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The "Perennial Philosophy" school of thought [1] says that people rediscover these ideas over and over again. It takes a particularly prophetic individual to st
by superb-owl 4y ago
The "Perennial Philosophy" school of thought [1] says that people rediscover these ideas over and over again. It takes a particularly prophetic individual to stumble over them de novo, but once the idea takes root it spreads quickly.
There's a great quote from William James on the cycle of religious discovery, diaspora, corruption, and rediscovery, but I can't find it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perennial_philosophy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perennial_philosophy
- thenerdhead 4y agoNot sure if this is the one you're talking about, but it rang a bell. I saw it in a Tony Robbins book most recently and then repeated in a book about TV addiction. “First, you know, a new theory is attacked as absurd; then it is admitted to be true, but obvious and insignificant; finally it is seen to be so important that its adversaries claim that they themselves discovered it.” - William James "First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident." - Arthur Schopenhauer
- superb-owl 4y agoNo but this one is even better!