19 APR 2013 by ideonexus

 Greeks and Romans Lacked the Virtue of Doubt

The Greek and Roman antiquarians, and even their literati and philosophers, are chargeable with a total neglect of that spirit of doubt which subjects to a rigorous investigation both sacts, and the proofs that establish them. In reading their accounts of the history of events or of manners, of the productions and phenomena of nature, or of the works and processes of the arts, we are astonished at the composure with which they relate the most palpable absurdities, and the most fulsome and dis...
Folksonomies: history doubt
Folksonomies: history doubt
  1  notes

...and as a result, their writing reveals an incredible gullibility.

31 JAN 2012 by ideonexus

 Science for Knowledge, Not Utility

Science only means knowledge; and for [Greek] ancients it did only mean knowledge. Thus the favorite science of the Greeks was Astronomy, because it was as abstract as Algebra. ... We may say that the great Greek ideal was to have no use for useful things. The Slave was he who learned useful things; the Freeman was he who learned useless things. This still remains the ideal of many noble men of science, in the sense they do desire truth as the great Greeks desired it; and their attitude is an...
Folksonomies: knowledge utility
Folksonomies: knowledge utility
  1  notes

Chesterton appeals to the ideal of science for its own sake and not for utilitarianism.

01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus

 Our Radio Broadcasts into Space are a Monologue

Some individuals find the absence of a dialogue distressing – as if meaningful dialogues were commonplace on this planet. Philip Morrison, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has pointed out that such cultural monologues are entirely common in the history of mankind; that, for example, the entire cultural patrimony of classical Greece, which has influenced our civilization in a profound way, has traveled in only one direction in time. We have not sent our wisdom to the Greeks. The...
Folksonomies: culture communication
Folksonomies: culture communication
  1  notes

Distressing some that it is not a dialogue, but the wisdom of the ancient Greeks is a monologue as well.

06 SEP 2011 by ideonexus

 An Insightful Ancient Observation on the Origins of Things

The Greeks are wrong to recognize coming into being and perishing; for nothing comes into being nor perishes, but is rather compounded or dissolved from things that are. So they would be right to call coming into being composition and perishing dissolution.
Folksonomies: death philosophy origins
Folksonomies: death philosophy origins
  1  notes

Anaxagoras correctly notes that things come into being as compounds of existing things and dissolve back into compounds.