HoST Fall 08
Assignment 2
Week of 9/10/2008
As usual, read this page in
its entirity. I generally suggest
that you have most if not all of the readings done for Wednesday.
Read: McClellan and Dorn, pp. 55-65. The Pre-Socratics and Ionians et al. 10pp.
Read the following sections listed below from this PDF which has excerpts from Francis CornfordÕs translation of PlatoÕs Republic. They are all contained in one PDF.
Plato_Republic-Excerpts-Cornford-5MB.pdf
(Make sure you download this particular PDF from the eLibrary. There may be other ÒPlatoÉÓ files in there.)
43p
-WomenÕs Issues: pp. 144-164. 20pp
-The Cave: pp. 227-235. 8pp
-The Quadrivium of Mathematical Sciences: pp. 235-250. 15pp
Read pp. 23-31 and then choose a number and read
that section in IamblichusÕ Theology of Arithmetic. I have
included the chapters on the monad [1], the dyad [2], the triad [3], the tetrad
[4], the heptad [7], octad [8], ennead [9], and the decad [10].
Iamblichus_TheologyOfArithmetic100.pdf
The
style of arithmetic exemplified by this reading in IamblichusÕ Theology of
Arithmetic shows up throughout western
history and variations of it throughout the history of the world. It is closely
associated with Pythagoreanism and as such shows up in most all philosophies
that deal with numbers. Some
remnants continue on to this day.
ca. 20pp
The following writing assignment is one of the assignments
that counts towards the 5 total. I
you have no idea what this means, reread the class policies page linked on the
Syllabus. Assuming you did last
weekÕs assignment (the comic bookish thing based on the Enuma elish) you have 4 left to do. You may choose to do this one or you may choose to skip it
and wait for one another one.
Write a 1 to 2-page single-spaced essay on some
aspect of this reading. Do not
write an essay generally describing the overall reading. I have already read it and do not need
your outline. Instead, latch onto
a particular issue and respond to it.
Relate some issue you have chosen to other issues from these
Pythagorean/Platonic readings or from the Enuma elish or the Bible or some other external source. Try to get at
Pythago-Iamblichus-PlatoÕs larger worldview by making the readings bounce off
one another. Feel free to delve
into the ethical and ontological and epistemological issues and evaluate
Iamblichus/Plato from your own perspective. As I like to promote, if illustrations will improve your
essay, put some in. Cite
everything including class readings and lectures. I am letting you follow your own noses here. Do the readings far enough in advance
so that you can savor them and then write on them. Rushing through a reading is a total waste of time. Moving your eyes across a page is not
reading. You donÕt get anything
from it.
Here are a bunch of words to help you get started. These
are just suggestions, not demands, and they may be more confusing than helpful.
There are hundreds moreÉ
womenÕs rights, tetraktys, gender differences, nudism,
gymnastics, education, mathematics, dating, dog breeding, eugenics, luck,
biological determinism, lambda, marriage ages, ethics, cooking and weaving,
harmony, reality vs. perception, painting, imitative art, number, intellect,
pattern, rationality, number, arithmetic, music, geometry, astronomy, world of
forms, world of shadows, prisoner, slave, government, astronomy, reality,
world-soul, the One, the good, god, soul, body, one to many, elements of
matter, chaosÉ etc.
Here are some stray notes and
things that may be of some help.
Thales of Miletus c.630-c.550
Pythagoras of Samos c.570-490
Democritus of Abdera c.460-370
Epicurus
(of Samos) 341-270
Aristarchus of Samos ca. 310-230
Socrates 469-399, teacher
ofÉ
Plato 427-348/7, teacher ofÉ
Aristotle 384-322, teacher of Alexander the GreatÉ
Athenian Democracy begins in the middle of the 5th c. BC and
ends 370 B.C. How long is that?
Here is a lesser known interesting figure whose story was
totally ruined by prudish 19th c. scholars:
Diogenes of Sinope
(412/399?-323) ÉÕthe Cynic.Õ
[Not to be confused with Diogenes La‘rtius.] Diogenes is
said to have eaten (and masturbated) in the agora (marketplace) of Athens,
urinated on the man who insulted him, defecated in the amphitheatre, and
pointed at people with his middle finger.
Stray and totally abusrd story: When asked how to avoid
lust of the flesh, Diogenes began to masturbate. When rebuked for doing so, he
replied, "If only I could
soothe my hunger by rubbing my belly."
He supposedly lived in a tub or a huge ceramic jar and ate
only onions. [Given this diet, it is perhaps best that he pleasured only
himself and did not try to pleasure another.]
Plato is said to have commented that Diogenes the Cynic,
was Socrates gone mad. The stories
of Diogenes remind me stylistically of contemporary satire like Stephen Colbert
or The Office. His ridiculous
behavior points out how silly we are.
Famous images of Diogenes: He is supposedly the person
"searching for an honest man" on ZOSO, Led ZeppelinÕs 4th
album.
The inner sleeve of this album (below left) shows Diogenes
the Cynic holding a lantern looking for Òan honest man.Ó He apparently went around looking for
one in broad daylight. He couldnÕt find one. The image on the right is the
Tarot card upon which this image was clearly based. Whether Zeppelin realized that this ÒHermitÓ was Diogenes is
doubtful. They probably just
thought it looked cool.
You will notice that these
symbols from ZeppelinÕs album (above) are somewhat similar to some of the
symbols in the Iamblichus reading.
Geometry and arithmetic and symbolism have a long and interconnected
history.
In a moment of bonding, Plato
once told Diogenes that SocratesÕ definition of a human being was simply a
Òfeatherless biped.Ó Diogenes,
ever the pistol, presented a plucked chicken to Plato, calling it a fellow
human.
"Cynic" derived from Greek word for dog
(kynikos).
Here are the three standard ÒmeansÓ which are discussed in most all arithmetical and harmonic/music theoretical treatises starting in the 5th or 6th century BC and very likely going back much further.
|
Arithmetic mean |
c is
linearly equidistant from both a and b. |
The arithmetic mean is Òequidistant between both
extremes.Ó Example: a : c : b =
4 : 6 : 8 The common
average. |
|
Geometric mean |
a x b is a rectangle, c is
the square that has the same area. |
ÒÉthe
dimension of a side [c] that generates a square of equal [area]Ó to that of a
rectangle with sides measuring a and b. Example: a : c : b = 4 : 6 : 9 |
|
Harmonic Mean |
|
ÒThe proportion between the shortest
and the longest dimensions is the same [proportion] as that [quantity] between
the shortest and the middle, and É that [quantity] between the middle one and
the longest. The ratio between the outer numbers equals the ratio between the
differences between the numbers.
Example: a : c : b =
3 : 4 : 6 |
(The above quotations were takes from L. B. Alberti, On the Art of Building [De re aedificatura], IX.6, p. 306-309, from the mid 15th c.)
1
2 3
4 6 9
8 12 18 27
Examples of means: Notice the patterns these series make in the above pyramid, the tetraktys.
Arithmetic: the earthy means:
2, 3, 4
4, 6, 8
6, 9, 12
Geometric means: the heavenly means
4, 6, 9
1, 3, 9, 27
1, 2,4, 8
Harmonic means: the psychic means: the intermediary between heaven and earth
3, 4, 6
6, 8, 12
9, 12, 18
36 and 55 observationsÉ.. (again, notice the patterns in the tetraktys)
1+8+27=36
6+12+18=36
62=36
36= 2*18 = 3*12 = 4*9 = 6*6
36= 2*2*3*3 = 22(32)
55= 1+2+4+8+1+3+9+27 (the external legs added together)
55= 1+2+3+4+6+9+12+18 (the factors of 36)
1
2 3
4 6 9
8 12 18 27
20=30
21 31
22 21*31 32
23 22*31 21*32 33
sum of exponents equals 0
sum of exponents equals 1
sum of exponents equals 2
sum of exponents equals 3
Here are the citations for the above works: Feel free to cut and paste them for
your citationsÉ but add the page numbers and other details as you see fit.
Iamblichus (Attributed to). The Theology of Arithmetic:
On the Mystical, Mathematical and Cosmological Symbolism of the First Ten
Numbers [Theologoumena Arithmeticae].
Translated by Robin Waterfield with a foreward by Keith Critchlow. Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Phanes Press, 1988.
McClellan, James E., and Harold Dorn. Science and
Technology in World History : An Introduction. Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.
Plato. The Republic of Plato. Translation, notes, and commentary by Francis Macdonald
Cornford. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950.
Movie Clip on Free Will
John Barnes and David Leung from my Scientific Revolution
class both recommended that I watch this.
It is a clip from a movie called ÒWaking Life.Ó In this clip a man, who starts with
nostrils but ends without them, talks about free will in relation to modern
science and a smidgen of old natural philosophy. He also appears to have a very tiny dog. ItÕs only 3 minutes long, but it
outlines the issue nicely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VxQuPBX1_U
Back to Syllabus [HoST Fall 2008]
Me – hostf08@mifami.org
Review Material: Posted 10/5/08
(These are my own notes or edited Power Points and may not be
entirely coherent.)
Interesting Science News
Carey- For the Brain, Remembering Is Like Reliving
Special Notice: CERN (the Large Hadron Collider) is starting
up on Wednesday.
Assuming everything goes as hoped we will still have class
Wednesday evening.
If not, we probably wonÕt know the difference anyway.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/science/09collide.html
–If you run across an interesting story, let me know–