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It's amusing how intense Nietzsche's contempt was for his fellow classicists during the heyday of the profession in the 19th century. Here is an excerpt from hi
by Aidevah 5y ago
It's amusing how intense Nietzsche's contempt was for his fellow classicists during the heyday of the profession in the 19th century. Here is an excerpt from his "We Philologists"[1]:
Greeks and Classicists
The Greeks:
pay homage to beauty; develop the body; are articulate; are religious transfigurers of ordinary things; are listeners and observers; are prone to symbolism; possess freedom as men; have a pure outlook on the world; are intellectual pessimists
The Classicists:
are windbags and dilettantes; are repulsive-looking creatures; stutter; are filthy pedants; are hair-splitters and screech owls; are incapable of symbolism; are passionate slaves of the state; are Christians in disguise; are Philistines
It's probably unreasonable to expect the average classicist to possess the linguistic skills of the people whose legacy have survived over two millennia.
[1] https://www.jstor.org/stable/20162817 https://www.jstor.org/stable/20162817
- watwut 5y agoThe Greeks were sexi, contemporary classists spend less time doing sports and caring how awesome they look, therefore ... I mean, this shows Nietzsche's being capable of contempt and emotional/aesthetician argument, but not much else.
- dgellow 5y agoI cannot read your comment without visualizing the "virgin vs chad" meme template, it's a perfect fit :) Nietzsche would have been the best reddit shitposter.
- marginalia_nu 5y agoTo be fair, this is an old tradition in philosophy. Socrates was arguably the original forum troll, even if Diogenes took it to another level.
- eru 5y agoIf Socrates had lived in Rome, he could have trolled on the original Forum.
- marginalia_nu 5y agoFine, ἀγορά.
- efficax 5y agoNietzsche's point has nothing to do with linguistic proficiency. Basically no Greeks of the attic era would have learned any other languages, except maybe a trader or merchant. Even Aristotle could not speak any other language than Greek...
- jhbadger 5y agoNot all of them were ignorant of foreign languages. Xenophon ("Foreign Talker") is literally called that because he knew Persian. And his Anabasis is considered one of the best works in Attic Greek.