@Izzie,
Verra tired Izzie takes a nap amidst a pile of suspicious sweaters while dreams of Cheech and Chong dance 'round her head.
@jespah,
Will we see a rejuvenated Izzie after she wakes up from here nap, and finish her last day at work with her usual style and flourish?
@Dutchy,
Xenophanes thinks so, don't you?
Yes, she is kind of stoicist. Zenon would like her...
@Francis,
Zzzzzz-ing doesn't come easy, and of course spinning makes no sense.
Weird... interesting...some things - British Correspondent had never heard of Xenophanes.... yet....
Xenophanes Reflections on Knowledge
Five surviving fragments and roughly a dozen testimonia address what might be termed ‘epistemological questions’ -- “How much can any mortal being hope to know?”, “Does truth come to us through our own efforts or by divine revelation?”, and “What role do our sense faculties play in the acquisition of knowledge?” Unfortunately, the picture that emerges from many of the testimonia largely contradicts what appear to be the views Xenophanes himself expressed. According to the summary in the pseudo-Plutarch Miscellanies, Xenophanes “declares that the senses are deceptive and generally rejects reason along with them” (A32.) Similarly, in his Concerning Philosophy Aristocles reports that “…since they think that sense perceptions and appearances must be rejected and trust only reason. For at one earlier time Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno, and Melissus said something of this sort” (A49). Similarly, Aëtius declares that “Pythagoras, Empedocles, and Xenophanes (say that) sense perceptions are deceptive” (A49). Yet, as we have noted, B28 refers without qualification to “the upper limit of the earth that is seen (horatai) here at our feet” and B32 appears to encourage those in Xenophanes' audience to ‘look at’ or ‘observe’ (idesthai) the multi-colored cloud that is the rainbow. The realistic description of the sumptuous banquet in B1 and the wide range of Xenophanes' reported geographical and geological interests all sit poorly with an Eleatic “rationalism” that would dismiss all information gained through our faculties of sense and construct on the basis of reason alone a view of “what is” as a motionless, changeless and eternal unity.
In Xenophanes' own words:
The sea is the source of water and of wind,
For without the great sea, there would be no wind
Nor streams of rivers, nor rainwater from on high
But the great sea is the begetter of clouds, winds, and rivers
Who knew!
Who knew what - that I've lost the plot. Must be snow blindness. I need sunglasses.
@Izzie,
Always philosophically fashionable, our British correspondent models the latest in Platonic Style.
Better clarify that neoplatonism is a modern term used to designate the period of Platonic philosophy beginning with the work of Plotinus and ending with the closing of the Platonic Academy by the Emperor Justinian in 529 CE.
This brand of Platonism, which is often described as 'mystical' or religious in nature, developed outside the mainstream of Academic Platonism. The origins of Neoplatonism can be traced back to the era of Hellenistic syncretism which spawned such movements and schools of thought as Gnosticism and the Hermetic tradition.
A major factor in this syncretism, and one which had an immense influence on the development of Platonic thought, was the introduction of the Jewish Scriptures into Greek intellectual circles via the translation known as the Septuagint. The encounter between the creation narrative of Genesis and the cosmology of Plato's Timaeus set in motion a long tradition of cosmological theorizing that finally culminated in the grand schema of Plotinus' Enneads.
Plotinus' two major successors, Porphyry and Iamblichus, each developed, in their own way, certain isolated aspects of Plotinus' thought, but neither of them developed a rigorous philosophy to match that of their master.
It was Proclus who, shortly before the closing of the Academy, bequeathed a systematic Platonic philosophy upon the world that in certain ways approached the sophistication of Plotinus. Finally, in the work of the so-called Pseudo-Dionysius, we find a grand synthesis of Platonic philosophy and Christian theology that was to exercise an immense influence on mediaeval mysticism and Renaissance Humanism…
Which probably accounts for…
“I had been driving for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.”
Man; that Renaissance Humanism insomnia will get you every time!
@Tryagain,
Clarifying previous misinformation: Xenophanes is presocratic, not platonic nor neoplatonic.
Despite Wandels best efforts to kill this toxic rail crash thread dead with his Homo Neanderthalensis diatribe, due in no small part to...
The circumstances of the disappearance of the Editor in Chief of this tome: Voted the ‘Most enjoyable read’ by A2K centenarians, mirrored those of Conrad Black "
Calamity-Jane was right on the money when she wrote, “You'll come back! In six months you'll see that I was better than anyone else...then you'll come crawling back! “... “Six months later he got the surprise of his life "“
Oh my! Don’t tell me she is with child!
@Tryagain,
Expecting the unexpected? How is that possible?
@jespah,
Failing Thread Revived With Stunning News About Calamity Jane
@wandeljw,
Gestation Breaking News has CJ gesticulating...... “but but but.. it was just a hand gesture TRYagain”
TRYagain... what a jester! He who laughs last...
EhBeth is requested to knit pink and blue booties! Who knew!
Here we go and talk about artificial insemination again, don't we? I - on the other hand, consider myself quite virginal. I swear, every time it seems like
the first time!
@CalamityJane,
In Vitro.....Fer Sure...
Thru The Looking Glass
Looking Good!
TRYagain almost "Virginal" too - keyboard skills to be mastered!
@Izzie,
Jeez, tryagain sowing his wild oats, is no virgin safe anymore?
@Dutchy,
Keen to celebrate the occasion " BEAgle and British correspondent raise a glass of.....
Devils Peak Special Edition Chenin Blanc 2008
We Say...
The flagship white grape of the cape with loads of crisp, unoaked orchard fruit flavours and a touch of honey. Werner is one of the very best winemakers in South Africa. Working at the super-premium Waterkloof winery he has been
'let loose' and is able to make the wines he wants rather than being tied to a commercial, marketing-driven remit.
TRYagain is wining and dining a virgin - OH MY!
That's the joy of mile high club a?
Now...can someone pop the cork..... or is a screw top!
http://www.virginwines.com/product/prod_detail.jsp;jsessionid=Jr2K8DNZymjShQTjbxn1hHnpCN2my16LHpZ22f3wTL20Vk3TGxcr!70044016!352137134?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442981697&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=282574489556933&bmUID=1231781514814
Political leaders gamble your kids futures on saving their careers.
@solipsister,
Many are called to virginal service; few are chosen.
