Nothing is more dangerous to reason than the flights of the imagination and nothing has been the occasion of more mistakes among philosophers. Men of bright fancies may in this respect be compared to those angels whom the scripture represents as covering their eyes with their wings.
A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume, Book 1, Section 4, p.225
Philosophy makes progress not by becoming more rigorous but by becoming more imaginative.
Introduction to Truth and Progress: Philosophical Papers by Richard Rorty, Volume 3, 1998.
The conception of the necessary unit of all that is resolves itself into the poverty of the imagination, and a freer logic emancipates us from the straitwaistcoated benevolent institution, which idealism palms off as the totality of being.
Our Knowledge of the External World by Bertrand Russell
The true function of logic,... as applied to matters of experience,... is analytic rather than constructive; taken a priori, it shows the possibility of hitherto unsuspected alternatives more often than the impossibility of alternatives which seemed prima facie possible. Thus, while it liberates imagination as to what the world may be, it refuses to legislate as to what the world is.
Our Knowledge of the External World by Bertrand Russell
Science does not know its debt to imagination.
Poetry and Imagination by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1872.
Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.
Introduction to Men at War by Ernest Hemingway, 1942.
There is no life I knowthat compares to pure imaginationLiving there you'll be freeif you truly wish to be
Pure Imagination|Pure Imagination by Gene Wilder, 1971.
Impossibility is only the figment of an insufficient imagination.
The Song Of Sin by Phil Duncan, 1998.
Alexander Ralston was one of two co-architects for the design of the city of
Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
.
Life
Alexander Ralston was born in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in 1771. In Britain he was engineer working for the
Baron of RoslinBaron of Roslin was a Scottish peerage held by the chief of the Clan Sinclair.*William Sinclair, 1st Baron of Roslin, *Henry Sinclair, 2nd Baron of Roslin, *Henry Sinclair, 3rd Baron of Roslin,...
on his estate before immigrating to the United States after the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. An assistant to the French architect Pierre L'Enfant in 1791, Ralston helped L'Enfant layout the city plan for Washington, DC. Ralston came to
IndianaIndiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
sometime before 1815, leaving the east partly because of his involvement with
Aaron BurrAaron Burr, Jr. was an important political figure in the early history of the United States of America. After serving as a Continental Army officer in the Revolutionary War, Burr became a successful lawyer and politician...
and the
Burr conspiracyThe Burr conspiracy in the beginning of the 19th century was a suspected treasonous cabal of planters, politicians, and army officers led by former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr. According to the accusations against him, Burr’s goal was to create an independent nation in the center of North...
. He settled on a homestead in southern Indiana.
He was first hired in 1820 by
Christopher HarrisonChristopher Harrison was the first Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, serving with Governor Jonathan Jennings. Harrison was briefly acting governor while Jennings' was conducting negotiation with the native tribes in northern Indiana, and later resigned from office over a dispute with Jennings...
, the state commissioner overseeing the survey of
IndianapolisIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, and charged with helping to survey the city. With co-surveyor
Elias Pym FordhamElias Pym Fordham was the original surveyor of Indianapolis. He was an English immigrant to the United States and author of an American travel memoir....
, Ralston's was later commissioned by the Indiana General Assembly to make a city plan for Indianapolis, developed in 1821. His original plan called for a city of only 1 square miles (2.6 km²), with a Governor's Circle, a large circular commons, the original site of the
Governor's mansionThe Indiana Governor's Residence is the official home of the family of the Governor of Indiana and is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. In use since 1973, it is the sixth official residence of Indiana's governors.-Current residence:...
, at the very center of the city. The Governor's mansion was demolished in 1857. In its place stands a 284-foot-tall (86.5-meter-tall) neoclassical limestone and bronze monument, the
Soldiers' and Sailors' MonumentThe Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument is a tall neoclassical monument in the center of Indianapolis, Indiana that was designed by German architect Bruno Schmitz and completed in 1901....
. Ralston's design borrows heavily from the city plan of Washington D.C.
Construction on Indianapolis began in earnest, with most of his plan being implemented by 1850. The city has subsequently expanded far beyond his original conception, but the downtown area remained nearly unaltered from Ralston's original city plan. Ralston died in his Indianapolis home on January 5, 1827, and was buried at Greenlawn Cemetery. In 1874 his remains were moved and reburied in
Crown Hill CemeteryCrown Hill Cemetery, located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, is the third largest non-governmental cemetery in the United States at . It contains of paved road, over 150 species of trees and plants, over 185,000 graves, and services roughly 1,500 burials per year. It sits on the highest...
in Indianapolis. His gravestone is engraved with an image of his plat of the city's initial design.
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