Having just read A Separate Peace by John Knowles and realizing that I am a bit too much like Brinker for my own good, I decided that I needed something to charge me. Like Brinker, who Knowles wrote, developed a sort of general resentment at the war and sunk into himself throughout the last year, I find myself agitated with current events and withdrawing from them. I feel spiritually empty, not necessarily hungry, but aware that something that ought to be there is not. In the darkness I've found myself returning to certain things to bring me back to the light in a jarring sort of way. Christianity has taught us that God is not Zeus, ready with the lightning bolt to strike man down. Christianity has taught me this, but having conceived of God as Zeus, it is hard not to imagine Him that way. Zeus both gives and kills - all the Greek gods and goddesses do. The Lord giveth and taketh away. Having arrived at this conception of God as the man ready to reward or drop an anvil in comic fashion on his creation at a very young age I find myself looking askance at the sky waiting for the anvil in my current spiritual stagnation. In times past, the jarring experiences that have brought me back from the darkness have been bound up in a few important passages - The book of Lamentations, C.S. Lewis, Ayn Rand and Augustine all have accomplished this for me for their own reasons. This time, for no particular reason, I have chosen Augustine as the springboard to leap back from this current spiritual standstill.
Confessions was written, "to excite men's minds and affections" towards God and I need that at the moment. Nothing to me is exciting my mind towards, or really away from God at the moment. But, I know that every step that is not towards God is one that is a step away and I would rather not meander down some dead end path, again.
Book I: Chapter I
- Man carries the evidence of his sin
- Restless is the heart of man until it rests in God. I know the word "restless" well.
- Those that seek God find Him; those that find Him praise Him
Book I: Chapter II
- God sustains all things; is in all things
Book I: Chapter III
- God is present in all things but nothing can contain him.
Book I: Chapter IV
- "Thou recoverest what thou has never really lost. Thou art never in need but still thou dost rejoice at thy gains". I don't know why, but this struck me. What is God recovering that was never really lost? Man carries his sin, and yet God draws that man to Himself to recover what was never really lost. Sin, separates man from God. Sin, causes the man to be lost. But if man is lost, what is he lost from if God recovers what is never really lost? This passage struck me as important at this moment. I'm not sure why. I don't feel lost. I don't feel like I'm moving at all. How can one be lost if one is constantly standing still?
Book I: Chapter V
- Tell me God, that you are my salvation. Speak to me that I may hear - I know this plea!
- I am not large enough to contain thee. Enlarge my soul.
Book I: Chapter VI
- "The consolations of thy mercy have sustained me from the very beginning".
- All good things come from God. People that give good things to others are better understood as people by which God has delivered good things.
- God is the stable cause of all unstable things.
- Augustine rambles a bit towards the end of this chapter about the ever-present nature of God. All things past and all things present and all things future will come, have come and are coming and have passed, will pass and are passing away in that one present day of the Lord. Augustine asks how can we understand this? Even if we can't, it is better to ask and try to understand it than not. He also doesn't become despondent when he realizes that it isn't an easy thing to understand. Instead he asks God, and thanks him.
Book I: Chapter VII
- God created man, not the sin in man.
Book I: Chapters VIII-X
- An interesting social criticism on the current educational system. The teachers punished the boys for playing because it interfered with their learning how to play the grown up games.
- Yet, even though Augustine acknowledges that the education was being given to him for trivial purposes, that he disobeyed his teachers because of vanity, not because of some noble purpose. He acknowledges his sin in the part.
- "Look down on these things with mercy, O Lord, and deliver us who now call upon thee; deliver those also who do not call upon thee, that they may call upon thee, and thou mayest deliver them". For someone who is seen as severe, there is a lot in this early part of Confessions that shows Augustine cares for his fellow man.
Book I: Chapter XI
Book I: Chapter XII
- By his own sin Augustine was punished. That's how it was designed to work by God. "For it is even as thou hast ordained: that every inordinate affection brings on its own punishment".
- That sentence hangs heavy on me. The word, inordinate is weighing down my shoulders. Inordinate: a disproportionately large or excessive. Every affection that is excessive brings about its own punishment.
Book I: Chapter XIII
- "The friendship of this world is fornication against thee". There is the severity of Augustine.
- Let me confess to God what my soul desires and let me find some rest. It is in the confession of the desires that brings rest to Augustine, not the acquisition of the objects of his desire.
- Curiosity, he states, is more advantageous to learning than discipline based on fear. Yet, by God's design, discipline is brought into being against the excesses of freedom. This discipline produces a "wholesome bitterness" that draws us back to God and away from the "poisonous pleasures" that had drawn us away from him.
Book I: Chapter XV:
- Augustine asks God to re-order what he has learned in order to make it useful in His work rather than in some vain project of man.
Book I: Chapter XVI:
- Augustine criticizes Homer for his immorality. In Homer, the gods commit sins like adultery and are unpunished. Men, in turn, use the acts of these gods to justify their own sins like adultery.
Book I: Chapter XVII:
- Augustine bemoans participating in using his God-given talents in trivial matters that he could've used to praise God instead.
Book I: Chapter XVIII:
- Augustine sees man as carried toward vanity and away from God by pride
- "For it is not by our feet, nor by change of place, that we either turn from thee or return to thee"
- Augustine is haunted by pride, haunted by a desire to be preeminent
Book I: Chapter XIX
- "Good, then, is he that made me, and he is my God; and before him will I rejoice exceedingly for every good gift I had"
- Augustine's sin was to seek pleasure, honor and truth in the created and not the creator. From this inordinate seeking came his error as he fell into sorrow, trouble and error.
Showing posts with label Homer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homer. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Beowulf
From Goodreads
Beowulf
Translated by Seamus Heaney
Beowulf has a special place in my heart. This translation was a whole lot easier once I realized I was reading the original version. For the first few pages I was like, this isn't even in English!
Jokes aside, this is a great translation. Seamus Heaney does a great job of making a classic text accessible to modern readers. I have enjoyed Beowulf since the first time I read it, probably for school. It sparked my interest in history and myth. That is the reason it holds a special place in my heart. Compared to other epic works though, Beowulf is not my favorite. It lacks some of the panache of Homer, doesn't flow like Ovid or Virgil and isn't as interesting as some of the Viking Sagas. That said, it gets four stars because it is still phenomenal.
Beowulf
Translated by Seamus Heaney
Beowulf has a special place in my heart. This translation was a whole lot easier once I realized I was reading the original version. For the first few pages I was like, this isn't even in English!
Jokes aside, this is a great translation. Seamus Heaney does a great job of making a classic text accessible to modern readers. I have enjoyed Beowulf since the first time I read it, probably for school. It sparked my interest in history and myth. That is the reason it holds a special place in my heart. Compared to other epic works though, Beowulf is not my favorite. It lacks some of the panache of Homer, doesn't flow like Ovid or Virgil and isn't as interesting as some of the Viking Sagas. That said, it gets four stars because it is still phenomenal.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Amerika
From Goodreads
Amerika: The Missing Person
Franz Kafka
I'm not sure how to describe Amerika by Franz Kafka. Through what lens do I see the work? On the one hand it seems like it's a story about Karl, the main character, and his struggles against the fates. In that way Karl seems like Odysseus and each episode in Karl's life is another obstacle between he and his home. But, if it's a travelogue style book, Karl seems much more like Candide than anything Homeric. The suffering in this book seems more intense than in Voltaire, but Karl is just as naive and optimistic. It's a strange mixture of cheery fatalism and abject horror. Maybe it's the plodding pace of Amerika that allows the reader to feel each injustice and injury Karl faces that gave me the crawlies, but Kafka's meanderings have a more devastating effect than Voltaire's relentless pace. The ending, with Karl being rewarded for accepting his fate with biscuits from Delamarche and Brunelda seems like a perverse, if fitting iteration of one's citrons and pistachios.
But, I often compare books I like with Candide, still one of my favorites. Delamarche and Robinson don't have quite as good of a reflection in Candide so I won't try to and shoehorn it in here. I loved this book, but I can't help thinking about how incredibly sad Kafka's works are. I was glad it ended, for Karl's sake. Even in the fragments (as Kafka never actually finished the book) I found myself grimacing as to what horrors awaited Karl in Oklahoma. Mercifully, I can imagine that he and Fanny lived a happy life out there, but I fear that Delamarche, or the specter of his uncle would somehow have robbed Karl of pleasant circumstances. The question I don't have the answer for though is could a Delamarche or his uncle or any rapidly deteriorating situation ever have robbed Karl of his spirit? In a way, Karl could be seen as a saint in Camus' views. He stared at the absurd and remained firm, seeking neither negation nor escape. He simply accepted fate and went about his business.
Amerika: The Missing Person
Franz Kafka
I'm not sure how to describe Amerika by Franz Kafka. Through what lens do I see the work? On the one hand it seems like it's a story about Karl, the main character, and his struggles against the fates. In that way Karl seems like Odysseus and each episode in Karl's life is another obstacle between he and his home. But, if it's a travelogue style book, Karl seems much more like Candide than anything Homeric. The suffering in this book seems more intense than in Voltaire, but Karl is just as naive and optimistic. It's a strange mixture of cheery fatalism and abject horror. Maybe it's the plodding pace of Amerika that allows the reader to feel each injustice and injury Karl faces that gave me the crawlies, but Kafka's meanderings have a more devastating effect than Voltaire's relentless pace. The ending, with Karl being rewarded for accepting his fate with biscuits from Delamarche and Brunelda seems like a perverse, if fitting iteration of one's citrons and pistachios.
But, I often compare books I like with Candide, still one of my favorites. Delamarche and Robinson don't have quite as good of a reflection in Candide so I won't try to and shoehorn it in here. I loved this book, but I can't help thinking about how incredibly sad Kafka's works are. I was glad it ended, for Karl's sake. Even in the fragments (as Kafka never actually finished the book) I found myself grimacing as to what horrors awaited Karl in Oklahoma. Mercifully, I can imagine that he and Fanny lived a happy life out there, but I fear that Delamarche, or the specter of his uncle would somehow have robbed Karl of pleasant circumstances. The question I don't have the answer for though is could a Delamarche or his uncle or any rapidly deteriorating situation ever have robbed Karl of his spirit? In a way, Karl could be seen as a saint in Camus' views. He stared at the absurd and remained firm, seeking neither negation nor escape. He simply accepted fate and went about his business.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
I'm just not that into James Joyce
(Originally written February 14, 2018)
My Goodreads review:
I'm just not that into James Joyce. There is a ton of brilliant stuff in the book and the variety of genres within the book is interesting. But, like with my review of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, I found I was often bored in reading it. There's some pretty funny stuff in it like the scene that mirrors Odysseus escaping from the Cyclops. However, it's mostly just the thought processes of the main characters with not much going on. For me, reading James Joyce is like watching figure skating. I can appreciate the beauty and technical skill that goes into it, but while it's impressive I'm probably going to change the channel relatively quickly because I'm just not that into it...
My Goodreads review:
I'm just not that into James Joyce. There is a ton of brilliant stuff in the book and the variety of genres within the book is interesting. But, like with my review of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, I found I was often bored in reading it. There's some pretty funny stuff in it like the scene that mirrors Odysseus escaping from the Cyclops. However, it's mostly just the thought processes of the main characters with not much going on. For me, reading James Joyce is like watching figure skating. I can appreciate the beauty and technical skill that goes into it, but while it's impressive I'm probably going to change the channel relatively quickly because I'm just not that into it...
Friday, August 18, 2017
Odysseus: A Life
From my Goodreads review...
It feels somewhat wrong to give the same number of stars to this book as The Iliad and The Odyssey; however, I've done just that because Charles Rowan Beye has made Odysseus extremely accessible without this book being overly scholarly, and thus, overly dry. The style of the work is good and reconstructs Odysseus' life and times that a neophyte Greek historian like myself can digest. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to understand either of Homer's works a little more clearly.
I had just finished up the aforementioned books before getting into this one and it was very good to get a recap at the end. I only wish I had read the Aeneid prior, but chest la vie? Now it's on to Ulysses (and if my previous encounter with Joyce is a harbinger of things to come, a commentary on that as well).
It feels somewhat wrong to give the same number of stars to this book as The Iliad and The Odyssey; however, I've done just that because Charles Rowan Beye has made Odysseus extremely accessible without this book being overly scholarly, and thus, overly dry. The style of the work is good and reconstructs Odysseus' life and times that a neophyte Greek historian like myself can digest. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to understand either of Homer's works a little more clearly.
I had just finished up the aforementioned books before getting into this one and it was very good to get a recap at the end. I only wish I had read the Aeneid prior, but chest la vie? Now it's on to Ulysses (and if my previous encounter with Joyce is a harbinger of things to come, a commentary on that as well).
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Assessment of the Odyssey
I finished The Odyssey earlier this month, but I've been slack on my digitization and compiling of my notes on this here blog. But, I'm trying to catch up. Here is what I wrote, in my Goodreads review.
What a slog! Going back to back on The Iliad and The Odyssey. Don't get me wrong, they are both great. They're just big, wordy books. I think that I prefer The Odyssey, but just slightly.
There are a number of great stories wrapped up into The Odyssey. Some are triumphant, others gory, others happy and some sad. The whole thing oozes emotion. One short little one stuck out to me thought. The little interaction between Argos, Odysseus' dog, was especially poignant. In that tiny bit of a minor passage you see how Homer can weave contradictory powerful emotions together into a unity.
What a slog! Going back to back on The Iliad and The Odyssey. Don't get me wrong, they are both great. They're just big, wordy books. I think that I prefer The Odyssey, but just slightly.
There are a number of great stories wrapped up into The Odyssey. Some are triumphant, others gory, others happy and some sad. The whole thing oozes emotion. One short little one stuck out to me thought. The little interaction between Argos, Odysseus' dog, was especially poignant. In that tiny bit of a minor passage you see how Homer can weave contradictory powerful emotions together into a unity.
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Assessment of the Iliad
I finished The Iliad by Homer over my vacation and am nearly done with The Odyssey. Once upon a time I had read The Odyssey but I don't think I've ever read the unabridged version of The Iliad. Here was my quick goodreads assessment:
"There are few storytellers throughout history who can spar with Homer. The Iliad is a riveting tale of war, love, hate and every emotion that lies between. My only complaint about this book (and this is true of many ancient works or epic poetry in general) is when a commander or a god informs some underling or mortal of some plan of action and on the next page that underling or mortal relays that message in full. The repetition is sometimes a bit much. Otherwise it's a great story, full of complex characters".
It's really amazing to see the violent swings in emotions in the characters in the story. I found myself at times really rooting against Achilles or Agamemnon. Achilles seemed a spoiled brat and Agamemnon is just really unlikeable at times. But then Agamemnon sort of redeems himself. Achilles really doesn't redeem himself too much in the story. I know it's a cultural thing - but I just find Achilles' petulance his most remarkable characteristic.
"There are few storytellers throughout history who can spar with Homer. The Iliad is a riveting tale of war, love, hate and every emotion that lies between. My only complaint about this book (and this is true of many ancient works or epic poetry in general) is when a commander or a god informs some underling or mortal of some plan of action and on the next page that underling or mortal relays that message in full. The repetition is sometimes a bit much. Otherwise it's a great story, full of complex characters".
It's really amazing to see the violent swings in emotions in the characters in the story. I found myself at times really rooting against Achilles or Agamemnon. Achilles seemed a spoiled brat and Agamemnon is just really unlikeable at times. But then Agamemnon sort of redeems himself. Achilles really doesn't redeem himself too much in the story. I know it's a cultural thing - but I just find Achilles' petulance his most remarkable characteristic.
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Ion (B)
(Originally written November 24, 2016 in Book 26)
Ion (Continued)
Plato
Socrates claims Ion has not mastered Homer, but is guided by a divine power. He is like a stone moved by a magnet.
Socrates compares the good poets to the Corybantes - priests of Cybele whom they worshipped with wild music and dancers.
A poet "is not able to make poetry until he becomes inspired and goes out of his mind and his intellect is no longer in him" (Plato, 26). Those operating from the intellect cannot write poetry.
Ion is a rahsode. Homer is a poet. Homer is used by a god to speak poetry. Thus, Homer is a representative. Ion is a representative of a representative.
Ion - "You see I must keep my wits and pay close attention to them: if I start them crying I will laugh as I take their money, bit if they laugh, I shall cry at having lost money" (Plato, 27).
The god is the magnet. He moves the first stone Homer. In doing so, Homer becomes like the magnet and moves the second stone, Ion. Ion then becomes like Homer and moves the audience. "The god pulls people's souls through all those wherever he wants" (Plato, 28).
Socrates ends the dialogue by forcing Ion to admit that it is preferable to to be thought of as someone having something to do with the divine than someone who does wrong. Because Ion would be one of the two in teaching Homer and not being a master of the profession called poetry.
Ion (Continued)
Plato
Socrates claims Ion has not mastered Homer, but is guided by a divine power. He is like a stone moved by a magnet.
Socrates compares the good poets to the Corybantes - priests of Cybele whom they worshipped with wild music and dancers.
A poet "is not able to make poetry until he becomes inspired and goes out of his mind and his intellect is no longer in him" (Plato, 26). Those operating from the intellect cannot write poetry.
Ion is a rahsode. Homer is a poet. Homer is used by a god to speak poetry. Thus, Homer is a representative. Ion is a representative of a representative.
Ion - "You see I must keep my wits and pay close attention to them: if I start them crying I will laugh as I take their money, bit if they laugh, I shall cry at having lost money" (Plato, 27).
The god is the magnet. He moves the first stone Homer. In doing so, Homer becomes like the magnet and moves the second stone, Ion. Ion then becomes like Homer and moves the audience. "The god pulls people's souls through all those wherever he wants" (Plato, 28).
Socrates ends the dialogue by forcing Ion to admit that it is preferable to to be thought of as someone having something to do with the divine than someone who does wrong. Because Ion would be one of the two in teaching Homer and not being a master of the profession called poetry.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Ion (A)
(Originally Written November 23, 2016 in Book 26)
Two Comic Dialogues:
Ion and Hippias Major
Plato (Hackett, 1983)
Both Ion and Hippias Major are important early works dealing with Plato's ideas of poetry and beauty.
Ion is a raphsodie - a reciter of epic poems who performed at festivals and private events for hire. Ion recited the poems, but also explained them and in so doing proclaimed himself an expert in the knowledge they possess. This makes him a likely target for Socrates who goes around showing those who proclaim to be wise that they are unwise.
"Homer was revered in antiquity not merely as a maker of beautiful poems, but as a source of information (Woodruff, 6).
Socrates has very high standards for knowledge.
Knowledge is differentiated however by the Greek term techne - knowledge in a craft or professional knowledge.
Greek poetry claims to come from inspiration from the gods (muses). Both Homer and Hesiod claim inspiration in their works.
In the Greek mind, for a man to be successful he must have divine inspiration. That there were successful men proved inspiration. It is common place in the Greek world. "Inspiration is neither extraordinary nor supernatural in Homer's world" (Woodruff, 7).
Plato sees the poet's inspiration as the gods using the pet as a mere vessel. Poetry comes from a madness brought about by an interaction with the divine.
The man who tries to master poetry by techne alone will be out shined by "the poetry of madness".
But the idea of poetry coming from a divinely induced madness is false. Those who are mad cannot speak coherently, let alone produce poetry.
Why did Plato then put forth this theory? Possible reasons:
1. He is really trying to make an argument for its case.
2. He is attacking poetry
3. He is claiming that poets do not have knowledge when they produce poetry but that philosophers can translate the truth from poetic utterances to the public like priests can translate prophetic utterances made by the oracles who are possessed by the gods when they make said utterances.
Goethe thought Plato attacked poetry. The Renaissance thinkers preferred option one. Most modern scholars believe the third option is likely the best.
Plato does attack poetry, but he also enjoyed it, "we must not forget that the poetry Plato rejected in the Republic was something he deeply loved" (Woodruff, 9).
To possess Techne one must possess a mastery of all knowledge within a field. Ion knows Homer but does not have techne because he knows nothing but techne. Ion knows only through inspiration.
Ion is unable to distinguish between well made verses that are good because they are pleasing to the ear an well made verses because they are true.
Ion
Socrates calls Homer the best poet and the most divine.
Ion claims to be an expert on Homer, but not on the other poets.
Ion claims that while the poets discuss the some topics, Homer does it best.
Socrates forces Ion to admit that there is an art to poetry as a whole and because Ion cannot speak to it as a whole he speaks on Homer not from techne.
Two Comic Dialogues:
Ion and Hippias Major
Plato (Hackett, 1983)
Both Ion and Hippias Major are important early works dealing with Plato's ideas of poetry and beauty.
Ion is a raphsodie - a reciter of epic poems who performed at festivals and private events for hire. Ion recited the poems, but also explained them and in so doing proclaimed himself an expert in the knowledge they possess. This makes him a likely target for Socrates who goes around showing those who proclaim to be wise that they are unwise.
"Homer was revered in antiquity not merely as a maker of beautiful poems, but as a source of information (Woodruff, 6).
Socrates has very high standards for knowledge.
Knowledge is differentiated however by the Greek term techne - knowledge in a craft or professional knowledge.
Greek poetry claims to come from inspiration from the gods (muses). Both Homer and Hesiod claim inspiration in their works.
In the Greek mind, for a man to be successful he must have divine inspiration. That there were successful men proved inspiration. It is common place in the Greek world. "Inspiration is neither extraordinary nor supernatural in Homer's world" (Woodruff, 7).
Plato sees the poet's inspiration as the gods using the pet as a mere vessel. Poetry comes from a madness brought about by an interaction with the divine.
The man who tries to master poetry by techne alone will be out shined by "the poetry of madness".
But the idea of poetry coming from a divinely induced madness is false. Those who are mad cannot speak coherently, let alone produce poetry.
Why did Plato then put forth this theory? Possible reasons:
1. He is really trying to make an argument for its case.
2. He is attacking poetry
3. He is claiming that poets do not have knowledge when they produce poetry but that philosophers can translate the truth from poetic utterances to the public like priests can translate prophetic utterances made by the oracles who are possessed by the gods when they make said utterances.
Goethe thought Plato attacked poetry. The Renaissance thinkers preferred option one. Most modern scholars believe the third option is likely the best.
Plato does attack poetry, but he also enjoyed it, "we must not forget that the poetry Plato rejected in the Republic was something he deeply loved" (Woodruff, 9).
To possess Techne one must possess a mastery of all knowledge within a field. Ion knows Homer but does not have techne because he knows nothing but techne. Ion knows only through inspiration.
Ion is unable to distinguish between well made verses that are good because they are pleasing to the ear an well made verses because they are true.
Ion
Socrates calls Homer the best poet and the most divine.
Ion claims to be an expert on Homer, but not on the other poets.
Ion claims that while the poets discuss the some topics, Homer does it best.
Socrates forces Ion to admit that there is an art to poetry as a whole and because Ion cannot speak to it as a whole he speaks on Homer not from techne.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
The History of Western Philosophy Ch. 11 - 14
(Originally written June 7, 2016 in Book 26)
What a fantastic day. Bill fixed our Volvo two days ago and then today, boom! The same thing happens. This time though the car died right in the middle of a busy intersection during rush hour. Other than that today was grand. No, I'm actually not too annoyed (and obviously don't blame Bill; though, that first sentence might've seemed to indicate it). The only truly frustrating thing was the car died. C'est la vie?
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Chapter 11 - Socrates
Socrates is a man we may know much or little about because two of his pupils, Xenophon and Plato wrote volumes about him. Those voluemes however don't always sync up to provide a precise picture.
Xenophon defends Socrates too well. If Xenophon's analysis was wholly correct Socrates would never have been put on trial. But one of the few undisputed facts we know about Socrates is his trial and death in 399 B.C.
Xenophon and Plato both agree that Socrates was concerned with putting the right people into powerful positions.
The problem with taking Xenophon's Socrates as the historical one is the fact that Xenophon makes Socrates so pure he wouldn't have been accused of corrupting the youth. The problem with taking Plato's Socrates as the historical model is Plato's ability as a writer.
Plato's Apology is widely considred as historical. This is Socrates' defense at his trial (which Plato was present at).
The grounds for Socrates' trial seems pretty lear: Socrates was evil, curious and constanly making the right seem wrong and the wrong seem right. The real grounds for the trial also seem clear: he was aristocratic and many of his pupils wre of that class and had acted perniciously while in power.
According to Athenian law, when Socrates was found guilty and stenced to death he was to offer a suitable, lesser punishment for the jury to choose between. Instead he annoyed the court by offering to pay a tiny fine so he would not be mistaken as accepting cupability.
The prosecutors held that Socrates did not follow the religion, introduced noew gods and taught (corrupted) the youth with such ideas.
In his defense Socrates states that he is on trial because the Oracle at Delphi had claimed him to be the wisest man. In pursuit of disproving this he has made many enemeies by exposing those who thought they were wise as being unwise.
In attacking one of his prosecutors he points out that he is on trial for introducting new gods but this prosecutor is accusing him of atheism.
In his defense he states, "fear of death is not wisdom, since no one knows whether death may not be the greater good" (Russell, 87).
After convicted of death, Socrates shames the court, "If you think that by killing men you can prevent someone from censuring your evil lives, you are mistaken; that is not a way of escape which is either possible or honourable; the easiest and the noblest way is not to be disabling others, but to be improving yourselves" (Russell, 89).
On death he contends, either death is a good, dreamless sleep or a migration to another world.
Plato describes him as the Orphic saint: "in the dualism of heavenly soul and earthly body, he had achieved the complete mastery of the soul over the body" (Russell, 91).
Socrates was more concerned with ethical questions than scientific knowledge. He believed however knowledge was important because no one sinned on purpose. Thus, by acquiring knowledge one could abstain from sin.
"The close connection between virtue and knowledge is characteristic of Socrates and Plato. To some degree, it exists in all Greek thought, as opposed to that of Christianity. In Christian ethics, a pure heart is essential, and at least as likely to be found among the ignorant as among the learned. The difference between Greek and Christian ethics has persisted down to the present day" (Russell, 92).
The dialectic, seeking knowledge via question and answer wasn't invented by Socrates; but, he definitely used it and developed it.
Chapter 12 - The Influence of Sparta
To understand philosophers from Plato onward it is necessary to know about Sparta. Sparta had a double impact on Greek thought; first, through reality and second, through myth.
The reality of Sparta was the Spartan defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War.
The myth is the impact of Lycurgus, immortalized by Plutarch, and its impact on later philosophies including Rousseau, Nietzsche and National Socialism.
Sparta arose out of some Dorian conquerors in Laconia. They reduced the indigenous population to serfdom. The citizens of Sparta owned the land but were forbidden to cultivate it because of the demeaning nature of the work and its interference with their time as soldiers.
The Helots worked the land. The Helots were Greek and resented the order of things. They rebelled often. The Spartans maintained a Police State apparatus to control the Helots and once a year declared war on them to weed out agitators.
"The sole business of a Spartan citizen was war, to which he was trained from birth" (Russell, 95).
Children who passed their inspection after birth were educated solely to become good and loyal soldiers. Those who did not pass this intial inspection were killed.
Boys became men at 20 (serving in the military). They became citizens at 30.
No Spartan was to be poor or rich. Their currency was made of iron.
Women received the same physical training as the men. They were forbidden to show any emotion that didn't coincide to the state's favor.
Sparta was ruled by two kings from two different hereditary lines. The two kings belonged to the thirty-man Council of Elders. The Council tried criminal cases and prepared matters for the Assembly. The Assembly was a body of all citizens who could only vote yes or no on matters.
In addition to these three bodies there were the Ephors. There were five Ephors who acted as the Supreme civil court and had criminal jurisdiction over the two kings.
Tradition held that Lycurgus laid down the Spartan law in 885 BC.
Most other Greek city-states admired SParta. Paritally as an ideal from a bygone era. Partially as a model of stability. Partially for their near invincible status in battle on land.
Aristotle was intensely critical of the Spartan way of governance. Aristotle probably was writing of the real Sparta whereas Plato and Plutarch wrote of the mythical Sparta. Pultarch's praise of Sparta and Lycurgus was of great importance to post-Renaissance thinkers.
Sparta was isolationist, often foiling pan-Greek alliances and forbade its citizens from travel and allowed very few foreigners into the city for fear of corrupting the values of the state.
Chapter 13 - The Source of Plato's Opinions
Plato and Aristotle are the two most influential philosophers in history, and Plato is more important than Aristotle.
Plato's top ideas: 1) Utopia, 2) Theory of ideas, 3) arguments in favor of immortality, 4) his cosmogony, 5) knowledge as reminiscence rather than reception
Plato was born in 428/7 BC during the early years of the Peloponnesian War into an aristocratic family. He was a young man when Athens was defeated by Sparta and coupled with his aristocratic background was staunchly anti-democratic, blaming it for the Athenian defeat.
He was a pupil of Socrates.
He was an admirere of Spartan government (primarily because of his anti-democratic bent)
He was influenced by Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Socrates, each leading him to a pro-Spartan outlook. From Pythagoras came the other-worldliness, religious and mystical bent. From Parmenides came the beleif that reality is eternal and change illusionary. From Heraclitus came the belief that nothing is permanent in the sensible world. From Socrates he took the obsession with ethics and a teleological view of the universe.
Chapter 14 - Plato's Utopia
Plato's most important dialogue is The Republic. In it is contained the earliest of Utopias.
One conclusion of Plato is that rulers must be philosophers.
The purpose of The Republic is to define justice.
Plato works to define justice by defining an ideally just state.
In this state he divides citizens into three classes:
1) Common people
2) Soldiers
3) Guardians
The guardians are the sole holders of political power, initially selected by a legislator but then passed through hereditary means. (Plato does allow for exceptional men to rise from the other two classes and for an ill-fated guardian to drop).
The guardians, as politcal agents, are Plato's main concern and that main concern begins with the proper education to rule.
Education was divided into Music and Gymnastics. Music covered everything considered today as culture. Gymnastics concerrned physical training. Musical education was about educating the ruling elite to become 'gentlemen'.
The training up of gentlemen began young. Stories were told to children only if they were approved. Homer & Hesiod were not allowed because:
1) They show the gods misbehaving
2) They cause the fear of death
Sidenote (Future Modern Ancient Greeks)
When discussing political systems with some Alien, the hero gets offended when America is not mentioned. The Alien responds, "Oh yes... the great petry dish, the grand experiment politik, the new Rome, a system built on complete contradictions, an aristocracy so perfect it fooled the lower classes into believeing it was egalitarian in nature. It was perfect until you side-tracked into a primitive hero worship of completely unimportant entitites. There's nothing wrong with admiring or even elevating your artists to godlike status but when you elevate your inartistic to artistic and then what you call the artistic to the status of demigods you get a rather sad and debased populace. A pity really becaue everything was going so well. You survived your Punic war with the Soviets but will you survive long enough to allow the rise of a new Parthia to give you the impetus to survive a millenia? Or have you sped up your timeline and already become decadent and too self-obssessed and self-assured to recognize the imminent but slow rot that overtakes all empires? Not of course you, per se, because you are now a child of the stars and without the wherewithal to return home to the decaying America. But even if your America could cut out the corrosion and you found an astronomically improbable way home, would you be satisfied with life back on a primitive planet now that you have seen just a portion of what other worlds have to offer?" The alien continued with his political treatise in soliliqy as (our hero) ost all sense of national pride and pondered a suddenly existential question, if he ever could make it home, would he want to?
Sidenote complete
3) The homeric poems approve of uncontrollable laughter
4) Homer praises lavishness
Homer and Hesiod cannot be taught in the ideal State because the ideal gaurdians of that State must respect religion (misbehaving gods of Homer are unworthy of respect), must be willing to die for the State and thus, cannot fear or mourn death, be in control of their emotion (no great mirth() and be temperate and praise temperance and simplicity.
Education of the gaurdians also forbids any stories where the wicked are happy or where the good are unhappy.
Plato also banned drama because authors and actors would have to portrait either villains or those beneath their status; thus, debasing themselves.
Music, diet and exercise were also strictly monitored for ideal outcomes.
The young gaurdians must also see no ugliness until they are fully trained and then be exposed to temptations that must be found untempting and terrors which must not terrify.
Economically, Plato insisted on a communist approach where the gaurdians have little private property but are not lacking or unhappy. Poverty and wealth both produce ills so both will be banished.
Wives and children will be common to all men who are gaurdians.
Women gaurdians will be equal to all men gaurdians and recieve the same education.
Interestingly, marriage ceremonies where bride and groom will be chosen (they think) by lot will actually be arranged by legislators to produce the best offspring.
Children will not know who their parents are and parents will not know their children. Thus, children are common to all parents.
Women are to bear children between 20-40. Men to father children should be 25-55. ALl sex outside of these ages is fair and free.
All this reorientation of familial structures is to create a loyalty to the State as the primary focus.
The government is to be built on one great lie, "one royal lie", to get the whole thing in motion.
This lie is that God made men of three kinds - gold, silver and brass/iron. The men made of gold are to be the gaurdians. The men made of silver are to be the soldiers. The men made of brass and iron are to do the manual labor.
The lie was well thought out. Plato assumed that the first generation of Utopia wouldn't buy it, but subsequent generations through indoctrination would.
Plato reaches his definition of justice in the three types of men God created living in harmony. The city becomes just when each is doing the job he ought to do without interfering with anyone from another class.
Like philosophers before him, and the poets who lived before the dawn of philosophy, Plato embodies the Greek notion of fate - everything having its place and function. Justice was the harmony of living within the boundaries of this fate.
Plato's definition of justice allows for inequality without injustice. The gaurdians, even though the smallest class, rule because they are the wisest and fated to do so. Injustice would only occur if someone from the lower two classes was wiser than a gaurdian. That is why Plato allowed exceptions for promotion or demotion.
Plato, unlike many later Utopians, saw his Utopia as viably feasible and wished to implement it. Unfortunately he chose to try with Syracuse and it failed. Soon thereafter the rise of Macedonia made the polis antiquated and the notion of establishing a Utopian city-state impossible in the face of empires.
What a fantastic day. Bill fixed our Volvo two days ago and then today, boom! The same thing happens. This time though the car died right in the middle of a busy intersection during rush hour. Other than that today was grand. No, I'm actually not too annoyed (and obviously don't blame Bill; though, that first sentence might've seemed to indicate it). The only truly frustrating thing was the car died. C'est la vie?
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Chapter 11 - Socrates
Socrates is a man we may know much or little about because two of his pupils, Xenophon and Plato wrote volumes about him. Those voluemes however don't always sync up to provide a precise picture.
Xenophon defends Socrates too well. If Xenophon's analysis was wholly correct Socrates would never have been put on trial. But one of the few undisputed facts we know about Socrates is his trial and death in 399 B.C.
Xenophon and Plato both agree that Socrates was concerned with putting the right people into powerful positions.
The problem with taking Xenophon's Socrates as the historical one is the fact that Xenophon makes Socrates so pure he wouldn't have been accused of corrupting the youth. The problem with taking Plato's Socrates as the historical model is Plato's ability as a writer.
Plato's Apology is widely considred as historical. This is Socrates' defense at his trial (which Plato was present at).
The grounds for Socrates' trial seems pretty lear: Socrates was evil, curious and constanly making the right seem wrong and the wrong seem right. The real grounds for the trial also seem clear: he was aristocratic and many of his pupils wre of that class and had acted perniciously while in power.
According to Athenian law, when Socrates was found guilty and stenced to death he was to offer a suitable, lesser punishment for the jury to choose between. Instead he annoyed the court by offering to pay a tiny fine so he would not be mistaken as accepting cupability.
The prosecutors held that Socrates did not follow the religion, introduced noew gods and taught (corrupted) the youth with such ideas.
In his defense Socrates states that he is on trial because the Oracle at Delphi had claimed him to be the wisest man. In pursuit of disproving this he has made many enemeies by exposing those who thought they were wise as being unwise.
In attacking one of his prosecutors he points out that he is on trial for introducting new gods but this prosecutor is accusing him of atheism.
In his defense he states, "fear of death is not wisdom, since no one knows whether death may not be the greater good" (Russell, 87).
After convicted of death, Socrates shames the court, "If you think that by killing men you can prevent someone from censuring your evil lives, you are mistaken; that is not a way of escape which is either possible or honourable; the easiest and the noblest way is not to be disabling others, but to be improving yourselves" (Russell, 89).
On death he contends, either death is a good, dreamless sleep or a migration to another world.
Plato describes him as the Orphic saint: "in the dualism of heavenly soul and earthly body, he had achieved the complete mastery of the soul over the body" (Russell, 91).
Socrates was more concerned with ethical questions than scientific knowledge. He believed however knowledge was important because no one sinned on purpose. Thus, by acquiring knowledge one could abstain from sin.
"The close connection between virtue and knowledge is characteristic of Socrates and Plato. To some degree, it exists in all Greek thought, as opposed to that of Christianity. In Christian ethics, a pure heart is essential, and at least as likely to be found among the ignorant as among the learned. The difference between Greek and Christian ethics has persisted down to the present day" (Russell, 92).
The dialectic, seeking knowledge via question and answer wasn't invented by Socrates; but, he definitely used it and developed it.
Chapter 12 - The Influence of Sparta
To understand philosophers from Plato onward it is necessary to know about Sparta. Sparta had a double impact on Greek thought; first, through reality and second, through myth.
The reality of Sparta was the Spartan defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War.
The myth is the impact of Lycurgus, immortalized by Plutarch, and its impact on later philosophies including Rousseau, Nietzsche and National Socialism.
Sparta arose out of some Dorian conquerors in Laconia. They reduced the indigenous population to serfdom. The citizens of Sparta owned the land but were forbidden to cultivate it because of the demeaning nature of the work and its interference with their time as soldiers.
The Helots worked the land. The Helots were Greek and resented the order of things. They rebelled often. The Spartans maintained a Police State apparatus to control the Helots and once a year declared war on them to weed out agitators.
"The sole business of a Spartan citizen was war, to which he was trained from birth" (Russell, 95).
Children who passed their inspection after birth were educated solely to become good and loyal soldiers. Those who did not pass this intial inspection were killed.
Boys became men at 20 (serving in the military). They became citizens at 30.
No Spartan was to be poor or rich. Their currency was made of iron.
Women received the same physical training as the men. They were forbidden to show any emotion that didn't coincide to the state's favor.
Sparta was ruled by two kings from two different hereditary lines. The two kings belonged to the thirty-man Council of Elders. The Council tried criminal cases and prepared matters for the Assembly. The Assembly was a body of all citizens who could only vote yes or no on matters.
In addition to these three bodies there were the Ephors. There were five Ephors who acted as the Supreme civil court and had criminal jurisdiction over the two kings.
Tradition held that Lycurgus laid down the Spartan law in 885 BC.
Most other Greek city-states admired SParta. Paritally as an ideal from a bygone era. Partially as a model of stability. Partially for their near invincible status in battle on land.
Aristotle was intensely critical of the Spartan way of governance. Aristotle probably was writing of the real Sparta whereas Plato and Plutarch wrote of the mythical Sparta. Pultarch's praise of Sparta and Lycurgus was of great importance to post-Renaissance thinkers.
Sparta was isolationist, often foiling pan-Greek alliances and forbade its citizens from travel and allowed very few foreigners into the city for fear of corrupting the values of the state.
Chapter 13 - The Source of Plato's Opinions
Plato and Aristotle are the two most influential philosophers in history, and Plato is more important than Aristotle.
Plato's top ideas: 1) Utopia, 2) Theory of ideas, 3) arguments in favor of immortality, 4) his cosmogony, 5) knowledge as reminiscence rather than reception
Plato was born in 428/7 BC during the early years of the Peloponnesian War into an aristocratic family. He was a young man when Athens was defeated by Sparta and coupled with his aristocratic background was staunchly anti-democratic, blaming it for the Athenian defeat.
He was a pupil of Socrates.
He was an admirere of Spartan government (primarily because of his anti-democratic bent)
He was influenced by Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Socrates, each leading him to a pro-Spartan outlook. From Pythagoras came the other-worldliness, religious and mystical bent. From Parmenides came the beleif that reality is eternal and change illusionary. From Heraclitus came the belief that nothing is permanent in the sensible world. From Socrates he took the obsession with ethics and a teleological view of the universe.
Chapter 14 - Plato's Utopia
Plato's most important dialogue is The Republic. In it is contained the earliest of Utopias.
One conclusion of Plato is that rulers must be philosophers.
The purpose of The Republic is to define justice.
Plato works to define justice by defining an ideally just state.
In this state he divides citizens into three classes:
1) Common people
2) Soldiers
3) Guardians
The guardians are the sole holders of political power, initially selected by a legislator but then passed through hereditary means. (Plato does allow for exceptional men to rise from the other two classes and for an ill-fated guardian to drop).
The guardians, as politcal agents, are Plato's main concern and that main concern begins with the proper education to rule.
Education was divided into Music and Gymnastics. Music covered everything considered today as culture. Gymnastics concerrned physical training. Musical education was about educating the ruling elite to become 'gentlemen'.
The training up of gentlemen began young. Stories were told to children only if they were approved. Homer & Hesiod were not allowed because:
1) They show the gods misbehaving
2) They cause the fear of death
Sidenote (Future Modern Ancient Greeks)
When discussing political systems with some Alien, the hero gets offended when America is not mentioned. The Alien responds, "Oh yes... the great petry dish, the grand experiment politik, the new Rome, a system built on complete contradictions, an aristocracy so perfect it fooled the lower classes into believeing it was egalitarian in nature. It was perfect until you side-tracked into a primitive hero worship of completely unimportant entitites. There's nothing wrong with admiring or even elevating your artists to godlike status but when you elevate your inartistic to artistic and then what you call the artistic to the status of demigods you get a rather sad and debased populace. A pity really becaue everything was going so well. You survived your Punic war with the Soviets but will you survive long enough to allow the rise of a new Parthia to give you the impetus to survive a millenia? Or have you sped up your timeline and already become decadent and too self-obssessed and self-assured to recognize the imminent but slow rot that overtakes all empires? Not of course you, per se, because you are now a child of the stars and without the wherewithal to return home to the decaying America. But even if your America could cut out the corrosion and you found an astronomically improbable way home, would you be satisfied with life back on a primitive planet now that you have seen just a portion of what other worlds have to offer?" The alien continued with his political treatise in soliliqy as (our hero) ost all sense of national pride and pondered a suddenly existential question, if he ever could make it home, would he want to?
Sidenote complete
3) The homeric poems approve of uncontrollable laughter
4) Homer praises lavishness
Homer and Hesiod cannot be taught in the ideal State because the ideal gaurdians of that State must respect religion (misbehaving gods of Homer are unworthy of respect), must be willing to die for the State and thus, cannot fear or mourn death, be in control of their emotion (no great mirth() and be temperate and praise temperance and simplicity.
Education of the gaurdians also forbids any stories where the wicked are happy or where the good are unhappy.
Plato also banned drama because authors and actors would have to portrait either villains or those beneath their status; thus, debasing themselves.
Music, diet and exercise were also strictly monitored for ideal outcomes.
The young gaurdians must also see no ugliness until they are fully trained and then be exposed to temptations that must be found untempting and terrors which must not terrify.
Economically, Plato insisted on a communist approach where the gaurdians have little private property but are not lacking or unhappy. Poverty and wealth both produce ills so both will be banished.
Wives and children will be common to all men who are gaurdians.
Women gaurdians will be equal to all men gaurdians and recieve the same education.
Interestingly, marriage ceremonies where bride and groom will be chosen (they think) by lot will actually be arranged by legislators to produce the best offspring.
Children will not know who their parents are and parents will not know their children. Thus, children are common to all parents.
Women are to bear children between 20-40. Men to father children should be 25-55. ALl sex outside of these ages is fair and free.
All this reorientation of familial structures is to create a loyalty to the State as the primary focus.
The government is to be built on one great lie, "one royal lie", to get the whole thing in motion.
This lie is that God made men of three kinds - gold, silver and brass/iron. The men made of gold are to be the gaurdians. The men made of silver are to be the soldiers. The men made of brass and iron are to do the manual labor.
The lie was well thought out. Plato assumed that the first generation of Utopia wouldn't buy it, but subsequent generations through indoctrination would.
Plato reaches his definition of justice in the three types of men God created living in harmony. The city becomes just when each is doing the job he ought to do without interfering with anyone from another class.
Like philosophers before him, and the poets who lived before the dawn of philosophy, Plato embodies the Greek notion of fate - everything having its place and function. Justice was the harmony of living within the boundaries of this fate.
Plato's definition of justice allows for inequality without injustice. The gaurdians, even though the smallest class, rule because they are the wisest and fated to do so. Injustice would only occur if someone from the lower two classes was wiser than a gaurdian. That is why Plato allowed exceptions for promotion or demotion.
Plato, unlike many later Utopians, saw his Utopia as viably feasible and wished to implement it. Unfortunately he chose to try with Syracuse and it failed. Soon thereafter the rise of Macedonia made the polis antiquated and the notion of establishing a Utopian city-state impossible in the face of empires.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
I heard only the hum of silence
A Night of Serious Drinking by René Daumal was fantastic. It was a very enjoyable read; and, for those of you following this blog it should come to no surprise to you that I enjoyed it as it is yet another surrealist work of literature. The book is basically satirical in nature and like Voltaire, it's satire is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. And like Voltaire, Daumal's pace is incredibly rapid and absurd. There is a whole host of good satire on philosophy, theology and the human condition throughout the book and it is slam bang full of fantastic one-liners. One such example concerns a simile about suicide (which isn't really a laughing matter but is darkly humorous nonetheless). "There are aerial battles where sound waves bounce back on themselves, start spinning and whirl between heaven and earth, like the indestructible regret of the suicide, who halfway down from the sixth floor all of a sudden no longer wants to die any more" (Daumal, 19).
Again, my obsession with writing a good space/time travel piece saw me take some inspiration from what I was reading. In Daumal I found this passage which I might make use of somehow. "'It's the same here as anywhere else, but here it's made quite clear: space is generated by need. Let's say you'd like to take a walk. You simply project in front of you the necessary space which you walk across and when. The same with time. Just a s spider secretes the thread down which she climbs, so you secrete the time you need to do whatever you have to, and you proceed along this thread which is visible only behind you but usable only had of you. The key its in working it out properly. If the thread is too long, it goes into loops and if it's too short, it snaps'" (Daumal, 38). Future Modern Ancient Greeks stuff.
The builders of a fantastic house were describing it to the protagonist of the story and I had an audible chuckle when they told him about the climate controls. "The temperature is kept exactly at the ideal level for the ideal human organism as defined by our experts. It is the only temperature at which nobody feels comfortable: some shine and others sweat" (Daumal, 45). That's funny!
The definition of reason given in this book is another funny passage. "Reason, n., an imaginary process onto which the responsibility for thinking is off-loaded" (Daumal, 55). It's funny because those who are slavishly devoted to reason are often more dogmatic that those slavishly devoted to a certain comprehension of a religion. It's good sarcasm.
In describing a certain group of people in the asylum, the guide tells the protagonist these people are called The Nibblists. Upon reading the guide's description I realized I might be exactly who the guide was describing. "They spend their time retailing imaginary lives in writing. Some relate what they themselves have experienced and attribute it to characters of their invention so that they might avoid their obligations and indulge all manner of impertinence. The others, through their characters, live out everything they would like to have experienced themselves, in order to have the illusion of having really experienced it" (Daumal, 57). Guilty as charged.
Chapter 20 in part 2 as a whole is hysterical. But, the best line in the chapter is "philosophy teaches how man thinks he thinks; but drinking shows how he really thinks" (Daumal, 59). The humor in this statement is dark and finds its relevance in its truthfulness.
Lastly, Daumal makes reference to Homer and his hero Ulysses. Upon listening to intellectual conversations so tantalizing the protagonist of this story remembers the warnings of his guide. Suddenly, he takes action. "But, remembering the companions of Ulysses, I stuffed those ears with thick plugs of common sense, and, listening with another ear - my trust ear, my only good ear - I heard only the hum of silence" (Daumal, 77). What a good line.
While I still think that I enjoy Queneau more than any other surrealist authors, A Night of Serious Drinking is up at the top of my list. I look forward to reading other books by René Daumal.
Again, my obsession with writing a good space/time travel piece saw me take some inspiration from what I was reading. In Daumal I found this passage which I might make use of somehow. "'It's the same here as anywhere else, but here it's made quite clear: space is generated by need. Let's say you'd like to take a walk. You simply project in front of you the necessary space which you walk across and when. The same with time. Just a s spider secretes the thread down which she climbs, so you secrete the time you need to do whatever you have to, and you proceed along this thread which is visible only behind you but usable only had of you. The key its in working it out properly. If the thread is too long, it goes into loops and if it's too short, it snaps'" (Daumal, 38). Future Modern Ancient Greeks stuff.
The builders of a fantastic house were describing it to the protagonist of the story and I had an audible chuckle when they told him about the climate controls. "The temperature is kept exactly at the ideal level for the ideal human organism as defined by our experts. It is the only temperature at which nobody feels comfortable: some shine and others sweat" (Daumal, 45). That's funny!
The definition of reason given in this book is another funny passage. "Reason, n., an imaginary process onto which the responsibility for thinking is off-loaded" (Daumal, 55). It's funny because those who are slavishly devoted to reason are often more dogmatic that those slavishly devoted to a certain comprehension of a religion. It's good sarcasm.
In describing a certain group of people in the asylum, the guide tells the protagonist these people are called The Nibblists. Upon reading the guide's description I realized I might be exactly who the guide was describing. "They spend their time retailing imaginary lives in writing. Some relate what they themselves have experienced and attribute it to characters of their invention so that they might avoid their obligations and indulge all manner of impertinence. The others, through their characters, live out everything they would like to have experienced themselves, in order to have the illusion of having really experienced it" (Daumal, 57). Guilty as charged.
Chapter 20 in part 2 as a whole is hysterical. But, the best line in the chapter is "philosophy teaches how man thinks he thinks; but drinking shows how he really thinks" (Daumal, 59). The humor in this statement is dark and finds its relevance in its truthfulness.
Lastly, Daumal makes reference to Homer and his hero Ulysses. Upon listening to intellectual conversations so tantalizing the protagonist of this story remembers the warnings of his guide. Suddenly, he takes action. "But, remembering the companions of Ulysses, I stuffed those ears with thick plugs of common sense, and, listening with another ear - my trust ear, my only good ear - I heard only the hum of silence" (Daumal, 77). What a good line.
While I still think that I enjoy Queneau more than any other surrealist authors, A Night of Serious Drinking is up at the top of my list. I look forward to reading other books by René Daumal.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Xenophanes
Xenophanes
The Classical Mind
W.T. Jones
1980
Like Heraclitus, Xenophanes attacked the old Greek theology, calling it immoral and untrue. He attacked its anthropomorphic qualities. His famous quote about the anthropomorphic qualities of Greek religion is as follows, "Yes, and if oxen and horses or lions had hands, and could paint with their hands, and produce works of art as men do, horses would paint the forms of the gods like horses, and oxen like oxen, and make their bodies in the image of their several kinds" (Jones, 19).
Xenophanes, while attacking the old gods, was not atheistic. He had one God, which was neither like man in form or thought. While this seems to be a monotheistic notion, it was probably pantheistic like Heraclitus' religion.
The reason that the populace never took up the religions of Heraclitus or Xenophanes was that it was too abstract to replace the common religion. It didn't offer the necessary emotional connection to replace the old religion. It left a void.
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
1972
-Xenophanes falls between Pythagoras and Heraclitus. Xenophanes references Pythagoras and Heraclitus references Xenophanes.
-Xenophanes was an Ionian but lived in Southern Italy
-He believed that all things were made of earth and water
-He believed in one God, unlike man in thought or form
-He mocked the Pythagorean theological notion of the transmigration of the soul
-He believed that any theological knowledge was impossible. Even if man happened to say something correct about God, it was by accident.
Early Greek Philosophy
Jonathan Barnes
2001
-Xenophanes was a peripatetic poet from Colophon in Ionia.
-Despite being a typical poet, writing on drink, love, war and games, he was considered a philosopher and the teacher of Parmenides
-wrote against Hesiod and Homer for their teachings about the gods
-Stobaeus, quotes Xenophanes stating that the gods did not reveal things to mortals, but through inquiry man makes discoveries
-Xenophanes criticized Homer and Hesiod for ascribing to the gods shameful and blameworthy things like theft and adultery
-Claimed that one and all is god
-believed that the one god governed everything by thought
-believed that nothing comes into being or is destroyed or changes
According to Hippolytus, Xenophanes said "All men are destroyed when the earth is carried down into the sea and turns into mud; then they begin to be born again. And this is how all the worlds begin" (Barnes, 47).
The Classical Mind
W.T. Jones
1980
Like Heraclitus, Xenophanes attacked the old Greek theology, calling it immoral and untrue. He attacked its anthropomorphic qualities. His famous quote about the anthropomorphic qualities of Greek religion is as follows, "Yes, and if oxen and horses or lions had hands, and could paint with their hands, and produce works of art as men do, horses would paint the forms of the gods like horses, and oxen like oxen, and make their bodies in the image of their several kinds" (Jones, 19).
Xenophanes, while attacking the old gods, was not atheistic. He had one God, which was neither like man in form or thought. While this seems to be a monotheistic notion, it was probably pantheistic like Heraclitus' religion.
The reason that the populace never took up the religions of Heraclitus or Xenophanes was that it was too abstract to replace the common religion. It didn't offer the necessary emotional connection to replace the old religion. It left a void.
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
1972
-Xenophanes falls between Pythagoras and Heraclitus. Xenophanes references Pythagoras and Heraclitus references Xenophanes.
-Xenophanes was an Ionian but lived in Southern Italy
-He believed that all things were made of earth and water
-He believed in one God, unlike man in thought or form
-He mocked the Pythagorean theological notion of the transmigration of the soul
-He believed that any theological knowledge was impossible. Even if man happened to say something correct about God, it was by accident.
Early Greek Philosophy
Jonathan Barnes
2001
-Xenophanes was a peripatetic poet from Colophon in Ionia.
-Despite being a typical poet, writing on drink, love, war and games, he was considered a philosopher and the teacher of Parmenides
-wrote against Hesiod and Homer for their teachings about the gods
-Stobaeus, quotes Xenophanes stating that the gods did not reveal things to mortals, but through inquiry man makes discoveries
-Xenophanes criticized Homer and Hesiod for ascribing to the gods shameful and blameworthy things like theft and adultery
-Claimed that one and all is god
-believed that the one god governed everything by thought
-believed that nothing comes into being or is destroyed or changes
According to Hippolytus, Xenophanes said "All men are destroyed when the earth is carried down into the sea and turns into mud; then they begin to be born again. And this is how all the worlds begin" (Barnes, 47).
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
The Rise of Greek Civilization - Part II
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
1972
Chapter 1 - The Rise of Greek Civilization
Greek civilization took an enormous step by adopting and adapting the Phoenician alphabet. The Greeks took it and added vowels to suit their needs.
The first "notable product of the Hellenic civilization was Homer" (Russell, 10). Homer was probably a series of poets and his masterpieces The Iliad and the Odyssey probably took about 200 years from 750 BC - 550 BC to crystalize into current form. Homeric poems arrived in Athens between 560 - 527 BC. Homer became the chief education of any Athenian youth.
"It must be admitted that religion, in Homer, is not very religious" (Russell, 11). The gods are exactly like men, but immortal and more powerful. The only genuine religious feeling found in Homer is directed at the Fate. The gods of Homer were a conquering aristocracy, not a band of useful fertility gods looking out for mankind.
The Olympian gods of Homer were not the only religious entities in ancient Greece. There were fertility cults, ritualistic and barbaric religions that offered human sacrifice and practiced cannibalism as a rite, and the religion of Pan managed to combine both of these elements into its worship. There was also the religion that surrounded Dionysus (Bacchus). Dionysus was originally a Thracian god. In Thrace, Bacchus was honored as being the inventor of beer because it gave divine intoxication. He was even more praised when they discovered wine. The religion migrated from Thrace to Greece, and in spite of being opposed by the religious orthodoxy it established itself in Greece and continued to develop into a mystical religion.
Civilization becomes coherent by the use of forethought. Forethought in society leads to laws, customs and religion. In Greece this manifested itself as a desire for prudence and moderation. The invasion of Bacchic religion from Thrace resulted in popularity for the religion partly because much of the non-aristocratic classes saw it as a way to react against an increasingly restrictive prudence being imposed upon them by the upper class.
"Without the Bacchic element, life would be uninteresting; with it, it is dangerous. Prudence versus passion is a conflict that runs through history. It is not a conflict in which we ought to side wholly with either party" (Russell, 16).
The influence that Bacchus has on the philosophical traditions does not come from the primitive and savage form of the religion, but from the mystical reworking of the religion done through Orpheus and the Orphics. The Orphics believed in a transmigration of souls, an afterlife based on works during this life and a wish to become one with the Bacchus through purification rituals and abstaining from certain things.
The primitive religious elements involved recreating the Bacchic myth by tearing animals limb to limb in sacrifice. This brought about intoxication through eating the flesh as it symbolized Bacchus (a god) entering into the earth-born (originally the Titans, but now the practitioners). Thus, the man who practices this Bacchic rite becomes at once, both man and god.
The most direct route that Bacchic religion had on philosophy began with Orpheus' reformation. Then Pythagoras reformed Orpheus' reformation and Pythagoras had a major influence on Plato who influenced the whole of western philosophy.
The Greeks themselves were a combination of the orthodoxy that rejected the Bacchic influence and the revelers in the rites of Dionysus. They believed in everything in moderation but practiced excess in all walks of life. They were at the same time religious and mystical, empirical and scientific. They were passionate and sensible simultaneously.
Bertrand Russell
1972
Chapter 1 - The Rise of Greek Civilization
Greek civilization took an enormous step by adopting and adapting the Phoenician alphabet. The Greeks took it and added vowels to suit their needs.
The first "notable product of the Hellenic civilization was Homer" (Russell, 10). Homer was probably a series of poets and his masterpieces The Iliad and the Odyssey probably took about 200 years from 750 BC - 550 BC to crystalize into current form. Homeric poems arrived in Athens between 560 - 527 BC. Homer became the chief education of any Athenian youth.
"It must be admitted that religion, in Homer, is not very religious" (Russell, 11). The gods are exactly like men, but immortal and more powerful. The only genuine religious feeling found in Homer is directed at the Fate. The gods of Homer were a conquering aristocracy, not a band of useful fertility gods looking out for mankind.
The Olympian gods of Homer were not the only religious entities in ancient Greece. There were fertility cults, ritualistic and barbaric religions that offered human sacrifice and practiced cannibalism as a rite, and the religion of Pan managed to combine both of these elements into its worship. There was also the religion that surrounded Dionysus (Bacchus). Dionysus was originally a Thracian god. In Thrace, Bacchus was honored as being the inventor of beer because it gave divine intoxication. He was even more praised when they discovered wine. The religion migrated from Thrace to Greece, and in spite of being opposed by the religious orthodoxy it established itself in Greece and continued to develop into a mystical religion.
Civilization becomes coherent by the use of forethought. Forethought in society leads to laws, customs and religion. In Greece this manifested itself as a desire for prudence and moderation. The invasion of Bacchic religion from Thrace resulted in popularity for the religion partly because much of the non-aristocratic classes saw it as a way to react against an increasingly restrictive prudence being imposed upon them by the upper class.
"Without the Bacchic element, life would be uninteresting; with it, it is dangerous. Prudence versus passion is a conflict that runs through history. It is not a conflict in which we ought to side wholly with either party" (Russell, 16).
The influence that Bacchus has on the philosophical traditions does not come from the primitive and savage form of the religion, but from the mystical reworking of the religion done through Orpheus and the Orphics. The Orphics believed in a transmigration of souls, an afterlife based on works during this life and a wish to become one with the Bacchus through purification rituals and abstaining from certain things.
The primitive religious elements involved recreating the Bacchic myth by tearing animals limb to limb in sacrifice. This brought about intoxication through eating the flesh as it symbolized Bacchus (a god) entering into the earth-born (originally the Titans, but now the practitioners). Thus, the man who practices this Bacchic rite becomes at once, both man and god.
The most direct route that Bacchic religion had on philosophy began with Orpheus' reformation. Then Pythagoras reformed Orpheus' reformation and Pythagoras had a major influence on Plato who influenced the whole of western philosophy.
The Greeks themselves were a combination of the orthodoxy that rejected the Bacchic influence and the revelers in the rites of Dionysus. They believed in everything in moderation but practiced excess in all walks of life. They were at the same time religious and mystical, empirical and scientific. They were passionate and sensible simultaneously.
The Rise of Greek Civilization - Part 1
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
1972
Chapter 1 - The Rise of Greek Civilization
The rise of the Greeks to such extraordinary heights is surprising. Civilization had existed thousands of years prior to the Greeks popping up on the scene in Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. But, the Greeks supplied a number of crucial inventions to society: their art and literature is incredible, but their invention of mathematics, science and philosophy were crucial. They were the first to history rather than merely annals and "they speculated freely about the nature of the world and the ends of life, without being bound in the fetters of any inherited orthodoxy" (Russell, 3).
In Mesopotamian and Egyptian histories the civilizations were supported by great rivers. A king rose up and aristocracies formed by military men and priests grew up around the king to check his powers. The people were often serfs of the king and/or the aristocrats. While there are huge differences between Egyptian and Mesopotamian religions there was a strong connection between law and lawgivers (deities) that transformed both cultures. "The connection between religion and morality became continually closer throughout ancient times" (Russell, 5). Since the laws were associated with the state and the gods, breaking a law was sinful as well.
The Greek civilization seems to have sprung from the classical Cretan civilization The Minoans. The Minoan civilization was a commercial empire that transacted with Egypt and ancient Syria/Asia Minor. At some point they traveled to mainland Greece and became the Mycenaean Civilization either by conquest or integration with the local population. "The Mycenaean civilization, seen through a haze of legend, is that which is depicted in Homer" (Russell, 7).
"The Greeks came to Greece in three successive waves, first the Ionians, then the Achaeans, and last the Dorians" (Russell, 7). The Ionians adopted the Cretan civilization pretty much fully. The Achaeans displaced the Ionians and some of the remaining Mycenaean civilization. The Dorians destroyed the weakened Mycenaean civilization altogether.
"The Dorians retained the original Indo-European religion of their ancestors. The religion of Mycenaean times, however, lingered on, especially in the lower classes, and the religion of classical Greece was a blend of the two" (Russell, 8).
Some of the Greeks became farmers, but the ones who made impacts moved further into islands, Asia Minor, Sicily and Southern Italy where they became seafaring commercial opportunists. It was these Greeks that first impacted the world.
Because of the Greek landscape, independent communities sprang up on the mainland that were isolated from one another. Thus, various social systems developed simultaneously. Generally speaking though the development of society began with a sort of limited monarchy, then aristocracy before devolving into a rotating door of tyranny and democracy.
Bertrand Russell
1972
Chapter 1 - The Rise of Greek Civilization
The rise of the Greeks to such extraordinary heights is surprising. Civilization had existed thousands of years prior to the Greeks popping up on the scene in Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. But, the Greeks supplied a number of crucial inventions to society: their art and literature is incredible, but their invention of mathematics, science and philosophy were crucial. They were the first to history rather than merely annals and "they speculated freely about the nature of the world and the ends of life, without being bound in the fetters of any inherited orthodoxy" (Russell, 3).
In Mesopotamian and Egyptian histories the civilizations were supported by great rivers. A king rose up and aristocracies formed by military men and priests grew up around the king to check his powers. The people were often serfs of the king and/or the aristocrats. While there are huge differences between Egyptian and Mesopotamian religions there was a strong connection between law and lawgivers (deities) that transformed both cultures. "The connection between religion and morality became continually closer throughout ancient times" (Russell, 5). Since the laws were associated with the state and the gods, breaking a law was sinful as well.
The Greek civilization seems to have sprung from the classical Cretan civilization The Minoans. The Minoan civilization was a commercial empire that transacted with Egypt and ancient Syria/Asia Minor. At some point they traveled to mainland Greece and became the Mycenaean Civilization either by conquest or integration with the local population. "The Mycenaean civilization, seen through a haze of legend, is that which is depicted in Homer" (Russell, 7).
"The Greeks came to Greece in three successive waves, first the Ionians, then the Achaeans, and last the Dorians" (Russell, 7). The Ionians adopted the Cretan civilization pretty much fully. The Achaeans displaced the Ionians and some of the remaining Mycenaean civilization. The Dorians destroyed the weakened Mycenaean civilization altogether.
"The Dorians retained the original Indo-European religion of their ancestors. The religion of Mycenaean times, however, lingered on, especially in the lower classes, and the religion of classical Greece was a blend of the two" (Russell, 8).
Some of the Greeks became farmers, but the ones who made impacts moved further into islands, Asia Minor, Sicily and Southern Italy where they became seafaring commercial opportunists. It was these Greeks that first impacted the world.
Because of the Greek landscape, independent communities sprang up on the mainland that were isolated from one another. Thus, various social systems developed simultaneously. Generally speaking though the development of society began with a sort of limited monarchy, then aristocracy before devolving into a rotating door of tyranny and democracy.
God and Nature in Hesiod
A History of Western Philosophy - The Classical Mind
W.T. Jones
1980
Just like Homer, Hesiod was a man of his times. In Hesiod's age, Greece was suffering from some socioeconomic pressures. Small farmers were being pressured to choose between serfdom and emigration. Hesiod, in his writings, appears to have been such a small farmer, as he railed against the nobles who oppressed the poor.
This conception changed the theology surrounding Zeus. If Zeus was like the capricious kings of the Homeric age that punished human insolence rather than human wrongdoing in Homer, Zeus was a ruler who would eventually punish all human wrongdoing in Hesiod. Homer lived in a warrior class society and thus, hübris (insubordination) was the chief sin. Hesiod lived in a society where oppression was rife and thus, oppression became the chief sin.
Zeus was transformed from a capricious and impulsive god in Homer to a justice-minded ruler in Hesiod. In that way, the cosmos lost its impulsive nature and became much more well ordered in Hesiod's writings.
Hesiod also transformed fate from something indifferent to the plights of men into a force which Zeus used to form the moral law and the enforcement of that moral law.
A typical Greek view is expressed in Hesiod's Works and Days: "Man is different from the rest of nature; he has an obligation to live in a characteristically human way, to do certain acts and to abstain from doing others... Man must live up to his responsibilities as a man" (Jones, 7).
Moderation is a key concept of being a man. Animals are not expected to temper their impulses. But, man is capable of discipline and must live by this principle. For, if they don't live by this unique human aspect, they will pay for their sins.
In spite of the advancements of theology surrounding Zeus and the morality of human beings and gods, Homer and Hesiod both exist in pre-philosophy and the mythic. Hesiod's Theogony reads like a genealogy of anthropomorphizing the natural world.
W.T. Jones
1980
Just like Homer, Hesiod was a man of his times. In Hesiod's age, Greece was suffering from some socioeconomic pressures. Small farmers were being pressured to choose between serfdom and emigration. Hesiod, in his writings, appears to have been such a small farmer, as he railed against the nobles who oppressed the poor.
This conception changed the theology surrounding Zeus. If Zeus was like the capricious kings of the Homeric age that punished human insolence rather than human wrongdoing in Homer, Zeus was a ruler who would eventually punish all human wrongdoing in Hesiod. Homer lived in a warrior class society and thus, hübris (insubordination) was the chief sin. Hesiod lived in a society where oppression was rife and thus, oppression became the chief sin.
Zeus was transformed from a capricious and impulsive god in Homer to a justice-minded ruler in Hesiod. In that way, the cosmos lost its impulsive nature and became much more well ordered in Hesiod's writings.
Hesiod also transformed fate from something indifferent to the plights of men into a force which Zeus used to form the moral law and the enforcement of that moral law.
A typical Greek view is expressed in Hesiod's Works and Days: "Man is different from the rest of nature; he has an obligation to live in a characteristically human way, to do certain acts and to abstain from doing others... Man must live up to his responsibilities as a man" (Jones, 7).
Moderation is a key concept of being a man. Animals are not expected to temper their impulses. But, man is capable of discipline and must live by this principle. For, if they don't live by this unique human aspect, they will pay for their sins.
In spite of the advancements of theology surrounding Zeus and the morality of human beings and gods, Homer and Hesiod both exist in pre-philosophy and the mythic. Hesiod's Theogony reads like a genealogy of anthropomorphizing the natural world.
God and Nature in Homer
A History of Western Philosophy - The Classical Mind
W.T. Jones
1980
Chapter 1 - Pre-Socratic Philosophy
Philosophy has murky beginnings, not because of lost records, but because by the very nature of philosophy as process and gradual change. There is a continuum; thus, no definitive beginning to western philosophy.
God & Nature in Homer
In Homer, Zeus is not an all-powerful god. He is beseeched by his children, prayed to by both other gods and men. The gods of Homer were a reflection of the Homeric state. "The Greek state, as Homer described it, was monarchial in principle, but the king was by no means an absolute monarch. Public opinion, as represented by the warriors and nobles - not the 'people', of course - clearly played a part in limiting the royal prerogative" (Jones, 4). But, this limited royal prerogative could be overridden by the ruler as there was no law checking the king/chieftain. [Side note, make this the government of the Future Modern Ancient Greeks].
Homer did not believe in a regularly ordered cosmos. The irregularities of nature like thunderstorms, severe winters, unexpected winds, accidents that flew in the face of ordered cosmos were attributed to the whims of the gods. Simply put, there were regular occurrences and an ordered cosmos to an extent, but "the gods can never be counted on not to interrupt this order" (Jones, 4). Plus, Zeus, the supreme authority was impulsive in nature and likely to throw a monkey wrench in the plans of other gods and men.
Key to Homeric beliefs is the virtue of moderation and the vice of hübris. In Greek society, even when the king overrides the majority opinion, the men do not protest for they know that punishment will come down from above. While some of the irregularities in the natural order are caused by the gods' whims, mean-spirited nature and infighting, some are attributed to the gods' punishment of man's hübris.
The worship of the gods comes about not because the gods are inherently good and deserving of worship, but because the gods have power over men. Prayers and offerings are lifted up to the gods because it is expedient to do so. It's good to have a god on your side when you're out and about.
When the gods punish men it isn't because they've done something immoral or wrong. They punish because the man has annoyed the gods in some manner by violating the regulations of those gods. In Homer, the regulations that gods hand down to men are not to ensure good for man, but good for the gods.
In this way, the prayers and petitions of men to the gods functions like a tit-for-tat kind of thing. Prayers and sacrifices are offered to get a desired outcome. The gods accept it and should reward the man. If the gods fail to reward the man, then the man is justified in expressing his outrage.
Homer's gods are causal agents. They cause the regularly ordered cosmos and the interruptions of those ordered events. But, above the gods is fate, which even Zeus must yield to.
W.T. Jones
1980
Chapter 1 - Pre-Socratic Philosophy
Philosophy has murky beginnings, not because of lost records, but because by the very nature of philosophy as process and gradual change. There is a continuum; thus, no definitive beginning to western philosophy.
God & Nature in Homer
In Homer, Zeus is not an all-powerful god. He is beseeched by his children, prayed to by both other gods and men. The gods of Homer were a reflection of the Homeric state. "The Greek state, as Homer described it, was monarchial in principle, but the king was by no means an absolute monarch. Public opinion, as represented by the warriors and nobles - not the 'people', of course - clearly played a part in limiting the royal prerogative" (Jones, 4). But, this limited royal prerogative could be overridden by the ruler as there was no law checking the king/chieftain. [Side note, make this the government of the Future Modern Ancient Greeks].
Homer did not believe in a regularly ordered cosmos. The irregularities of nature like thunderstorms, severe winters, unexpected winds, accidents that flew in the face of ordered cosmos were attributed to the whims of the gods. Simply put, there were regular occurrences and an ordered cosmos to an extent, but "the gods can never be counted on not to interrupt this order" (Jones, 4). Plus, Zeus, the supreme authority was impulsive in nature and likely to throw a monkey wrench in the plans of other gods and men.
Key to Homeric beliefs is the virtue of moderation and the vice of hübris. In Greek society, even when the king overrides the majority opinion, the men do not protest for they know that punishment will come down from above. While some of the irregularities in the natural order are caused by the gods' whims, mean-spirited nature and infighting, some are attributed to the gods' punishment of man's hübris.
The worship of the gods comes about not because the gods are inherently good and deserving of worship, but because the gods have power over men. Prayers and offerings are lifted up to the gods because it is expedient to do so. It's good to have a god on your side when you're out and about.
When the gods punish men it isn't because they've done something immoral or wrong. They punish because the man has annoyed the gods in some manner by violating the regulations of those gods. In Homer, the regulations that gods hand down to men are not to ensure good for man, but good for the gods.
In this way, the prayers and petitions of men to the gods functions like a tit-for-tat kind of thing. Prayers and sacrifices are offered to get a desired outcome. The gods accept it and should reward the man. If the gods fail to reward the man, then the man is justified in expressing his outrage.
Homer's gods are causal agents. They cause the regularly ordered cosmos and the interruptions of those ordered events. But, above the gods is fate, which even Zeus must yield to.
Notes on Early Greek Philosophy (Precursors)
Early Greek Philosophy
Jonathan Barnes
2001
Thales, though considered the first philosopher, did not operate from an absolute starting point. Instead he drew on two primary sources that influenced his philosophy. The first was his pre-philosophic Greek writers, mainly poets. Two of these were most definitely Homer and Hesiod. Especially in Hesiod's Theogony you see an order forming.
Hesiod claims that the 'race of immortals who exist forever' came from first the Expanse. Expanse bore Darkness and Night. Night bore Ether and Day by joining with Love. Earth and Heaven and Mountains and Sea and Ocean were born as well as other gods. The account of the origins of the earth by Hesiod wasn't scientific, but a scientific story as many of the gods are personifications of naturally occurring phenomena.
What is interesting about Hesiod's origin of the gods poem is that later philosophers used the problem of infinite regress to refute him. Diogenes Laeritus, writing in the 5th century BC basically asks, if Expanse came first How could that be? He had nothing to come from and nowhere to go in the beginning so Expanse couldn't have come first. Therefore, "These things existed always" (Barnes, 5). Likewise Sextus Empiricus (circa 160-210 AD) recounts how Epicurus turned to philosophy. When Epicurus asked the schoolmaster what Expanse came from if it came first, the teacher replied it wasn't his job to explain that, it was the job of the philosopher. From that moment Epicurus took up the mantle of philosophy.
Many of the later ancient Greeks seemed to think think that the early Pre-Socratics got their philosophy going when they visited eastern lands like Assyria and Egypt. In fact there are some resemblances between Hesiod's cosmology and that of the Babylonian Epic the Enuma Elishu and that of the Egyptian Creation Myth.
For Barnes though, "Both the Babylonian and the Egyptian stories bear comparison with Hesiod as examples of mythical cosmogony. Many scholars compare stories more directly with Greek philosophy, suggesting (for example) that Thales' ideas about the importance of water may derive from the primordial significance of Mummu-Tiamat and Nun. To me Thales seems to live in a different and a more luminous world" (Barnes, 8). In other words, while there are superficial resemblances to the precursors to the Pre-Socratics and the creation myths of the Ancient Near East, Thales seems to be a break from those in a more philosophical/scientific way of thinking than the much earlier mythical cosmologies.
Jonathan Barnes
2001
Thales, though considered the first philosopher, did not operate from an absolute starting point. Instead he drew on two primary sources that influenced his philosophy. The first was his pre-philosophic Greek writers, mainly poets. Two of these were most definitely Homer and Hesiod. Especially in Hesiod's Theogony you see an order forming.
Hesiod claims that the 'race of immortals who exist forever' came from first the Expanse. Expanse bore Darkness and Night. Night bore Ether and Day by joining with Love. Earth and Heaven and Mountains and Sea and Ocean were born as well as other gods. The account of the origins of the earth by Hesiod wasn't scientific, but a scientific story as many of the gods are personifications of naturally occurring phenomena.
What is interesting about Hesiod's origin of the gods poem is that later philosophers used the problem of infinite regress to refute him. Diogenes Laeritus, writing in the 5th century BC basically asks, if Expanse came first How could that be? He had nothing to come from and nowhere to go in the beginning so Expanse couldn't have come first. Therefore, "These things existed always" (Barnes, 5). Likewise Sextus Empiricus (circa 160-210 AD) recounts how Epicurus turned to philosophy. When Epicurus asked the schoolmaster what Expanse came from if it came first, the teacher replied it wasn't his job to explain that, it was the job of the philosopher. From that moment Epicurus took up the mantle of philosophy.
Many of the later ancient Greeks seemed to think think that the early Pre-Socratics got their philosophy going when they visited eastern lands like Assyria and Egypt. In fact there are some resemblances between Hesiod's cosmology and that of the Babylonian Epic the Enuma Elishu and that of the Egyptian Creation Myth.
For Barnes though, "Both the Babylonian and the Egyptian stories bear comparison with Hesiod as examples of mythical cosmogony. Many scholars compare stories more directly with Greek philosophy, suggesting (for example) that Thales' ideas about the importance of water may derive from the primordial significance of Mummu-Tiamat and Nun. To me Thales seems to live in a different and a more luminous world" (Barnes, 8). In other words, while there are superficial resemblances to the precursors to the Pre-Socratics and the creation myths of the Ancient Near East, Thales seems to be a break from those in a more philosophical/scientific way of thinking than the much earlier mythical cosmologies.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Proverbs 3 & Notes on Bacchus
(Originally written January 26, 2014 on scrap paper)
Proverbs 3
Let me learn 3:5 in less painful terms. Teach me to trust in you and not lean on my own understanding. Give me humility that I may find favor with you. Take me into your confidence and make me righteous. I pray you - "keep my foot from being snared" (Proverbs 3:26).
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Book I - Ancient Philosophy
Chapter I - The Rise of Greek Civilization
Philosophy begins with Thales and his prediction of an eclipse in 585 B.C. "Philosophy and science - which were not originally separate- were therefore born together" (Russell, 3).
Fate - the belief that something beyond us, and even beyond the gods, controlled the destiny of all. It was something that played a large role in the development of Greek thought. "Fate exercised a great influence on all Greek thought, and perhaps was one of the sources from which science derived the belief in natural law" (Russell, 11).
The Greek word 'ate' is a strong, if not irresistible urge towards crime.
It is a wonder that at the 6th century B.C. amazing achievements in thought developed independently. Greek's Homeric poems solidified, philosophy, mathematics and science also were birthed out of Greece while Buddha, Confucius and Zoroaster began to make their marks in the east.
Understanding Dionysus or Bacchus is critical to understanding Greek thought. Bacchus was originally a fertility cult of Thrace. From there he became associated with beer and wine. This association made him all the more popular. The divine madness of wine became a Bacchic rite.
When the religion of Bacchus migrated to Greece it was met with opposition by the orthodoxy. There were many barbaric elements in it, but it proved to be popular with the women of Greece.
The Bacchic religion is a rejection of prudence through a longing for the savage, primitive nature of things.
The Bacchic religion, although savage in nature, was mystified and spiritualized by Orpheus. Orpheus turned these primitive rites into something spiritual, substituting physical intoxication with the mental intoxication through ascetic traditions.
The Orphics taught the transmigration of the souls. There was a belief in an afterlife for the soul, bliss or suffering for eternity based on one's actions in life.
Orphics believed man was partly of earth and partly of heaven. Through purification, ritual or physical (i.e. abstaining from certain food), the heavenly part would increase and the earthly part decrease.
Orpichs taught that one could become one with the Bacchus. The Orphics desired intoxication through enthusiasm (the god entering the man).
To the Orphic, life is pain and wearisome. It is an endless cycle of births with man stuck on earth when he shouldn't be. Through purification he achieves freedom. Purification through asceticism results in a union with God.
Proverbs 3
Let me learn 3:5 in less painful terms. Teach me to trust in you and not lean on my own understanding. Give me humility that I may find favor with you. Take me into your confidence and make me righteous. I pray you - "keep my foot from being snared" (Proverbs 3:26).
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Book I - Ancient Philosophy
Chapter I - The Rise of Greek Civilization
Philosophy begins with Thales and his prediction of an eclipse in 585 B.C. "Philosophy and science - which were not originally separate- were therefore born together" (Russell, 3).
Fate - the belief that something beyond us, and even beyond the gods, controlled the destiny of all. It was something that played a large role in the development of Greek thought. "Fate exercised a great influence on all Greek thought, and perhaps was one of the sources from which science derived the belief in natural law" (Russell, 11).
The Greek word 'ate' is a strong, if not irresistible urge towards crime.
It is a wonder that at the 6th century B.C. amazing achievements in thought developed independently. Greek's Homeric poems solidified, philosophy, mathematics and science also were birthed out of Greece while Buddha, Confucius and Zoroaster began to make their marks in the east.
Understanding Dionysus or Bacchus is critical to understanding Greek thought. Bacchus was originally a fertility cult of Thrace. From there he became associated with beer and wine. This association made him all the more popular. The divine madness of wine became a Bacchic rite.
When the religion of Bacchus migrated to Greece it was met with opposition by the orthodoxy. There were many barbaric elements in it, but it proved to be popular with the women of Greece.
The Bacchic religion is a rejection of prudence through a longing for the savage, primitive nature of things.
The Bacchic religion, although savage in nature, was mystified and spiritualized by Orpheus. Orpheus turned these primitive rites into something spiritual, substituting physical intoxication with the mental intoxication through ascetic traditions.
The Orphics taught the transmigration of the souls. There was a belief in an afterlife for the soul, bliss or suffering for eternity based on one's actions in life.
Orphics believed man was partly of earth and partly of heaven. Through purification, ritual or physical (i.e. abstaining from certain food), the heavenly part would increase and the earthly part decrease.
Orpichs taught that one could become one with the Bacchus. The Orphics desired intoxication through enthusiasm (the god entering the man).
To the Orphic, life is pain and wearisome. It is an endless cycle of births with man stuck on earth when he shouldn't be. Through purification he achieves freedom. Purification through asceticism results in a union with God.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Notes on Human, all too human
(Originally written July 6, 2007 in Book 25)
Basic Writings of Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
translated: Walter Kaufmann
The Modern Library Classics, New York, 2000
Seventy-Five Aphorisms
From Five Volumes
Human, All too Human (1878)
45.
The concept of good and evil as a dual prehistory
1. In the soul of ruling tribes and castes
2. In the soul of the oppressed, the powerless
Those who are powerful enough to repay good for good and evil for evil are good. The weak are bad.
The enemy is not evil because he can repay good for good or evil for evil.
"Trojan and Greek are both good in Homer. Not he that does us harm but he that is contemptible is considered bad" (147).
Goodness is inherited; a bad man cannot grow out of good soil.
Those who are powerless are bad and all the seemingly "good" things they do are refined malice.
"Our current morality has grown on the soil of the ruling tribes and castes" (148).
92.
Origin of justice
Justice originates among those who are approximately equal in power.
The foundational character of justice is trade.
Revenge and gratitude also grow out of the foundation of trade.
Justice derives from concerns of self-persecution, from egoism.
Justice is so esteemed because it has been forgotten that its roots are egoistic. "A poet might say that God made forgetfulness the guard he placed at the threshold of human dignity" (149).
96.
Mores and Moral
"Being moral or ethical means obeying ancient established law or custom. Whether one submits to it with difficulty or gladly, that is immaterial, it is enough that one does it" (149).
Evil is immoral. To be evil is to be immoral. Being evil is resisting tradition, no matter how reasonable or stupid that tradition is.
This tradition however arose with no regard to good and evil.
Tradition arose to preserve a community, a people. "Every superstitious custom that originated on the basis of some misinterpreted accident involves a tradition that it is moral to follow; for detaching oneself from it is dangerous, even more dangerous for the community than for the individual (because the deity punishes the community - and the individual only indirectly - for the sacrilege and the violation of divine privileges)" (150).
All traditions become more venerable the more time has passed.
136
On Christian Asceticism and Holiness
The nature of asceticism and holiness is complicated.
The marvelors of ascetics and holy men do not wish for science to attempt to explain this phenomena. Much to their fancy when science has attempted it has failed. They revel in the maxim "the unexplained should by all means be unexplainable" (150).
137
Asceticism arises out of man's lust to rule. When they cannot rule others they oppress their own nature, becoming ascetic.
Asceticism is actually a high degree of vanity. For the ascetic is proud of being scorned.
"In every ascetic morality man adores part of Himself as God and to that and needs to diabolicize the rest" (152).
142
Asceticism is merely the religious form that certain "bad" characteristics of man manifests itself.
143
The holy man is what he makes himself appear to be to unholy men. It is this false distinction that leads normal men to view the holy men as superhuman.
"He was not an especially good person, even less an especially wise person; but, he signified something that exceeded all human measure of goodness and wisdom" (153).
The signification of symbol that the holy man has come to represent has become so powerful that even in the age where no one believes in God anymore some (i.e. Schopenhauer) still believe in the Holy man.
144
Jesus Christ, the father of Christianity felt himself the inborn son of God and thus felt himself without sin. This illusion should not be judged too harshly because the complete freedom from sin is a virtuous goal which "is now available to everybody by means of science!" (154).
Basic Writings of Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
translated: Walter Kaufmann
The Modern Library Classics, New York, 2000
Seventy-Five Aphorisms
From Five Volumes
Human, All too Human (1878)
45.
The concept of good and evil as a dual prehistory
1. In the soul of ruling tribes and castes
2. In the soul of the oppressed, the powerless
Those who are powerful enough to repay good for good and evil for evil are good. The weak are bad.
The enemy is not evil because he can repay good for good or evil for evil.
"Trojan and Greek are both good in Homer. Not he that does us harm but he that is contemptible is considered bad" (147).
Goodness is inherited; a bad man cannot grow out of good soil.
Those who are powerless are bad and all the seemingly "good" things they do are refined malice.
"Our current morality has grown on the soil of the ruling tribes and castes" (148).
92.
Origin of justice
Justice originates among those who are approximately equal in power.
The foundational character of justice is trade.
Revenge and gratitude also grow out of the foundation of trade.
Justice derives from concerns of self-persecution, from egoism.
Justice is so esteemed because it has been forgotten that its roots are egoistic. "A poet might say that God made forgetfulness the guard he placed at the threshold of human dignity" (149).
96.
Mores and Moral
"Being moral or ethical means obeying ancient established law or custom. Whether one submits to it with difficulty or gladly, that is immaterial, it is enough that one does it" (149).
Evil is immoral. To be evil is to be immoral. Being evil is resisting tradition, no matter how reasonable or stupid that tradition is.
This tradition however arose with no regard to good and evil.
Tradition arose to preserve a community, a people. "Every superstitious custom that originated on the basis of some misinterpreted accident involves a tradition that it is moral to follow; for detaching oneself from it is dangerous, even more dangerous for the community than for the individual (because the deity punishes the community - and the individual only indirectly - for the sacrilege and the violation of divine privileges)" (150).
All traditions become more venerable the more time has passed.
136
On Christian Asceticism and Holiness
The nature of asceticism and holiness is complicated.
The marvelors of ascetics and holy men do not wish for science to attempt to explain this phenomena. Much to their fancy when science has attempted it has failed. They revel in the maxim "the unexplained should by all means be unexplainable" (150).
137
Asceticism arises out of man's lust to rule. When they cannot rule others they oppress their own nature, becoming ascetic.
Asceticism is actually a high degree of vanity. For the ascetic is proud of being scorned.
"In every ascetic morality man adores part of Himself as God and to that and needs to diabolicize the rest" (152).
142
Asceticism is merely the religious form that certain "bad" characteristics of man manifests itself.
143
The holy man is what he makes himself appear to be to unholy men. It is this false distinction that leads normal men to view the holy men as superhuman.
"He was not an especially good person, even less an especially wise person; but, he signified something that exceeded all human measure of goodness and wisdom" (153).
The signification of symbol that the holy man has come to represent has become so powerful that even in the age where no one believes in God anymore some (i.e. Schopenhauer) still believe in the Holy man.
144
Jesus Christ, the father of Christianity felt himself the inborn son of God and thus felt himself without sin. This illusion should not be judged too harshly because the complete freedom from sin is a virtuous goal which "is now available to everybody by means of science!" (154).
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Birth of Tragedy Section 1-5
(Originally written June 21, 2007 in Book 15)
New State, New Topic: The Month of Nietzsche!
The Birth of Tragedy
Out of the Spirit of Music
Friedrich Nietzsche
The Basic Writings of Nietzsche
Trans. Walter Kaufmann
The Modern Library: NY, NY
2000 A.D.
Preface to Richard Wagner
"I am convinced that art represents the highest task of the truly metaphysical activity of this life, in the sense of that man to whom, as my sublime predecessor on this path, I wish to dedicate this essay"
Is Nietzsche claiming to be evolved beyond man?
Section 1
The continuous development of art is bound up with the Apollonian and Dionysian duality.
Apollonian art: sculpture
Dionysian art: music
Each is opposed to the other but drives the other to evolve.
The marriage of the two gave birth to the Attic tragedy.
Dreams are the inspiration of all art.
Every man is an artist in their own dreams.
But even in vivid dreams man is aware that he is seeing but mere appearances.
Dreams are "joyous necessity".
This "joyous necessity" is embodied in the Greek god Apollo.
Apollo was the god of light and the ruler of fantasy.
Dreams must not be allowed to step beyond mere appearance and trick us into believing that it is a crude reality.
Apollo is the divine image of the principium individuationis (principle of individuation).
Dionysian is intoxication.
As Dionysian emotions stir all subjective things vanish into a complete self-forgetfulness.
Man becomes united with man and nature in Dionysian server.
Dionysian is song and dance.
In Dionysian ferver man feels as if he were a god.
In Dionysian ferver man is no longer the artist, but the work of art itself.
Section 2
Apollonian and Dionysian artistic energies burst forth from nature without the mediation of the human artist.
Dionysian energy seeks to destroy the individual and create a mystical oneness of all things.
Every artist is an imitator of either Apollonian or Dionysian energy.
In ancient Dionysian festivals, "the most savage natural instincts were unleashed" (Nietzsche, 39).
Dionysian music excited both awe and terror.
Section 3
Apollo is the father of the Olympic gods.
The olympic gods were neither moral nor good, but full of excesses.
The Greeks created the Olympian gods to fulfill a profound need. The Apollonian impulse toward beauty moved the greek religion from the horror of the Titans to the beauty of the Olympiads.
Section 4
Eternal contradiction is the father of things.
Redemption of reality comes through mere appearance. Our longing for redemption constitutes a primordial need for mere appearance (art).
The suffering of waking life is necessary so that the individual may realize the redeeming vision of dreams.
Apollo requires self-knowledge of his disciples.
Apollonian life requires prudence and excess is a most demonic device in its culture.
It is for this reason that Dionysian life as excessive intoxication is seen as barbaric and evil by the Apollonian.
The Apollonian world was built on moderation and mere appearance.
The Apollonian art world could not drown out the sounds of the excesses of the Dionysian. "The muses of the arts of 'illusion' paled before an art that, in its intoxication, spoke the truth" (Nietzsche, 46).
"Excess revealed itself as truth" (Nietzsche, 46).
Wherever the Dionysian overtook the Apollonian, the Apollonian was completely destroyed. But where the Apollonian withstood the onslaught, the Apollonian became more power and more menacing.
The Homeric world developed under the Apollonian atmosphere.
Section 5
The Dionysian artist identifies himself with a primal unity and its pain and contradiction.
The subjective and objective opposition of Schopenhauer is irrelevant in aesthetics because the willing individual that furthers his own egoistic ends is merely the antagonist and not the origin of art.
If the subject is an artist he has already been released from his individual will and has become a medium through which the true subject celebrates his release in appearances.
Man is not the true author of the art world. "On the contrary, we may assume that we are merely images and artistic projections for the true author and that we have our highest dignity in our significance as works of art - for it is only as an aesthetic phenomenon that existence and the world are eternally justified - while of course our consciousness of our own significance hardly differs from that which the holding painted on canvas have of the Cattle represented on it" (Nietzsche, 52).
All our knowledge of art is illusory, only through the process of creating art does one know the eternal truth of art as the creator becomes one with the primordial truth of the true artist.
New State, New Topic: The Month of Nietzsche!
The Birth of Tragedy
Out of the Spirit of Music
Friedrich Nietzsche
The Basic Writings of Nietzsche
Trans. Walter Kaufmann
The Modern Library: NY, NY
2000 A.D.
Preface to Richard Wagner
"I am convinced that art represents the highest task of the truly metaphysical activity of this life, in the sense of that man to whom, as my sublime predecessor on this path, I wish to dedicate this essay"
Is Nietzsche claiming to be evolved beyond man?
Section 1
The continuous development of art is bound up with the Apollonian and Dionysian duality.
Apollonian art: sculpture
Dionysian art: music
Each is opposed to the other but drives the other to evolve.
The marriage of the two gave birth to the Attic tragedy.
Dreams are the inspiration of all art.
Every man is an artist in their own dreams.
But even in vivid dreams man is aware that he is seeing but mere appearances.
Dreams are "joyous necessity".
This "joyous necessity" is embodied in the Greek god Apollo.
Apollo was the god of light and the ruler of fantasy.
Dreams must not be allowed to step beyond mere appearance and trick us into believing that it is a crude reality.
Apollo is the divine image of the principium individuationis (principle of individuation).
Dionysian is intoxication.
As Dionysian emotions stir all subjective things vanish into a complete self-forgetfulness.
Man becomes united with man and nature in Dionysian server.
Dionysian is song and dance.
In Dionysian ferver man feels as if he were a god.
In Dionysian ferver man is no longer the artist, but the work of art itself.
Section 2
Apollonian and Dionysian artistic energies burst forth from nature without the mediation of the human artist.
Dionysian energy seeks to destroy the individual and create a mystical oneness of all things.
Every artist is an imitator of either Apollonian or Dionysian energy.
In ancient Dionysian festivals, "the most savage natural instincts were unleashed" (Nietzsche, 39).
Dionysian music excited both awe and terror.
Section 3
Apollo is the father of the Olympic gods.
The olympic gods were neither moral nor good, but full of excesses.
The Greeks created the Olympian gods to fulfill a profound need. The Apollonian impulse toward beauty moved the greek religion from the horror of the Titans to the beauty of the Olympiads.
Section 4
Eternal contradiction is the father of things.
Redemption of reality comes through mere appearance. Our longing for redemption constitutes a primordial need for mere appearance (art).
The suffering of waking life is necessary so that the individual may realize the redeeming vision of dreams.
Apollo requires self-knowledge of his disciples.
Apollonian life requires prudence and excess is a most demonic device in its culture.
It is for this reason that Dionysian life as excessive intoxication is seen as barbaric and evil by the Apollonian.
The Apollonian world was built on moderation and mere appearance.
The Apollonian art world could not drown out the sounds of the excesses of the Dionysian. "The muses of the arts of 'illusion' paled before an art that, in its intoxication, spoke the truth" (Nietzsche, 46).
"Excess revealed itself as truth" (Nietzsche, 46).
Wherever the Dionysian overtook the Apollonian, the Apollonian was completely destroyed. But where the Apollonian withstood the onslaught, the Apollonian became more power and more menacing.
The Homeric world developed under the Apollonian atmosphere.
Section 5
The Dionysian artist identifies himself with a primal unity and its pain and contradiction.
The subjective and objective opposition of Schopenhauer is irrelevant in aesthetics because the willing individual that furthers his own egoistic ends is merely the antagonist and not the origin of art.
If the subject is an artist he has already been released from his individual will and has become a medium through which the true subject celebrates his release in appearances.
Man is not the true author of the art world. "On the contrary, we may assume that we are merely images and artistic projections for the true author and that we have our highest dignity in our significance as works of art - for it is only as an aesthetic phenomenon that existence and the world are eternally justified - while of course our consciousness of our own significance hardly differs from that which the holding painted on canvas have of the Cattle represented on it" (Nietzsche, 52).
All our knowledge of art is illusory, only through the process of creating art does one know the eternal truth of art as the creator becomes one with the primordial truth of the true artist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)