rergk
wondcn.-d if disembodied free reasoning phl)'ed a role in the eollecth·c
chaos. In li96, the UCT'i"jscllt~ MQllll/,udlTift shut dowllthe suhjcct.
The few sentences ilbo\'e ll)hl(le 10 an immcnsc sen in which rea-
son, rClloltitiun, allli tr..ditinn fonn the main currents. Lost in these
90 CRAFTSMEN MACHINt:S 91

currents are those paj\l'5 of tM newspaper's d~bate in which culture of Enlightenment. nUl O\'cr these exempl.af)' men /lnd Immen hung the
::I more e\'cryday material sort was discuss<:d. The mOst Enlightening of specter ufVaucansnn's moots, their Nl'\\'tonian ghosts,
these discussions eamC from 1\'loses Memlelssuhn, By urigin n pOOr
Jewish migrant to Berlin, inlcnding thcre to hccumc <I rabbi, ~Icn·
delssohn came In ~ject the Talmudic u-.ainin& uf the shuJs as 101.) nar~ To understand this bible uf er.tftsmnnship one has 10 undcrstand its
row: he m:1de himself into a philnsophcr who read Germ:m, Greek, and author's mot"es, Diderot \\115 a lK)Ur pn:wincial whu migr.lted 10 ~.tris,
Lotin. In 1;67 hI.' wrOte PIUlidol/, a hook brenkill~ the fuith of his fllthc~ where hc t;llked endless 1)', hml too mony frit>nds. and spt'nt lllh~r pt'n-
in order to dcd:Hl' his belief in n relip,ion llf Nature. n m;ucrialist pic's mOnerlJ 1\ lilch of Didt!rnt's l.if~ II~IS \\'Ilsted in litenll'y hllekll'nrk til
Enlightenment. 1\ lellll.c1ssohn·s conlrihution to the newspaper dcb:lle pay his debts; Ihe cuC)dollCdia SC'Cmcd 10 him at first just another \1'iI}
about Enlightenment built on this lnllterialism. 10 sta", off his creditors. The projNI bcgan as:I lranslation inlo French
He de \ ised an C'ilu3tion: Hi/Jill/I: = KlIllllr + AlIJktlinlllg.' Rilt!lIllg of Ephraim Chambers's English Ullil'eBtlllJ;c'iol1lll')' of Arts Il/Ill Sci-
implies <1\ onc~ edue"tion, the form:llion of I'alues, and the Di"hm inr b)' tmces (lj18). n ch:lrminll. :lnd f3tht"r disnr~ani/.~d col1ec.:tion of pieces
which onc steer's one'S coursc in soci;ll rciatilJns, t\lIfklilrijll~ is Kant's by :t ·\'irtuoso· of the scieneeS_:1 '\'irtuf)Sft fIlt";lfIing in the mid-
frcc reason. Kllftllr, sal'S Mendelssohn, denotd the pmctical. reillm uf eighteenth cenlury an amateur I\;lh a I"'ely CUri05itr. One lrade of the
-things done and not done,~ ralher Ihan Kood manners and relined lilcnn}' h.,ck collsisted in feeding the curiosity of Ihe \;rtu05O. pro-
taste. ,(I Mendelssohn took a \\ ide and generous view uf practical cui· viding digeslible bits uf infonnalion and perhaps a (eW wdl.tllrnetl
ture. He bclicI'ed th;lt ordinary ·things done and nllt done~ on' as phmses tile l·irtUIJSO c.:uuld produce as his own in polile c.:orwcrSlJtion.
worth)' as :In)' llbstr-,lction; in r3liunall.y reneeling. upun them. II"C im· The prospect uf tr.lIlslating st"n~r:ll hundred p;lges of $1J('h lasty
pro\"e ourselves. morsels quite righll)'depressed a man nfOidenn's gifu. Once launched
BilJIlll8 = KlIl'lir + AlIfldiinmg lI"as a distillatitlfl of reading i\tCIl- into the work. he tnillsfonllcd it. Chllmbcrs's lexl was soon caSI aside:
dclssohn hud done in a remorkable book. II This was nll~ £1IC)dlJpt'difl. coltaboralors \\'c~ enlisled to provide longer nnd dCi"p4!'r enlries,l~ Tht'
or Dic.iomlry' of Arts (1'111 Crafts, cdiLed principally hy Oellis Oidolll. EtlCJdolX!(/ia OIimed. it is lrlle, 01\ lhe gencral reOl{lcr rather Ihan SCI"'. in~
Appeariflg from 1751 10 '771, the lhirty.fi\'t'·\·olurnc £lIc)dopel/i(l he· liS 0 tt"ehnical manual for practitioners. Didcrol's walllcd 10 stimulalc
Cl:lnK" a be;t·scllt'r read by ~~'1' one from Celherin4!' the Grell! in Rus' the philosopher rather Ihnn the \;rtuoso in his reoders.
si;llto merchants in Ne\\ \ork. l l Its \"Olumes e.xhaustiwJ~ described in
-:: .;.. ..
" ."
words and piclurd how prncticallhings gCI done and proposed \\1IYS 10
illlprovt:: them. TIlcre was a gr~al dinercm:l' In emphasis bch\ccn the In hlrgt", hOWCOllld thc fllc)c1opelf;tl llssert that the erafLsmnn's laimrs
lI!'u,,:,clQrllllisJn and the German writers: for the French, dnily practkei were icons uf Enlighlenment?
of laboring are the focus rather than Kanlian self-understanding or Firstond ror~most. lry' putting manual. pursuits 011 all equal (ooling
l\lenddssohnian liclr·fonnation. From this emphnsls Inllo\\cd the E,,- with IIlCntal L... bors. The genernlldca had a sharp ed~: thc EPlcyclo-
C)'Clulleflitl's cralo. It celebmted Ih()S~ II-ho arc eommiuC'd 10 doing pedia SC()rn~d hereditary members of lhc e1itc who do no work und
work \\'ell rur its lI"'n sake: the cnlflsl1\;m Slnud uut as the emhlem or so Cnnlrihutl' nothing III SOCiety, Uy reslOrin~ thl:' mUflulil lahnr~r to
l,l2 t:ltA.,lSM6N
!>01ll<.'lhing like his archaic Creek hnnor. Ihe: ellC}'c1opedisICS ffimJntca
11 challenge ~qual in furce to Kant's ;Htm:k nn traditional pri\'ilegc UUI
different in character: useful labor r.lthcr free rcason challenges the
past. lbe \'e~' march of the alphabet aIded the EIlclclopedis's bt!lief in
lhe ethical e4ui\'iIlenec of manual work 10 supposedly higher punuils,
In French TOi (king) lies near rfnisseur (3 roaster of mC:llS or fo\\ I), JUSt
w
as in English wknil wfollows upon Wking. As the historian Robe" Dam-
Ion obserycs. Ihe E"('Jdopcdill st"i.,ed On such couplings as more than
hoppy accidents; Ihese take the aul horil)' of 1I monarch dO\\1\ a peg hy
moking it prosaic.
The paAes of the EllcJdopct/itl then look more I'artieultlrly 3t
u~fulness and uselessness, In ol1e tcllin~ plate. a maid appe:us indus-
triousl)' lit work on a lady's coiffure. The maid mdiales purpose :lIla
energy while her mistress languishes in ennui; the skilled scr"llOt ami
her bored mistress compose a paraulc of \'italilY and d{"cadcnct!. Di·
derot hclic\'ed ooredom tn 1~ the most currosive of all human scmi·
ments. er()(ling the \\ill (Diderot cuntinued throughout his life to co\",
plure lhe psycholugy of boredom. culminating in hili no\·d JlIC{/lIe~ .I,c
Ftlluli5l), In the ElI'Jdopcdia. Ditlemt anti his col1eagut'5 cdebr..lled
the \'itaJiry rather than dwelled on the sufferings of those deemed su'
ciall~' inferior. Vigor was the point: the encydopediSIe5 wanted ordi·
na~' worken; tu be admired. not pitied.
This positi\'e emphasis was grounded in une of th(' eighteenlh c('n-
tury's ethical touchnoncs. the power of S)"T11path~'. As our forebears
understood sympathy. it did not quil(, conform to t~ bi!llical mom)
injunction to treat Ih~' neighbor as th}·sclf. ~ As Adtlm Smith ooSC'I'\'ed
W dull, SOmetimes in d::tngl'rous. somctim('$ in compliC'"cued labor. the
in 'nit! TIl/!o,.,' of Moral Sellti"'CIIIS: WAs we can have no immediate
c.\"pcrience of Illlat other men feel, \1'(' can form nu idea of lhe manner
in which the~' are aff~le(1 by concci\,jng whrlt we ourseh'es shuuld feel
in II like silualion.w,~ Enterin~ into Olheu' lh'es reCJuircs tl1erefore fill
ael of il1l{l!lilllltioll, David HUlIlc malic Ihe S:lml.' point in his Tre'dise of
111I1tI{l1I Nillurt?; ",Vere I present UI (lny of the mure terrible opefilliullS
MACHINES 93
of surge!')'. 'tis ce"ain.thal e\'en Ix-forc it lx.'gllll. the prcprlrntion of the
instrumenls. the bl}ing of the b.::tnd::ages in order. the heming of the
irons. with all I~ siRns of anxicl)' antI concern in the patient and
assistants. wOtlld ha\'C ;'[ ~re;'[l effet;t IIpon my mind. and c.\"cite the
stmnnest sentiments of pit}' and terror. WI" For both philosopht'rs. em · W
palhyw mennt imrlgining onnclf as another. in all his or her dilTerence.
rather Ihlln simpl~'likening him or her to oursel\·es. Smilh thus imvk('S
in TIle 11100"" of Moral &1/!illlcIIIS the wlmparlial Spectator: :t flgure
who judges others not by his own interest.!> but rlllhcr by the impres·
sions tht!}' make 011 him. It is this im:lginath<e work of S}1\lp..th}' ralher
than nll1son that first enlightens us about people,
In !\1t.'ndelsslIhn·s Hedin. S)'llllJ:llhy of this outl\ard sur! was m:ldc
into a mel hod in a parlor game currclll in the cil)"S bourgeuis S-:Ilons.
People spent lhe ('\'eninA impersunating ;I famous <::hara<::tt!r in litcf"""
ture or from hislory. IryinA to st;)y in <::h'lnlcter throughout lhe soi,,~e.
We are in Berlin. not in the C."nh-al}lt Venice. where it might hm'e
been no mure Ihan amusing for the Hcnaissanee ljueclI i\ lrlrie de' i\le·
did. hell\'ily jeweled. to drink:l glass of \\ine \\ ith a nearl)' nakcod. flabby
Socrales; in Berlin, we arc tr.lining oUTSel\'es to imagine whal il is like
10 be anOlher person. how they think. feel. and bena\"~.l· In Paris. the
Enc,'clopeJill :limed .soc-ially lower and asked readers in $OIlons not 10
imitate but to admire ordinary people bustling at \\()fk.
The EllC)clopaliu soughl to gel ilS rcad~rs out of themseh'es and
inlu the Ih'es of ::trtiS:ln crolftsmen in order. n('..\t. to clarify gvud work
itself. Throughout. Ihe\olulllCli illustrate peopleengageJ sometimes in
upression on all the faces tends to the same serenity. About thL'SC
plal~S the histori::tn Aariano Tilnher rcm::trks on the "sense of pt!;ll;e <tnd
calm which 110ws from:all well·rcgulated. disciplined work done wilh a
quiet and CotltCtHed mind."I. These illustrations :Jppe;llto the reader
10 enler into a ft!;llm in which contenlment with urainary things m;l(le
Well reigns,

In andent limes. the gods' craft skills \\ere glorified as weapons in
an elemal warfare for maslC'I}'.llesiod's RorlulUul Da}l or Virgil's Geor-
gics poflroy human labor rell«tinJt some of this dil'ine Klory. work ap-
pearing lIS II hemic SlrlIAAle. So. too, In our limes. worker warriors ap-
pear in N:u.i amI Sodel kilS(;h 3rt as rirans of rhe forge or Ihe plow.
Phi1osuph~ tluring the mid-eightecnth centul}' suught lU hreak Ihis
""'iIrrior spell. "lbe economic hislUruln Albefl HiT$Ch....., nn found the
cOUllling house 10 be one scl:ne that ClIlmt'd tho: warrior spirit. the
counting house n:placing \'iolence impulsc by diligent reckoning. I..
E\"en more ...asthis spt'-Il meanL to be broken in the cro£tsman's workshop.
Didcrot likent.>tl the pleasure!> of crllf15m:mship more to marital !>e."
Ih:1n to the e."citemenl5 of an affair. The serenity appellring on the
faces of Did",rot's glassblowers and papermakers radiates also in Jean-
Baptiste-Simeon Chanlin's still-lifcs-a quict, stead}, satisfaction in
m..::uerialthings \\ell composed. "I'll eonlri\·ed.
.;. .;. :-:-:
This too·brief SUmnllll1' of rhe £ltc)c1opedill's origins lind general aims
selS thc stage fur pruhing ...hal it is Ihal (leoplc learn by lcnming their
limits. The question ofhumllfl limits \\115 posed to Diderolthe moment
he. as it lIere. rose from his arrnch;i.ir. His method for finding OUI ht.J"
people "or\.ed was. liLt- a IllOdem ltnthropologisl. to ask them: M\\'e
addrfloSetI oursehes 10 the must ~L:illed wt.lrkers in p...ris and the kin",-
dom al I"rge. \\'e lonk the lrouble 10 \isit their \\orkshops. to internl'
Rate them. to II rite under dictation fmm thcm, w fullow nut their ideas.
to deline. to id~nlir)' the I~rms peculiar 10 th~ir pmfession.~l" The
research soon r.ln into dithcuhy. because much Ilf Ihe know1t.>dge
craftsmen possess is tacit kno\\ledge-pcople know how to do somc'
thing but thC')' e-.nnot put wlut IhC')' ~"TlOW inlo wonk Diderut ~.
markl-u of his inn"Sligalions: ~Among a lhousand One will he Iud." to
find II dm~n ....ho lire capahlc of (!."rlainin~the tools or machincry the}'
usc. l\n(lthC Ihlngs they produce \\1lh :m~' drlril)"~
MACIIlNES 95
A ''Cry large problem lurks in this obsen'i'llion. lnaniculaledoes nOI
mean stupid: indeed..."h:ll we can sa~' in words rna)' be more limited
than II Iml ...e can do ..ith thing!>. Croftwork t.'Sl.llblisht,"l; a ~31m l)f skill
and knowledge pcrhnps beyond human ,<erbal capacities tu e.\1'lllin: it
Ia.~cs the powers of Ih(' must professional wriler 10 tl~scrihe prcciscl)'
hOIl to lie a slil)knol (antl is cefillinl)' beyond mine). Herc is a. perhaps
tilt, fundamental hum.,n limit: L,nguagc is nOI an adequale ~mirmr­
tool~ for the physiC:l.! mO\ elflenlS of lhe human bod~. And ~'ct I am
writinftand rOll are r~din~:I hookaboul phpiic:ll pr.tcticc: Diderot and
his t.'1lIl11ooratoo: compiled a S~I of I olumes nearly !>L~ feci thick on this
suhject.
Onc solution to the limils of hinguage is to substitule the image for
the word. The m:lny plates. b~' many hands. lhat richl}' furnish the
£"C)'dtJpcdiu made this assisl for \\orkers unable to t'.qJlain wmsch'es
in wOI"ds. and in a partic.ular W3y. In illustration.s of Itl-.ssblo\\ing. for
insbnce. t'ach sl:lge of blO\\ing a glass bottle appears in a scparotc
imllge; :111111(' junk of lin ordinary workshop has be~n elimimue<1. and
Ihe I';c"-er focuses on just whllt hands and muulh need to do at this
mom~nt LO transform the mollen li<luid into a bottle. The inlages. in
other words. illuminate hy clarifying ami ~implil)1np; m()\~mcnt into II
serics ()f dear pictures of the ~on the phologr4pher Henri Canie....
Brt"SSlln called Mdecisiw mlllTl('nts.~
It might he possible to im:lgine an experience of enlil/,hlenmenl
slrit:dy as :l "isual v;pcriellcc fnllo\\ing this photogr.lphic proccdure.
onc thai enables ollr l'}'CS 10 do tllC thinkinp. about materi:!l! hinp,s. In
sill:ncc. as In u momlste!')·. communication nmonp, pt'-oplc wuuM be
reduced to a minimum for the 5111.1' of cunlcmplating how lin obj«t is
made. un Buddhism follo\\s this non\"emal ptuh. t.,king the craftsman
10 be an emblematic figure "ho enlightens b,' ~ho\\"inj.l J1uher than
telling. Zen counsels thai to understand Ihe craft of archery lOU n~
not het.'flmc an areher: instead. silentlr compose its dcelsi\"t' moments
in )'our mind.
 The \\'c$tcrn Enlightenment followetl bolh Ihc photographic pro-
cedure and another path 10 understanding. The limits of lall~uage can
be O\"CKOmc through aClh'e im'uhement in a I'ra(;licl·. Diderot's solu-
tion to the limilS of language was 10 become himself a worker: "Th",re
arc machines 5U hard to describe and skills so elusivc that ... il h:IS
oflen been necessar}' In get hold of such machines. setth('m in upera·
tion, and1<'nd one'.s hand to the \\'ork.~ll A re::ll challenge for II man
used 10 sliions. \\'e dOIl'l know prcCisld~' what manual skills Oidcrut
attempted. though in his !>rofessiotlill circumSf<lnccs the)' wcre likd)'
tho~ of selling t~-pc lind pulling ctchings. His plunge inlU manuill
Jabm \w.s logical if unusual for a culture in which Ihe ethos of sYlIlpa·
th~' urged people to Rei out of Iht:msdl·es. entcr olher Ihes. How-
e\-cr. enlighlcnmentthrough proletice-or as modem educators hal'e il.
learning bydoins-rni~ the question of one's udent to act and so the
possibility of learning Iiule. because one is not good at aClUal1r doinjr
lhe work.
1\lan~' of Oitlcrut's collaborators Ilcrc scientists for II hum triaillmi
error was a guiding mcthud of c....perimt!nl. Nicolas l\lalebnlneht!. for
example. imllginedthc process of trial Hml crror ;I.s follo\ling a ~th
frum man)' to fcwer t!rrors. <l stcady and progrcs.si\'e imprO\"l~mClll
through t:..... pcrimenl. ~En1ightcnment" dawns as error decre3S(·S. The
c:ommentm)' Diderot pro\ides on his e.'l.pcricnccs in work.shops secms
at firsl to echo this scientific \'ersion of failure corrected: -Become an
apprentiCl.' and produce h.1d result.s so ::as 10 be able 10 tellch poeoplc
how to prucluce good ones. ~ "R.atl r('Sults" \\ ill cause proplc to reason
harder. and so impro\'c_
BUI trial anti t!rror can lead to quite II different result ifone's t:llenlS
PTO\'C insufficienl to cnsure ultinlate mastery. So it \111S for Ditlerot.
who fountlthllt by plunjting into practict!. mllny of his faults Hntl errors
pro\"t.. J ~irremcdiablc:' Exposing oneself to prllctice. daring to dlling il.
one may IUl\"c tllt!n to make lOl'ose uf fllilure rather thrlO of error, rcckon
limits on skill one can dn nothing about. In this light, learning by doing.
50 comforting a OOSlnlm in progrcsshe education. may in fact be H
reci[Je for cruell)'. '11\1,' cTllftsmiln's workshop is indeed a cnlel school if
il aClh1tIl.-'.li our SCOIlSC of in;l<ic(juill.-1'.
'10 Ihe social philosopher. the inlcTSl.-'Ction nf practiee and talent
poses :1 gener.al question about agconey: we lire minded tu bclie\'C' thaI
enj.(agement i.s heller Ihan passhil~" The pursuil of quality is al.su:l
mailer of a,::enc}', the cmftsman's dri\-ing moth·c. Hut agency does not
happ<>n in a social or t!motional vacuullI. porticul"r1y RIMld-<jlIllIiIY
work. The desire lu dn st,mething well [s a person»! litmus tt!st; inadc.
qUlltc personal pt!rformancc hurL.~ in a differt!nt \\'3)' tlmn inequalities
of inheritl"'tl socia! (lOSltion ur the e.\tcrn;I/S of wcohh: it is aboot )'ou.
Agency is all to Ihe Rood. bUI acth'c1y purstlin~ good \\ork and finding
you C-.In·1 dn it corrod~ one's sense of self.
Our ancesturs 100 often turned a blirld ere to Ihis problem. 11lt'
progressi\'c eighteenth century Strollgl~ proc.:l<aimed tht': \'inll~s of ~C:l­
tttrs 0l'Cn (0 (alent--talent rather than inheritance the just founda.
tion of upward muhilit}· in wcict)'. Proponent.s of this dOCtrine could
easily negl«t. in thdr dril'e tu destro}' inherittc'd prh·ill'gc. Ihe fflte of
tht! losers in com[JetilionlJased on talent. Di(!erot I\'a~ unusual ill pay-
ing Htlenlilm to sllch lusers. from his t!;lrliest hook.~ 10 mature 1I'0rks
like /llmwuu's Nepllell' and}llclJlles the FUM/isl; in Ihem. the inadelluac)'
of talent rather lhan social circumstancc or hlind chance begets the
mosl grinding form uf ruin. Still. Ihe t!frort of c.... posure and engaRe--
rnem has In he mllde. In a leller. Ditlerot remllrk:5 that ooh lilt' rich C"'.10
afford to be stupid; for others. abilit~· is a net:'cssit~. ~ :m option.
Talcnl then runs its rotc:c, This is the outline uf a tr~geJ}. bUl in Oi.
derol-S pagl.-'.li the 100000TS can gain somethinll as well. Failure can temper
lhem; it can teaeh a fundamental mooesty c\-en if dwt \'irtue is ~inL't!
at grc.itt I'l!in.
~Salulof)' failurc" hud carlier appeuretl in j\lichel de i\11111tlligne's
tS~a}'s. pages in which GCMl diSdplines humanil)' thruugh showing us
wh:j\ we CHnnot do. Fur Didcrot. as for J\luntc.squieu ,md-oddly_for

Benjamin Franklin, mere ordinarinl'U could occasion the ~nlimentor
salut'H)' failure. in it dr.tmatk W~}:
-:. ;:' -.-
'nll' machine creates Ihis dramatic occl.~inn hoth as a fan !lnJ as a
fig.ure in Diderot's EIIC;Jc!Opcclill. -nle replieant teaches nOlhing llimut
so.lutary failure. hut the robot-just possibly-can. Th!.! replicant ma)'
Slimulate reasoning ahout oursekes. l.oout our own inlerll3l machin-
l'ry. The more powerful. tird...-ss robot ma~ sct the siandanl againsl
which all human beings fail. Should we he dcpre.'s:~ bYlhis outcome?
l'apermilkin~ sugg~ls not. Enlightened p:,~rmaklng appeal"!i in
the fllCJdo/letlill at a facto~', L"\ngllie, about si:l:ly miles distanl from
~ris nellr the 101m of i\lonrargis, Paper pulping was in the eij;thtrenl h
centurr:l meny and Slinking llf>Crarion, the rogs Ilsed uflen stripped
from cnrpses, tllen further HIlled in \"ats for t\\"o munths to brel.k dOlln
their fibers. The entry for I.'Angli:-c shows how the craft could he im-
pru,'ed, human and rooot cooperating in thc effort.
First sumerhing simple: mirroring the eighteenth centu'1"s obses-
sion I\ilh sanitotion. Ihc noors are s\\"cpt spotless, Ne-ll. no worler
appears un the \"erg!.! tlf lomiling, hecauS(' the iIluSlratur has drawn lOllS
with hl'rllleric seals-anticipating an innol'lltion that in faci C3me intlt
being 11 g~nerotlon later. Then, in the room where Ihe fibeNi nrl' 1>I.·aten
to a pulp-thl' messiest of all actil'iries-Ihere arc no hum:m beings at
all, just a stamping mill lending itself, 1I rohot thai seems to mudl'm
C)"CS iI primilh'e son of automation bur a machine thlll. ltgain. was
shanl}' to he rt:alh,cd hy tnc sll"am f:'ngine. Finally. in the roum where
thc lrickicsi human dhision of labor occurred. the pulp In nlIIs scooped
into thin sheels of m.aterial set in lray molds. thr= cmftsmen wurk n;th
balletic cuordinntion. their faceli scn~nc. ('I'cn though Ihis scooping
operaliun was hackbreaking work: the lahmers hal'e sorted nut this t;lsk
through rational analysis,
This portrait, a namllil'c compus<:d of a scquence of still images, is
MACHI~ES 99
curious. just bet'ause it anticipates reallmlO\"tltiolls at l.'Anglee. Thc
\\riler and engraver's imagination has l'tfitet! tht:' pa.permaking proccss
so thai mechanical tools diminate the mOSI -besliar 1010015: carre-
spulldingl)~ th!.!~· 101m\\' machines th:lt enablc human judgment and co--
oper:ltinn to l'lIme to the furl", The gener[ll prindple for machine use
here is th:H, if Ihe hum"n hud)' is frail, rhe mllchine shoulJ lIid il
or supplant il. '111e robot is an aliel1 bod)'l this stamping mill works
nothinj;t likc the human 3rffi in strerching, compressing, and siamping
thf:' polp, Alil'n, m:lehinl''1' superior to ourst:'h'eli. bUI not inhumane.
If such :I machine shows how to ol'ercllme hum:.!n limits. slillthe
produelh'e outcome is sllccessful. Here Ihe relalion hcl\leen huml'ln
and machine is one of rdathe inadequacy, Against Ihis mood of cn-
lightened inequ3liry. popermnking wilh Irs fricndl~' robors, rhe £11_
C}drl/ICdjfl pro!Jl'S the craft of gl:.ssbluwing in order to plumb slilutary
failure proper. To understand the relation of humlln lmd mllchinc in
Ihis COntroSI, we need 10 know something aboul Ihe substance of Il.lass
itself.
Glassmaking has I-n prdcticw for':l1 least two thOusand yenn:.
Ancienl reci~ comhined sand with iron olide, I\hich prOf:luced a
blue~r('('n huc, rhe glass translucent ralhcr than transparent. Elcn-
luaUy trial and error succeeded in mal..injZ jZlass more transparent
Ihrough the addition of fern-ash, potllsh, limestone, :Ind m:mglmese,
EI'cn so, Alass was not of good quality. and irs fabrication arduous.
~ledl('\'al windows wert:' fashiuned by blowing the molten glass thrt)u~h
a stem, twirling it nlpidlyso to produce.ll pralle slmpej this hOi pll'lle Il'liS
then pressed down on a Stolte slab and cut into small square bils, So
slow and costly 1\"tlS Ihe process. ho\\e\"er, that it prt)\-et! uneconomic:
because glass pan!.!s 11'f:'rl." so precious, Ihe duke or Nonhumherland
had Ihem remon·d from hili l'astle IlindO\I'S whenC"cr hc look a lrip. In
the Middle Ages, as in allliquily, oill'tl puper lIsually sen'cd inSlead of
glass in thc wimlo\\"s of must prosaic buildings.
The ~lllesr for dcar, large windows hlls heen drh'en by tht' nn..J trl
100 CItAI'1"s.\n;,\,
hrinp; inw houses whil~ prOl:ecling th~lIl from wind. l1Iin. and no:ouus
strc~t smells. In the I:lte 5c\"Cnl~nlh e~nlUry French )l.lassmakcrs
learned ho\\ 10 make larger sheets of glass. at Ihe Saint-Germain glass·
\\OrKs under Ihe direclion of Abrah."Im Thc\·arl. \\ho in 1688 c:tS1 sheels
in one ptcc~ eighty to eighty·four inches high and fOrly 10 fOrl}'-se\'en
illch~s wid~. This WlJS. Ihe hiSlOrian Sabine Melchior-Oonnet remarks.
M
Me si"Le heard of p~viously only in fairy tales. though the glllss il.~c1f
T~mained in its medicvul chemical formula,lJ T~ehllical change in siz·
lng glass now spellded lip: in the early eighteenth l.:l.:ntllry the o\"ens
used for h('ating gl:lSS irnpron~d, A mure relined cTaft lllbor followed, in
the m:tnner of pouring, flattening. and refiring fhe glass. By the time
the Abbe Pluche came tu dcscribt- Ihe results in his SIJeClade of Na-
fllre of li46. the making of big glass panels for windows had become
economically fe.asible; these Fr('nch innO\"3lions enabled the Saint·
Gobain works in Fnmce 10 pull ahead of iLS long·standing ri\'llis in
Venice, the giassmakeN of lhe island of l\lur.mo.
\Vhere:l~ the Iroiditionill eighteenth~entuT}' glassmaker poured his
glass into molds. like makinl': bricks. the mooern gbsslllal:~r wanted to
roll his glass into sheets. This is whal the EuC)'doll€dj(l seeks 10 pllrtray.
dr<ll\;ng on conlt'mpur:Il)' e.\l'crimenfS in Paris. 11,e illustrator presents
u study in contrasts. FiTlit hc show5the traditional \\'ay of Iwirling. then
n:lllcning. a muh('n gob nf glass intO:l uindowp:tnc: against it. \\e set.'
a nOI her im3gc uf II ghlSsblower \\ orking with 1I rolling m:.chine to nattcn
the pane. This mochint' procedure seta higher standard of a perfectly
ll:tt pant' than the ~Iasshlower coold e\'er achie...e h~' worl:ing troidi-
tionall}': the machine rull('rs maJe the glau 3bsolutel~" uniforml)' thick.
In Ihis latter \'ersion. the machine sets Ihe terms of quality. r..ising
the ganle 10:1 sland:ll'1.lthc human hand and eye cannot achie\·e. We
might here usefully draw a comparison to fhe worl: flf goldsmith[ng
presellted in the lasl chapter. 'Ihcre j.:oldsmiths' guilds were IllllCes for
hands.on IC:ITlling ahuut CJu~litl" TIll' apprentice gnl,lsmith imbihed his
emft by hnilating Ihe nl:lster ar worl:: in the new \\'ayof mttl:jn~ a pane
MAClIl-"LS 101
ofglass, the jl,lasS\\orker caonot imilitle the machine:. Not only docs the
roller fuoction differenlly Ihan the ere. but it \\000 10 a SHllld:trd Ihat
tht> !,:Ias...hlnwer could lle1'e:r ochie\'(' hy \;su:.l insfX-'Cliun,
So glass seems jusl another m:llerial that VllUl..-anson·s IIMlms and
Ihdr progeny would colonif.e fur prolit al the c.'"pense of Ihe skilled
artisan. \Vhal could the glasshlower. or Ihe Ellcrcl0JJCaia's readers, find
salut:!.') 31mut the m'\\' leehnology?
T(I :.lTlJiwer this question I\'C "ill diAress, as is the philusuphl.:r's
\\'onl. In a gent:r:l! obse"'luioll and then to a secminl':h' unrebled sub-
jecl. The general issue lies in wlmt WI.' conccive the purpose of:t modd
to be, Any model shows huw snmething ought 10 be dOlle. Th(' model
emboJkd br a pcrfect machine suggests thai lhe worl: call indced be
dOne /lawlessly; if the glass roller is more Mtalel1tcir than tht: hum:m
qe. theo the cart't'r of \\indow·makin~ou~ht. in all justice. 10 be: Ihe
cxelusi\e I'rcsc"'e uf the machinc. But this line of thinking mislaks
the purpose of a modd. A model i1i:t proposal rather than a command.
Its c:liccllcnce can slimul:tte 115. nO{ 10 imit:tte. but to innm·ate.
To make sense of this formula. \\t' sh(luld quit for a moment the
eightet·nth-et"nlury \\orkshop amI. enter ils ehildren's nurseries. One of
the c\'l.:rrJay achie\'emcnts of I he Enlilo:htenment lay in e'\l'laininl': par.
enting:l5 [I craft. The Ellcrdopeilitl is but one ofhundTl..'<1s ufbooks Ihat
e.~plained how to feed and to kup babies dean. how to medicare sick
children. how to toilet-train loddlers efficiently. and. abo\'c all. how 10
Stimulate and educate children from all t'arl~' age. Folk wisdom aboul
lhese matters \\"35 deemed ioa~u.::lte: lik... 11lllmditional knowlooge. it
RCmcd onl~ to IKUs on prejudice. \\hich in pa~nting SC("med p:lr-
ticularly mali!,:" since medical ad\'ances nO\\ made it possible for more
lmhies II) sur"i\'c infarlC}' if parents \\ould onl~' change their o\\n pme-
!ices. A generation after the flle,dolJoCditl. inoculalion became Ihe
focus of dehatt: hehlcen p:trents who refused this medical ad\'oncc un
Iradition;!1 groun(ls rind parents who aCeepll..'t1 the strict schedule of
re!leatt'd innculalionslhat medicine lIll: n rcquirt'd.U
101 CRAFT!>:\Il"iS
The matter of the model appeared in the lmilling r('quired to pro-
duce an enlightcned chill!' In Jcan-Ja(,llue:o t{ou:oseau'5 'Hitings. nOla-
bly In his non!lJ'llie: (JU, la lIoUl'elle Heloise. lhe "eran" of buth parents
teaching children to Ix- frec is 5«n in the mothcr encouraging the
young to aCI spontaneously f)n nalurotl feelings like sympathy amI the
Father encour-dging both boys lind girls to think wlionallr r.llhcr than
rely lin recei"ed authorit),. "n,c underlOII' uf Rousseau's wriling is, hu\>-
~·er. lhal each p<lrerll in his or her 0\\0 'lay should behm'e as an
cxempbl1' motlcl-MI urn the adult ~'Ou ought 10 be<'ome,MImitale me.
Didcrut's friend Louise J'Epinay. in her leltcrs of ad\ice 10 her
gClmddaughter. CWII'cTSfll;otU /I'Cmilie. confronted this \'ersilln of
model parenthood. H She disputt'J lirst of all ROUSse.IU·5 p.lrental llivi-
sion of labor. A mother who IrUSlS lo her own instincts alone \,;lIl1ot dll
enuugh 10 form a child's chardeter: a fmher\lho :ICtS as a litem man uf
reaSOn risks dri\;ng the child inside him- or hc~lr. Mort! 10 our I.ur-
poses. she challenges Ruusse<lu's ideal of the e~emplary model-part~nt,
W
She belie\'cs that adults need to aCct'pt heing "Il;ood cllough parents
rather lhan "perfecl parcnts"-as .lues ht!r heir. IJenjamin Spock. au-
thor of tM most useful guide to parenting in mCKkrn times, As matter
of commOll sense. p<lrents net!d to accept Iheir limitations. a leliSDll
\hal, in ,In)' cvent, indcpt'ndem-mindcd children will teach them, Btll
Ihe rt!al issue is self-image that parents hl)ld up to their children: rather
than coO\'ey"be like mc.- better part!ntal advice should be mono indi-
rect. -'I"his ill how 11h'cd~ in\it~ the child to reason ,lhOUI thai exam-
pic. Such [Ilhice omits. "Therefore yoo should ... ," Find rllur own
\\';1),:inno\'ate rather than imitate.
I don'l mean to push l\lad<lmc JtriM)' into the arms of philoso-
ph~" but he'r forgotten lillie IJtlOk is largely Vro\'ocali\'l,~. It contains the
rome' force as Nlnl's fanlouli image of lht! ~t\\istt:d limbt'r nf hum;lllit~. M
a call to reeO)!,nile and <lccepl limits. Rcturning In lhe dirt!Clion of the
glassworks. this call matters as much In lhe workshop as ill the nurser)'
or the librott)'. Thc challenge in the workshol' is 1Jc 10 treat the ideal
.\t o\CIII" F.S 103
model as something people might usc on Iheir own terms, according to
their OlIn Iighls. The nl:lchined ohject, like the parenl, m,lkes II 1:1'0-
posal about 1101\ sotllethinA might he done: \\1.' ponder the pmpt'lsal
rother than submit to it. -Ibe model becomes a stimulus r.l.lher tmln a
comman(!.
'Inat conncction was drawn by Volt.,ire. lIe cOlllributed :lIlony-
mously to the E"c,.do/ledia, though spuradiClIII)', The S:lIlW Vultairc
who subscribt...J to NC\Hon's Illt.'chanical unh"cfsc doubtt!d that man)'
of the nll.lchinel' dt!picted and described in irs pages could Iht!mi'ICh-es.
alone. I~.. d to Pmgrt'Ss. Humankind has first to accept its own weak.
ness and propensity to mak(' a men of thing.~: if f*Ople re::lll~' lake to
hearlthe fault lines 'n thclllseh-es. tht! perfect machine will seem less a
commanding rl!mcdy: indeed. we II ill aelhcly seck OUI an alternmi\'(! to
it. 'Ibis \icU' Voltaire ad\':I.llced lIith p:machc in his nm'e! Ctllldide,
Vohair{"s parable recounts nne talc afler another of r"Jpt:, lorture.
5Ia\'('I1'. and bt:lnt)'aJ. The source of these diSo'l5ters is Dr. Pangluss. a
litet<ll')' Sland-in fM the philosopher C. \\I. Ldbnb:, serving::r~ ::r c~riC:l­
ture of the man of reo'lson who has nu lruck 'lith mere mess. BUI
Pangloss. like his real-life counlerpart. is brilliant: he is a mechanisl-
ce!e),r:Inl of perfection whose e.\planations of 1\ hy ~all is for thc best in
the best of 1111 possible \\'orlds" arc impeccable. -111e young Candide. ,Ill
Odysseus in breeches and a \\ig. is dull-wined, Still, he c\'cllIually
recognacs that the nOSlntms of hi!. teacher are too do'lngcrous_ Hl'
finally. famous!)'. coneludt.'S. "II faut culli'er notre jardin--simple
WOrk is good medicine for Ihose b.'Ut'rt!d hy lift!.
CAlndlde/Voltaire has eerrainly gh'en guu(l :ull'ice in counseling
gardening r-..th{:r than grie\·ing. BUI lhe ad\'ice is nOI quite so simple.
Of course. neitht:r Candide nor P-.mgloss was liL.el~ 10 loow hoU' 10
fe.n.iIi7e a garden orelo'cn 110\1 to hold a ShlWd: the\. too. werc CrC:llures
of Ih(' salOn: this nmel is no (>(Ilicy brief for \'OCationaltCllining. Enn if
it were. the EIII.',dupetlit, had in any event shown the s"IOIlier lhal
Illanllalllihur is nweh more complicated lhill it might sel.'lll louking 0111
(hI.! wimlows of the PalalS Royal. The nub of the ;ldl'icc is to prefer whitt
one can mil/mge for oneself. to prefer what is limited and concrete, and
so hum:m. Voltaire's point is that only someone who ilcccpts ,hal he or
she is likely to fall short of pcrfcl.:tioll is likely to develop realistic
jud~menls about lire. to prefer \l'hut is limited and concrete lind so
human.
The sllirit of thm acldt:c is what Voltaire's Cf:l was heginning to
encompilss in its encounter with machines. I n I he article on Rlassblo\\'-
lng. the ElIc)clopedill :lTgucs thai impcrl'cct. hanJmm.le ,::kLSS has vir-
tues: these nTC irregularity, dislincti,'cness, and whalthc writer rcfcri
to v;I<>uclv
n ,
as ··chilr:.u:ler." The two sets of imaucs
•
for glassblowing are
thus inseparable: onl)' by understanding how sumelhing might he done
perfl:clly is il possible to sense lhis allern:l1ive, an object possessing
specificit}' and eharacler. The hubble or the Ulle\'cn surface of a pice{'
of glass can he prized, whereas the stanJard of j)erreetion allows nu
room eilher for c.'lJeriment, for \':lriation-and the pursuit of perfcc-
liun. Voltaire :ldjures his fclluw philosophes, m;l~' lead hllman beings to
grief rather lImn to progress.
The Ellc}dopedj(l racks back Hml forlh in its different artides be-
twcen the poles representcd b~' Ihe paper faclu!")' and the glassmHker's
workshup. Ihe one a rei,:onciliation of human ami mlmt, the other ;In
affirm:ninn of \\"Ork that i.~ other than perfcet: perfect wurk shoulu
sen'e <IS il foil for anulher sort of labor thllt aims at a different kinu of
result. Bya I'ery different rl)ute than the Renaissance i,:elebration of
artistic genius, theil, dlC Enlightened er\tfUlIlan could buth celebrate
and aehie\'e individuality. BUl to follol\' this pnth, the good emfLsm;nl
had to take on board Volt;lire's e:Julion; he hH(! \() lu;eept imperfection
in himself.
..
,,'
~
Moclernit\.'s first encounter with the p(l\\er of lilac hines produced
dense and contradictory culture. ~ Iachines sturred that cornucopia of
goods thaI be~an to fill in an e;lrlier time. l\lore lll:Jterially endowed.
now fhe Enlightenment idenlil.ed human beings as self-empowering,
about ttl cast olT submission tlI tradition; thl! promise lhm humanity
might castnff thest' shackles appeareu in the pages of tlte Rer/illisclw
MOIIllLucilrift. \\'ould the m.tehine pnlH~ an alternati\"c p(lwer demand-
ing submission? And what sort of milehine? People wondered III repli-
eants and feared robots, thuse alien contrivances superior to the bodies
of their rnaki,:rs.
Diderot·s £JlI;yclOJICdill plun~{"d into this matter b}' ai,:knllwledging
from the outset the most oosic of human limits. those of language to
cncompass thc workings of the human Imd)", espedHII)' the. craftsman's
bod~' .al work. Neither fhe worker nor the an.alyst of lahor can really
e:l:plain what"s happening. Engllging in the process of er::lft Iah o r to
inform himself, Diderot diseo\'crcd a further limit. that of tHlent: he
could not undcrstand inteJleetu.ally work he could nol do well pnK-
tieally. He had entereu the MllOt'S dilngerous lair. in \\'hich the rna-
ehine's "t:llents·· pro\ide a model of perl·(.'Ction against which humnn
bcings mt!i!SlIrt! their own inadcqu:Jc)'.
Only a geller;Jtion after thl: Ellerc/o/lellill appeared. t\dam Smith
had eoncluul!'u that mllchines lI'ould indeed enu the: proje:ct of enlight-
enmenl, dedHring in Ti,e \\'ealt1l of !\'ettions that in a facto!")' "the man
whose whole lifc is spend in performing ;l few simple operations ..
generally becomes as stupid and ignoranl as it is possihle for:l hOmlln
Creature 10 becnme. "~I Didcrot's circle reached for another conclusion,
which I would formulate liS follol\'s:
The cnlightened way to use a machine is to judge its pOl'-ers. fash-
ion its uses. in light of our own limits rllther th,in the machine's po(en-
tirtl. \\'e should nOf compete against the machine. t\ machine, like any
mode1. uught to propnse rather thun i,:ummand, and hum<lnkind should
Cc:rtailll:v walk away from commanu to imitale perfection. Against the
II claim of perfectiun we elln HSSt'rt our OWII inui\~duality. which givcs
distineti\'e C"harneter to the work we duo 1\ lodcsty and 1:11I awareness of
our uwn inndcl{uaclcs lire l1l'cc~~al)' 10 :lchtevc (;haracter of lhis sort in
craftsrllImship,
The: rc:u.lcr \\;11 be :J\\1Ht' thai I havc.liL.e DiJerut in the workshop,
now ~po~en for him. and this is bee:luse thc implic..tiuns of Enlighten-
mcnt are pcrh:Jps c\idcnl only tWO and a half ecnlurie:oo Imer. Sound
judgment abmu mllchinery is required in any good cr.aft pnletice, Cct-
ting things right-be it function:ll or mech:Jnicall'erre<:ti"n-is nmlln
option to choose if it docs not cnliftluen us ahout ourseh·es.
The RomantiC Craflsman
)olm nll.dun Hallles "l(~ Modem Hbr-!d
R~ the mid-ninelt'enth centu~. as the modern economic s)"stem
cryslallizctl_ the enlightened hope dimmed that anisans rouM find an
honored pl:K.'· in the industrial mder. 1bc long lines oFl:Jbors dC31ings
with machincl) are dearest in America and Rril3in, \\hose lO'~m­
m('llls early nn encour.I~'4!d mechanical e:l.pCriment for industrial de-
\'('Iopment, In both countri",'s Ihe creation of machinery for L."lTge-SCtIle
produ('tion Aradually thre;llened the standing of the most skilled la-
borers and inc~ased the number of semi- or unskilled workers, th('
machinery tcmling 10 reillacc high-cost skilled lahor rather than aim-
ing, as the enlightentxl papennaking mill at L't\ngll"C, 10 climinllu.'
undulled, noisome !aSks,
Sll'Clworkers in lhe Unital States represented Ihe change that
occumd in man\' other hasic industries. Steel is lin allo}' of iron and
carbon hardening agents, The Bessemer convcrter, which came into
lise after 18,5, mass-produced this allrl)' hy a ncw kind of giant. 0\'11
oxidation ehamher, Betwcen lR(l; and 1900 industrial design then fo-
cused on such technical fel1l~ a~ substituting smnpling tech nolo&)' for
the custly human skills that had judv.e,l :lIld regul:ued the addition of
m:ltcri:lls for steel in the flow of the prnductiun jlrOCCSS, (\'laehincl)' uf
a \'cry c!c\'cr sort was also d.:-l'ist'tl to substitute absolute numbers
for human judgment about how to manage thc cooling IIf rhe lil{uid
metal.~~
III the nineteenth-century sted industl)\ skillcd artiSans faced two
potential futures hccausc of technological change: deskilling or dis-
misslil. 111e linot meant ther al least remained emplo~'t'd. In Amerielln
stcel mills hy I~, about half its artis."lns hlld acc('pted this fale. the
other half seeking careers as mCl:JlworkeN of mhcr sorts. TIlC s~iIls
innlkcd in making steel did not cllsily Htr..nsfer,H howC"er. to other
foundry labor-a signal f..ct fOf" m:my basic industries, then and riO\\'.
Highlr lifledali~ed skills represent not just a laundry Iisl of pro-
cedu~ but a culture formed around these actions. Swelworkers in
1900 h.'lI1 dc\elllpcd a sct of rommunal understandings Ihat allnwed
large groups of workers to labor in a de::Lfeningl) nois}\ poorl)' lit ('ft.
\imnm('nL ThC'Se \\'a~'S of working safely did rtOt tr.lnsr('r to Smlll), tiJl:ht
spaces as in .. specialized machine shop. where the: worker had to focus
more un his indi\'idual bod): This was a different sort of problem than
the dirTiculties of te<:hnoJogy tr:::lnsfer faced by Ih(' eight('('nth-ee:ntur\
luthicrs of Cremon3. In the luthier's intiTD,"l{c \\orkshop. thc transmis--
sion of irwfhidual talent was Ihe issue; in the metal factOf)', it was
adaptin,; tin C'Slahlished skill 10 :J new spatial culture, A.. '\'C dSl.."I\ he~
documentl-d. a kindred problem WliS fllced in IW, by proJl:r.ammers
displ"ced from working on TD,'1inframe m"chlnes to person"t COm,
pulers and gaming dc\'icL"S, The norms of the \\orL."laee r.lIher thlln
compuilition formed Ihe difficulty of changc_17
Croft workers ha\'e fought technological change on three fronts:
lhe employers. th(' unskilled laborers \\ho took their jobs, :llld th('
mllehille~. The t\m('rie;lll Federation of L"lbor (AFL) bcc3me an em-
blem:JIJc union in this r('gard. O\'('r its long life its various cr.aft unions
fOLlRlll well ag3insl their employers: many unions came 10 an under-
st<lnding with the lar~cly immigr.anl, unskilled workers whom em-
ploycrs pr(·fcrrcd. But nn Ihe Ihird front the)' did nut fight \\'e1l a/oVlinst
the machine. The unions unJ('r th(', AFL umhrelln l"ailc(1 ttl ill\'('st ill
lOS CR"FTSMES
ahemati\'e litr.:uegics of m«hanical desi~n: the craftsmen did not
sponSOr research or themseln.'S design machincs that would keep 3
large Ixxly of slilled nper~ti\·e... nexf:SSOl!)'. 1\I~hanic.al chaflge came 10
the labor force r~ther thun from "ithin the !labor mo\·cmelll.
Fllilure on this Ihinl fronl has Ilmgnified the 5~mholie threat of th<;:
m:u.:hinc. Skilled opcroth'es live with and througll machines but rarel)'
create them in modern indus!!)'. Technological ;ll.lv3llce COll1es in this
way to seem inse-pardble from domination by others.
-:'.
..
'.'
There was no more I'assinn::ue Victurian protest against such mechan-
ical dominmion lllan the English writer John Rusl..;n, who appealed 10
his readers to scorn lhe vcry idea of 11 mexhllnical ciyi1i~.lltion. I\lantml
workers in nlt:die\'al guilds seemed to him to le;ld bencr lil'cs, in higher-
qualilY institutiuns, Ihiln they du in modern flletories. The radical na-
ture of Ruskin's \'ision '\~IS 10 i1sscrt that modem society as a \\hule
should and could retum IU thc prcinduslriall'ltsL
RuslJn \'<lS an unlikely champion or craft \\orkers or indeed of an~
physical acthit~'_ 80m into a prosperous, tight-knit family. he \\~.tS an
inward bo),: his became the adult life of a sensili'"C. \"Ulnefahle man \\.!lC>
round a refuge In the cloisters of Oxfon! but no inner peace. In po'!.rt.
physical obj~ts and artisanal \\"urk served him as a release frum sclf-
but he in nu \\'a~' fitted thc stereotype of a fuss)' "esthete. Ruskin's Al"eilt
modcrn biographer. 11m Hilton. presentS him as a man who earl~' on
foreshadowed Eo 1\1. Foster's dictum ~only cunm.'ct. ~ which in Buskin's
case meant connecting In other people through hand-mad... th.ings.~
In early trips to Italy. particularl~'LU Vcni...e. Ruskin found an une.\:·
peeted beauty in its rough·hewn metlie\'al huildiflgs. The gargoyles.
arched duol\\<I)"i. and win(low~ hewn hy Slonemasons appealed tn hin'
more than the ahstract geometries of later Renaissance lIrcl,itecture or
the perfect workmanship or t:ight~cnlh-century cllhinetmakers. He
drew these ruugh ohjcets in the same spirit as he found lhl'm, bellU'
tifully e\'oking tM irr~ul."1rilics of the stones or Venice in frec-1I0\\ ing
lines on paper: hy dr,l\\ ing, flc disco\'Crcd the pleasures of touch.
Ruskin's \\ riting is intensely pertonal; he draws ideas and pR"Cepts
from his UI\ n sensations and e:..pcri...nce. The apreal he made we mighl
formulnte tlKlar as Aet in lauch \\ ith rour body. ~ Ilis pruse HI ils hest
H
has:ln rtlmnsl h~'llllOlic taetilc I~\\'cr, milking lh... reader feel the damp
mOss 011 an old stone or stt the dust in sunlit slrl't'ts. I\S his \\ork
progressed. his contrnst of pasl and presC'nt hecame ~'en murc po'
lemic: Italian cathedrals euntrastcd to British fOlCIOrifi. Italians' ex-
prcsshe laoor to English dull industrial routine. At O,furd in the IR;cs
and ISt;o$ Ruskin put the command ~gct in loueh with ~'lIur bod} inllJ M
pr.tetice. He led tr()(Jps of gilded ~'outh oUI to the suhurbs to work un
road construction, thcir sore, callused hands \'irtuous signs ofcunnefO:t-
in~ to Real Ufe.
Ir~Ruskinism"involved an appreciation of rouj:th-l1Cwn In:aut)\ and
more than a (lORe uf eroticism in hllr" physicallahur, it c1arili...d :In
apprehension Ruskin's rcadefS could name onl\' \\ilh difficult". The
industrial age eonsummatl-d lhe cornucopia. ;hc machine ~ring
fanh a comucopia of clothes. domt-'stic utensils. bools and ne\\s-
papert. machines to m:lke other machines. Like their predexcssllfS
Victorians oolh wondered and fdt an.dous ahout this material abun.
dance. The machine introduced a /lell' dement concerning llie relation
of 1IIlIlntil)' and quality. For lhe firsllinle, the sheer 'Juant it)' of uniform
objecls aroused concerns that nllmber would dult the senses. lhe IIni.
form pcrfl~tion of machined goods issuing nn S~lllp:uhetic imitation.
no personaln:sponsc.
This imersc relation m.lwcen quantity and quality c,"prt.-ssed itself
through Waste-a problem IInly dreamed nf h} scarcity societies. \\'e
can work had.:ward to this prohlem thruugh Ihe nUlllbc~rs lhat repre-
senl \\'dsle today, in products IhrowTl out long hefore Ihe end of their
practical life, Arone counl, 91.llerccnl of usc<1 (;ars on sal... in IIrit:Jin in
1.00j had a senifO:cable fUlurc life ufal leaSI fh'e }'cars; 86 percent of lhe
110 CRAt'TSi\lt:l\
bu}-eni of m~11 computcrs in 2.004 ran the same prognlms they 1"<111 on
their old compuu~rs. One e\planation for soeh Wlme is tb....t consumers
bu~' the potcnti<il power of new ohj~ts rather than power thl!')' actually
use; the nell automnhile can spet.-d a hundred miles lin hour, el'en
though the drh'er is usually slUck in truffic. Another explanation of
modem waste is that consumers arc more amused by anticipation than
by upcnHion; gt!tling the hucstthing is mure important lhan lhen Illak·
ing durable use of il.:~ EithN W:1)', being ahle SI) casily to dispose uf
things desensitizes us to lhe aculiIl ohjeclS we holJ in hrmd.
Huskin W1lS nOI the first VictOriilO 10 perceive that sheer qUilntity
mighl diminish the tactile qualities of mlilerial things. The problem of
wasle earlicr appearcd in Benjamin Oisr.lt~lrs novel S}bi/, vr llie Two
NatiolU, in I8.JS. The IXiint of this polirlcal tl"otCt cum non·1 II~IS to allack
the deprimtion in which the mllsses of English people Ih-ed, a puiOl
sharpened b)· Oisraeli's pictures of w~.Ilth as wastc-half-consumeU
joints of beef, uincs of whkh tmll' a glass in a boule mighl be tllsted.
clothes worn onee or t\lice fur the scason ;Ind then cast asidc. i\lany
Victorian writers h<ld depicted the horrOrs of poverty in itself. Disr.ieli's
distin~;live I'oke llppcOlrs in how in this, anJ in the other tIro nOI'cls of
which Sybil forms a part, he (X1rtrays waste U~ the negligence of prh',
Hege. Huskin r;lng :1 bell in this lI\'erstuffw ern on this aecoonl; Ihe
rooms he likt-'t.! to Ih·c in \\ere. for their time, relatil-el)' hare. As the good
Victorian he was. he contril·ed.ll moral for this aesthetic sp;:t~ness: the
fewer thin~5 we displlly.the more lie c=are about em.:h one.
Quantity is measured by hO'I. big as I\ell as hou much. Big W~IS
symbolized to Ruskin's gencmtion by one machine prcscntc=<lllt the
Crell! E.\.1>Osition of 18il. the centul')/s great celehration of the indus·
trial cornucopia.
Conceived by the Prince Regen!. the e"llilliition itself \I~.IS 1l lIlassil·e
displ,ty flf modern machineI')' and industrial products set within a giant
greenhouse designed ami csceuled b)' Joseph Paxttln. It encompassed
en:rything from sophislkatt-oO steam engines anJ steam·drin·n tools to
MACtlIN!::o; III
()Orcelain toilets and lIIachine-made hairbrushes. Ohjects made by
hand wen.' included, prominent in the sections dC\oll'd to crafts from
Britain's colonir."S. The Ihings made in Britain Il'ere presented to sho\\
the \-.Iriel)" thai an industriill ~1)lX'·form"likc a flush tuilet clluld take.
its Ixm Icast \'lIriuusl)' as a simple cup. a da:uF.lted urn. or (m)' fal'urile)
a knl'eling c1ephant. .IO III the first. helld) hurst of consumer industrial
production. there was no strict correlation hctween function and forrn.
Paxton's immense greenhouse housing Ihis p;:ll'an to the industrial
m:lehine, ini1ccur<ttcly ealll'd the Crystal Palace. was ibclf:l product of
thc innOWllions in glasslllaking foresh1lcloll'ed in the pagl:!s of thc Ene}'-
elopedia. To achievc large panes uf rulk'ti glllliS thm lIere sturdy enough
for constructiOn re4uirl:!d II refonnation of Ihe material's soda·lime
prolXlrtions and the inlcntion of cast·iron rollers tolemnl of eonSI:mt
high heat-requirements entirely foreign to CI)'Slal. These inn~)\,lllinns
lil\llilyappean.'d in the .8,.05.)1 Thl:! arcades of Paris begun earlier in the
centul)' had glass roofs, but thl:! panes of the arcad~ were smaller and
the mof panels I~akier. t\t the exposition. el'er) thing II~dS glllSS-gbss
held tightly in metal framl.'S. The buildin~ emhlKlieJ an aesthetic possi.
ble only thanks tu lhe wurk ufthe machine. lin lIesthetic of purc tntns-
parency. the I'isual divbion belween inside and outside abolished.
The single ohject in the Grl'at E\1>Osition of 1851 th;)t must dra-
matically dcfinro the maelline's dominion was il mhnt called Count
Dunin's Man of Steel, n;lIned after its creator. a robot Ain'n pride of
place in the Cr)'stal P-.. lace at the basc= of thl' speaker's rostrum. Seven
thouSlind pie-ces of sh.·c1. forgt--d into plmes and sprin},"li. compoSt.'ti
a metal man In the SbJlpc of Ihe Apollo BcI\"(~dcre whose one ann
stretches out before him as for a handshake. AI the rum of a crank this
metal figure ~l1lto expand. the springs and I\h....t.:ls within him push-
ing out concealed plmes, w th<it he retainl'd the perfection of the
!\pollo 8clvedt'rt"s form but became the size of a wclcominK Golialh. It
took only thirty seconds til infbte Count Dunin's [\Ian of Steel 10
doublE! life·si7.c or to shrink him down ugain to nonnal scale. U

Unlike V..UCilnsOn's P.,uisiiln repli.:ants, tht'; melal Creek did not
imitate any human function: unlike V:lucanson'slyonmlis rohots, Ihl.'
M..n of Sted produeed nothing !ill\"e Ihc impression of his 0\\ n power.
lbt' ethos of the O\1~rpow~rt'd automohile was emhodieJ in this Vic·
wri;tn robot: big. but for not purpose,
Thlll imprt'ssioll of sheer m«hanicllll'ower. the \\hole point of the
Grt~~11 E "pusilion, Ruskin sought 10 dC"OIle. This \\"3-" the: r.nlical. ener·
getic conte....t ofh;s n05t:l.lgia: hI.' felt :mger rather than sl)lhed in regret,
His wridl1/1\s issued Q call 10 arms 10 combat Ihe mudcm cornucopia, 10
rehwigOnlte sensate reaction 10 objccls, [<Iuallr, in his elill to arms, he
exhorted :Ulisans 10 reassert their claims on society's respect.
In thc mid-18;os Ruskin helped create a \\bmng i\len's Colle~ in
a housc in london's Red Lion Squ..rc, In a leiter 10 hiT friend Plluline
Trc\"e1ynn he dcscrihe<1 its students: ~I "<tnt to givc short lecturt's to
;100111 ~oo at unce in turn, I to] shuI' decor<iIOrs-anJ \\Tiling tllllSlerS-
anJ upholstercrs-and masons-and hrickrrmkcrs, and glassblo\\cT$
and pocteT)' people.- The purpose of his IKtun.-s was In part to strip
awav. the decorath"c masks of t\pc-form,
. to make his sludents aware of
the essenlial uniformity of meehanicil! production. -I want to e.~plode
printing: and gunpowdl.'r-the tWO great curses of the agt:-I begin HI
think that abominable art of !)rintinjt is tile root of all mischief-il
makes people used to ha'"c C\~l')'thing or Ihe same shape. ~ Ruskin
propo5("(ltu wake up Ihe cT;lftsmen's senses b)' creating a room \\ her<.'
they could contemplate n few truly indhidual objects made in lhe pasl.
~a room wherl.' an)"hody clIn go in all day and always see nOlhing in it
but what is good. ~l' As well as latl! medic\'a! p:lintin~ and sculptore, he
wanl('<! his stu<lents ttl sa\'or the irregularilies of handmade goods like
ei~hteenth-centul')'
glass.
Bchimllhc Wurking Men's Cnllegc lay a posith'e conception of
l.'rJ.ftsmanship--broadly concciH~d, applit:nhle 10 p<:ople \\'ho use their
MACHli"l:S 113
heads as wdl :LS their hands. This conception cT)"Slallizcd in the hool;;
Ihlll secured Ruskin's fame. The Sere" UlIl1l's of,\re/,ila'Iure, in [8-19.
eOlhic slonework. hc sars. is a ~l\mllllnar.~ a "fhtmbcJ~1lnl" grnmm;lr,
onl.' fonn gencraling anothcr sumetimt'S by the stonemason's "ill.
sumetimcs Simply by chance; -Oambopnce- is his cognomen fOr -e.~­
perimcnl.~ In TIre Slolles of \brke of 18;1-18;) this \lord takes on a
deeper caSl, Now Buskin is bcf/;Inning t<J conlemplate. as we ha\"c seen
among LhHlX progrnmmcrs. thl.' illliruatc eonn«lion l)('t\\C('n I)robk'm
sohing and problem finding. A ~f1ambo)1lnt~ workr. cxubemnt ami
c-\"cited, is \\iIling to risk losing conlrol O\'cr lIis or her work: machines
brcak JO\\ n \\ hen Ihe)' lnse control, whereas people lllake di.sco\'eries.
stumble on h:lppy accidents, The surrender nf control, [lllcasltcll1!lO'
rnril~'. now gin's Ruskin a recip~ for good craftsmllnship and how it
shnuld he taught. In J1re Slollcso/\briu Huskin in\'~nIS this flgUTc of a
draftsman whu h:ls temporarily lost eunlrol of his woo.;
\'011 clln !Cweh .. m:lll to draw Bslraight line: to slrike a CIll'\"~d line.
;In<ltn CllT\"C it, .. "lth admirable s~eJ and precision: and }'()U will
rind his work perfeci of its kind: bUI jfyou ask him 10 think about
any of those forms. to cllnsider if he cannol find any bf..uer in his
e)\\n head, he stops: his c.\"ecluion necomL'S hL'sitating; he thinks.
and len tll ('jne he thinks wrong; ten to OI1C he makes a mistake in
tht: first touch hc gi\'e1i In his work as a thinking being. nut you
h;)\,1:' made a man of him for all that. he was onlY;1 rn;u:hine before.
an animated loo1.~
Rus"in's dmfL..man will rt·cOler. lind his technique will be Ihe beller for
the crisis he has passed through, Whcther like the ston~m;ISlln one
Jellies in Ihe nicks and mislakes or whcther like the draftsm:1Il Cloe
recOl'l.'T'S the ability to make tlact. straight lines. the craftsman is now
become sclf·eonsc!ous, His is nOllhe palh of elTortlc):s mastel')'; he has
had troubles. and he has leamrtl frllm them, Tht' modern cransm.. n
should model himself or IU'rsclr on this trouLI~d draftsman rntllcr thiln
on COllnt Dunin's Man ofStn~l.
II .. CKAt'l'SMEN
Ruskin'~ Sel't'll UlflllJS oj !\rc'l;feclllre pro\'idl-'tl SC\en guides, or
"Illmps," for Ihc lroubled cr.tfuman. guides for ,myone who works di·
rectly on maleriallhings. J~ These $Clen alT:
~Ihc lamp of sacrifice." h} II hieh Rusl";n means. ;IS I du. Ill('
willingneliS 10 do something Ilell for ils own sake. dedlcalion;
Mthc lamp uf truth, tile truth that Mbreaks and rents
M
continually"; Ihis is Ruskin's embr.tCe of difficuhy, resistllnce,
..nd ambigui~';
• "Ihe lamp of power.- Icmpered power. guided by slan,lanls olher
Ihom blind Ililt:
• "the lamp Qf heauty.- which fQr Ruskin is fuuntl mure in the
detail. the umarnent-hand-sil.ed beautr-than in Iht' larg('
dl'SjRn:
• "tht' lamp of life," life equ;Hing wilh struggle llnd energy, dcrll h
wilh de~Il.l1y perfection:
• "the [31np of memory," Ihe guidHlll'e prol'ided hy Ihe time hefnn'
machineI')' nlled; and
• Mthe lamp of obedience." whicn consists of olk.'t.1ienec tuthe
example SCi by a mastcr's practice rather Ihan by his IJ3rlicular
works: OIh('nlisc pm, Slril'(' to be like Stradil'lTi bUI do nOI
seck to copr his particular liulins.
~ a \'ein elf radical IhQu~ht. Ruskin refuses the presenr. looks
bdckwOlrtl in orde.- In look forward. Ruskin soughl to inslill in c"'lfiS'
men of all sorts the desire, indeed Ihe demand. for a losl sflo'ce of
rrl!l!dom~ it liQuId be a free space in "hich people can t'.'l"t'rimenl. II
supponiHe spOice in which the} cOlild at leastlempomril}' lose eontTUI.
11lis is a condition for \\hich peoplc \1;11 ha,'(' (0 fighl in modem society,
Rus1Jn 6elieH!t1. th:1t the riAQrs of the induslrial age work againsl t!.\'-
peril!nees of free e.\,pe.-iment and sl,lutary failure: had he liI'cd lon)t
enouJlh, he 1I'0uld hal'e apprcciated F. $cQu FitLgerold's obsen'atlnn
that in Amcrica therc are no secon{l chances. For Ruskin. the crafts-
man sel'l.'cs as an emblem for 1I1I1)(,0(1lc in the very need of thc oppo.--
tunity fur "ht"sitlilion .. mistakes": lhe cl".tflsman lllust transcend
working by Ihe Mlampri of the machine, hecomc;n hi!> or he.- ,Inuln!>
more lhan an -animated tool."
What would Didt':TOt ha\'e m..de of the scI'cn Illmps guiding the
C.-afISRlo,nr Certainly the cncydopedisu: would han: appn:cialctl. Rus·
kin's humanil)'. but he would insisled that reason could pia} a grc3ler
role in it_ and that Ihl' ~em machine, C"en a robot. senes .. purpose
in human sclf-undefSt;lI1ding. Ruskin mighl reply that OidcrOl had n!)t
rei learned the hard lnuh nf industrial power_ D;t!t:rot mighl coun!;:!.-
thar Ruskin's bml>!i ilIuminale howeroftsmen halt: dont: Ihd.-wurk \\ell
but olTcr no real guidance about the materials the modem cr.lftsman
has 10 hand. flut in modern tl·nIlS. w(' might ellmp..l re Buskin to Heideg-
ger: Ruskin did not rellrn til escape 10 it dreilm-hut: he suu~ht instead
another surt of miller;al pnictice nnd another sort of sod:ll en)t:igcmenl.
In its time. HlIskln's C'-;Iflsman appcared a Romantic Iigure, and as a
Rom~lI1lic trope the craftsman ~n'ed os a eoumenlcight to the Ro·
manticism ('mbodi~ in Ihe emblem of the artist as IcchniCll1 \irtooso.
In the earl~' eighteenlh century a ,;rtUO!iU lik Chambers. with
lIide-ranging inteTCSIS. ralher prided himself on his amatcurism. In
Chamb<:rs's da)' Antonio Stnldil'llri would nol ha\"c been bheled a \ir-
ruoso: his genius nan in one channel onlr In Brilain. lhe gentleman
amaleur has retained a certain snobbish CliChe., liS has his opposite
number. Ihe gentlemlln who elinc~ eITortkoss. casual mastery. F:tC('d
with complicliletl. cancer sUTgCI'). )Otl would not IlanllO tnllit ~IllJr hod}'
to ('ithe.-. Hut Ihe specialist \irtUllro also has an unsculinll relation 10
technique.
In music, Ihe ";rtuoso obscss('d by t«hni'lue took 10 the public
staKe in th~ mid-eighternth century. Shet:r I1nger de.\'lerity became a
display th;u lludicl1ces paid 10 hear in the ne\\' re~,lm I)f public concert
performances: Ihe amateur listener began tu :tppluuJ-as an inredo.-.

This silu:nion marked a COIllr"dSI to lhe perform<lnces in coures in
whieh Frederick the Great, for instance, plared rhe !lule parts in lhe
compositions he commission~d from his hired musicialls or. earlier,
the role <IS lelld dancer Louis XIV Frequently look in lhl' SIM.:clacletl
mOUllled at Versaillcs, Hoth kings \Iere highl)' skilled perfonners. hut
in courts the line helween performer and audicnce. lechnlc<ll master
and :lln:ltl'ur. was blurr~. Diderot's n~'el Rail/cali'S Ncphcw marks the
firmness of Ihis new line as it Jx'g:m to be tlra\\ll in his lime, This
dialogue in pan asks II hal is lechnical masleC)' and am;wers Ihm it is
Ih(' fnlit of 111.~ruie struggle, man's banl~ wilh an instrumcnl, 'Ibe
dialogue Ihen PUSf:OS Ihe question \\ hethcr IL"Chnical nambopmce com-
promises artistic intt'Krit~: In the hiSlO~' of music Ihe answer La Ihat
qUe'Sliun became el'er more pressing. fmm ~icC'Olo Paganini til Sigis-
mond Trnllherg 10 fran.l lis,1 in Iheir public appcar"dOCCS during Ihe
first half of tile nineteenth cenlU'1'. They dromali7ed the heroics of
t«hnique. P-"ganini tlnd Thalberg diminishing thereby the musical
\'irtues of simplidl)' and modes(~,
By the 189's the musical \irtu~ appeared to be S(Jmeone whose
lechnical skill had de\'t~lo[>C'd 10 such perfection lhat amateur pla)'t'r5
in an audicnce fell sm<lll. aimosl worthless in comparison, ·Illt! rise of
lhe \inuuso on stage coincidcd with silence and immobility in lhe
concen h~lI. the audience p;l~;ng fealty 10 the artisl Ihrollgh ils pa~­
shit)'. 'Ille l'irtU050 shocks and 3Wes. In e,\(:himge. thc \'irtuoslI un-
lC:lsh~ in IiSICllCIS passions they could nm producc usin~ lheir (j,,'Jl
skill~, w.
Buskin lWlthed ,his elhos of lhe Romantic \1nuoso. The crafts-
man's hesit<ltions and mislakes h:l\'e nmhing in common \\1th such H eeonomisl. Veblen tied Ihe Cl'llflSlmm's demise 10 consumplion pat-
perfurmllnce: the musical iln<llogue to Ruskin's cd~hration of Ihe
crnfUllllln would be IUllIs,musik, in which am1Ueurs learned Ihe das·
sics on Ihcir own termS, But Ruskin shifted Ihe scene in which lhe
cllmprnmised virtuoso appCllfS, from tht., elllll;\'rl halt 10 the engineer-
ing \lurks,
MAl;IU1"ES Iii
Engineers like lsall1l>ard Kingdom Brund-who will mAke a nlflre
eXlended appellmnce laler in these p;ages-embodicd for Buskin the ills
of lcchniclli \;rtuosil~" An enginl::t'r of steel ships. or 10nR-span bridltes
ana \'iaducls, Rrune! W:IS <I technical \inuoso whose wC1rk in one way
conrormed 10 Ruskin's wlampsw: iI was experimental. ana mueh of the
expcriment pron'd fla\letl. And Brunei WlIS it cummilfed. not to say
pauionale craftsman \\ ho eQuid ha\'t~ m:l<]e more moncy by being mure
pruJcnt, "CI his work celebrates sheer IL"Chnical prnwess. which to
Ruskin was unforgivable. This refusal amounted 10 somelhing like a
reliRious m:mia: \inuosity employing machin"" is C\'e~'\\'here and al·
ways inhumane.
Iluskin. in sum. sou~htlo assert the claims of work that is neilher
am:ltcur nOr linu05O. This mKidle ground of work is cr::aflsmanship,
And this fi~urc of lhe cr.. ftsman. as OJ worker both deliant and duomed.
has passed down from Ruskin's time 10 oor 0\\11. lhouRb Ihe "'-~plieil
M
bbel"Rom.,nlK: has disappeared,
A d~de after Ruskin's death in u)oo. the.- American sociologisl
Thorstein Veblen cclehr.lted Ihe Ruskinian \'irtucs of Ihe handmade
O\'Cr the machine-made in 111e Spirit of \HJrklll""dlip, in chllr".te·
lerislically omilte prose: 1be \;sible impcrf("Clion5 of hand'\\Tought
goods. being honorific. arc 3ccounted m:lrks of supcriorilr. of se";ce-
abilit), or rn)th. M,7 The Gre<lt E,=position he saw IlfSlhand. in Chicago in
18cJ3. seemed to mark the craftsman's passing: most of the eraftwork on
display ~all1e from plat:es and peoples Veblen callcd-\\ith [I sense of
H
Ihe iron)' ill\'oh'ed_Mprimili\'e or "undc\'doped,H The ch;li~l~d goods
domintc",'.,1 in their profuse, unifonn. machined numl>crs, As befils;m
terns; lhe I.ondun Gn~at E.~position of 18;1 was for him an clIrly rorc-
tasle event in machine-en3blcd wcoll5Jl icuous consumption." a flrst
cxercise in m:lss lId\'erlising. The good craftsman is 3 lloor salcsm;m,
"bsorbcd in doing sOlne,hin~ \l'dl. unabll' to explain thc value of what
h~ (lr shl: is doing.·~
118 CIIA"'rSMt:N

To Veblen's heir. C. WriAht :\Iilk the m,lchine too seems the in- (;11,H'TER FOL'1I

SlrUIllCllt by \\hich the craftsman-though deeply fulfilled by work,

embracing c.\:fX'rinlCnt :lnd irrc$l.ularity, modesl in inttmt. careful and
p:lrticular-ili doomed. NThis model of cr.lfrsmanshlp,N ~Iills declares.
Nh:)s hecome an an;J(;hrunism_ NJ9 This, too. is Ruskinian. Perhaps this Material Consciousness
casl of mind explains \\ h)' cr.. flSm~n themseh'Cs.likc the skilled Ameri-
can sleclworkel5. did not try' to enR3ge thruugh Lhdr uniuns in tl'eh-
llo1og.ieal inno\':ldon-or perhaps merulcetl wurkers e;mllllt fight on all
(mnLS. Still, a fumllmcmal issue is ('Used h)' this history·. Between the
Enlijo:htened ..nd the Romantic \ieW$ of craftsmanship we ought cer-
tainl}~ I bdit'\·e. to prefer those of lhe earlier time. when workinf;: \\ith
machines rathcr thun fi~htin~ was the r.tdical. elrntncipatol')· challenge. I the me('ting of the British 1\ledical Association in 2006
It rt'mains so.

A when the p,lSsions of docto" and nurses boiled O\Cr. a

room was found for the o\·erflo\\ of journalists. members
of Ihe puhlic like me. :lnu medical people wflO could not
gct Into the hall. SonIc scientific presenlarion must ha\1:~ occurred in
this room prt'\iousl~, for left on Ihc giant screen in front of our se:als
\\,IS th~ full-color piclure of it rubbcr·glo\·~ hand liftinR 01' oil part of a
pall~nl's I::arge inteslinc in a sUrj;ical openuion. Thc journalists occa-
sionally glanced at this monster image only 10 lnok away as thou~h it
were somchO\\ ohscene. The doctors and nurses in Ihe roDm.110Wl.-'"\"cr.
s«mcd to pa)' it more and more attention. particularlY.::l1 those rno-
mellt.s when tht' \'oices of gowrnmcnl onicials ",,,fted through lhl'
loudsrcakc". droning on about reform,
Their I':lpl atttmtion to \\halc\'er the gloved h,md W:lS doing to the
larAc IlHl'Sline Is material cunsciousncss. All cmftsmen hil\'c II, C'\'en
thoSt' who practke the most arcane arl. The rainier Edgar DCgll~ is
once supposed to ha,-c remarked to SI.aphane l\laliarme. "I h,l\"c a
wonderful Idea for II poem but I ean'l scem 10 wurk it OUl." whereupon
l\'lall:lrme replied. "l\ly dear Edgllr. poems arc not madc with ideas,
thC'l' ~lre made with words, N

As mi~hl he illlll~ined, "nHlIcrial conscioLlsness Nis a pIJr:lSC Ihllt