A Philosophical Story of Love
in Two Parts

by Peter Robinson

The underlying theme of Bought for a Farthing is an indirect investigation into the nature of love.

The first larger part of the book, Bertie and Me, was written in dialog form in order to uncover the roots of a strong sense of ambivalence I felt towards Bertrand Russell on recently re-reading some of his writing.

After stating my intent, obtaining his consent and getting to know each other a little, we found ourselves embarked upon a pub crawl in Kalgoorlie. The story is, therefore, in a Socratic philosophical tradition - more commonly known these days as "pub philosophy"; the sort that sorts out all the world's problems in no time at all.

Theory of knowledge, which asks How do I know what I know? was one of Bertrand Russell's major interests, and is developed in the dialogue from the basis of his thinking to some answers to the question: How does I know what I knows?

The general law of maximum diversity of happenings or "non-fulfilment of hopes" is introduced, and public notification is given - somewhat indirectly and belatedly. I must confess - of an experiment already in progress to test and demonstrate the validity of a mathematics of love. The possible extent of fall-out from this experiment is unknown at the time of writing, which is why I feel such notification is necessary. The axiom "Nothing is absolute" underwrites both the general law and the mathematics of love.

After a day and a half on the binge with Bertie, I felt I could say without reservation that I truly love the man. The source of the polarity in the sense of ambivalence was in the values of his society with its unfounded notions of superiority and privilege based largely on breeding - values which Bertrand Russell did his utmost to see beyond. They have developed into a form related to material wealth and professionalism in modern Australia and elsewhere, but remain equally unfounded in the mathematics of love which forms the basis of the current experimental demonstration.

The second part of the book, The Interview, is very much smaller than the first. It serves to complete the picture contained in the unfertilised egg called Bertie and Me and is written in the form of a Dick Francis novel.

It investigates, during the process of preparing for an interview with Carl Jung, a strong sense of ambivalence I feel towards the subject of psychoanalysis. That thing called love makes its presence felt here, too, and sets itself up in firm opposition to professional psychoanalysis as a useful form of therapy.

Peter Robinson