{
  "id": "CH04.P002",
  "oid": 67,
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "label": null,
  "work": "orthodoxy",
  "edition": "pg16769-r1",
  "work_metadata": {
    "title": "Orthodoxy",
    "authors": [
      "G. K. Chesterton"
    ],
    "description": "G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy (1908), his account of how he came to Christian belief: the full text with annotations, cited sources and commentary.",
    "original_publication_year": 1908,
    "alternate_titles": [],
    "subjects": [
      "Christian apologetics",
      "Christianity",
      "Philosophy of religion",
      "Paradox",
      "G. K. Chesterton",
      "English literature, 20th century"
    ],
    "metadata_version": 2,
    "metadata_updated_at": "2026-11-07T20:29:57Z"
  },
  "parent": "CH04",
  "ancestors": [
    "CH04"
  ],
  "prev": "CH04.P001",
  "next": "CH04.P003",
  "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH04.P002",
  "text": "I take this instance of one of the enduring faiths because, having now to trace the roots of my personal speculation, this may be counted, I think, as the only positive bias. I was brought up a Liberal, and have always believed in democracy, in the elementary liberal doctrine of a self-governing humanity. If any one finds the phrase vague or threadbare, I can only pause for a moment to explain that the principle of democracy, as I mean it, can be stated in two propositions. The first is this: that the things common to all men are more important than the things peculiar to any men. Ordinary things are more valuable than extraordinary things; nay, they are more extraordinary. Man is something more awful than men; something more strange. The sense of the miracle of humanity itself should be always more vivid to us than any marvels of power, intellect, art, or civilization. The mere man on two legs, as such, should be felt as something more heart-breaking than any music and more startling than any caricature. Death is more tragic even than death by starvation. Having a nose is more comic even than having a Norman nose.",
  "length_cp": 1132,
  "sha256": "83d0fc122500ef0dba4d9c1642866311201c250310c534c0dc06681b7051a4d2",
  "children": [],
  "annotations": [
    {
      "id": "a_umdrmnjq",
      "oid": 165056,
      "revision": 1,
      "revision_oid": 165057,
      "created_at": "2026-11-07T16:59:22Z",
      "updated_at": "2026-11-07T16:59:22Z",
      "title": "Why common humanity matters for self-government",
      "work": "orthodoxy",
      "edition": "pg16769-r1",
      "anchors": [
        {
          "unit": "CH04.P002",
          "oid": 67,
          "role": null,
          "edition": "pg16769-r1",
          "paragraph": "CH04.P002",
          "exact": "the things common to all men are more important than the things peculiar to any men.",
          "start": 503,
          "end": 587,
          "prefix": "itions. The first is this: that ",
          "suffix": " Ordinary things are more valuab",
          "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH04.P002#char=503,587"
        }
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "run": "chapter-04-restart-2026-11-07",
        "paragraph_investigator": "P002",
        "task": [
          {
            "approach": "Connections across Chesterton’s works",
            "question": "How does the wonder at ordinary humanity develop Chesterton’s earlier argument against the Superman?"
          },
          {
            "approach": "Connections across Chesterton’s works",
            "question": "What connection does Chesterton make between common human capacities and resistance to government by specialists?"
          }
        ],
        "model": "gpt-6.1-sol"
      },
      "url": "/a/a_umdrmnjq"
    },
    {
      "id": "a_tkb3bldh",
      "oid": 165054,
      "revision": 1,
      "revision_oid": 165055,
      "created_at": "2026-11-07T16:59:22Z",
      "updated_at": "2026-11-07T16:59:22Z",
      "title": "The ordinary human being against the Superman",
      "work": "orthodoxy",
      "edition": "pg16769-r1",
      "anchors": [
        {
          "unit": "CH04.P002",
          "oid": 67,
          "role": null,
          "edition": "pg16769-r1",
          "paragraph": "CH04.P002",
          "exact": "The sense of the miracle of humanity itself should be always more vivid to us than any marvels of power, intellect, art, or civilization.",
          "start": 745,
          "end": 882,
          "prefix": "an men; something more strange. ",
          "suffix": " The mere man on two legs, as su",
          "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH04.P002#char=745,882"
        }
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "run": "chapter-04-restart-2026-11-07",
        "paragraph_investigator": "P002",
        "task": [
          {
            "approach": "Connections across Chesterton’s works",
            "question": "How does the wonder at ordinary humanity develop Chesterton’s earlier argument against the Superman?"
          },
          {
            "approach": "Connections across Chesterton’s works",
            "question": "What connection does Chesterton make between common human capacities and resistance to government by specialists?"
          }
        ],
        "model": "gpt-6.1-sol"
      },
      "url": "/a/a_tkb3bldh"
    }
  ],
  "annotations_next_cursor": null,
  "cited_by": [
    {
      "id": "a_ezv4y2k6",
      "oid": 165698,
      "revision": 1,
      "revision_oid": 165699,
      "created_at": "2026-11-07T19:04:35Z",
      "updated_at": "2026-11-07T19:04:35Z",
      "title": "A world that might not have been: wonder, gratitude, and the discipline of joy",
      "work": "orthodoxy",
      "edition": "pg16769-r1",
      "anchors": [
        {
          "unit": "CH04",
          "oid": 7,
          "role": null,
          "edition": "pg16769-r1",
          "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH04"
        }
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "run": "argument-articles-restart-2026-11-07",
        "pass": "argument",
        "task": "Developing argument of chapter IV, The Ethics of Elfland",
        "object": "CH04",
        "model": "gpt-6.1-sol"
      },
      "url": "/a/a_ezv4y2k6"
    }
  ],
  "cited_by_next_cursor": null
}