|
9288
|
The magic of Asclepius enters Renaissance thought mixed into Ficino's neo-platonism [Yates]
|
|
Full Idea:
The magic of Asclepius, reinterpreted through Plotinus, enters with Ficino's De Vita into the neo-platonic philosophy of the Renaissance, and, moreover, into Ficino's Christian Platonism.
|
|
From:
Frances A. Yates (Giordano Bruno and Hermetic Tradition [1964], Ch.4)
|
|
A reaction:
Asclepius is the source of 'Hermetic' philosophy. This move seems to be what gives the Renaissance period its rather quirky and distinctive character. Montaigne was not a typical figure. Most of them wanted to become gods and control the stars!
|
|
9291
|
The dating, in 1614, of the Hermetic writings as post-Christian is the end of the Renaissance [Yates]
|
|
Full Idea:
The dating by Isaac Casaubon in 1614 of the Hermetic writings as not the work of a very ancient Egyptian priest but written in post-Christian times, is a watershed separating the Renaissance world from the modern world.
|
|
From:
Frances A. Yates (Giordano Bruno and Hermetic Tradition [1964], Ch.21)
|
|
A reaction:
I tend to place the end of the Renaissance with the arrival of the telescope in 1610, so the two dates coincide. Simply, magic was replaced by science. Religion ran alongside, gasping for breath. Mathematics was freed from numerology.
|
|
20926
|
Hermeneutic knowledge is not objective, but embraces interpretations [Zimmermann,J]
|
|
Full Idea:
In the hermeneutic ideal of knowledge, not distance but involvement, not impersonal observation but personal interaction, not thinking against prejudice or tradition but accessing knowledge through them, characterizes our perception of the world.
|
|
From:
Jens Zimmermann (Hermeneutics: a very short introduction [2015], 3 'Beyond')
|
|
A reaction:
To make this stick it will have to challenge scientific knowledge which results from mathematical summaries of measurements done by instruments. Is a stop watch an interpretation?
|
|
20927
|
The hermeneutic circle is between the reader's self-understanding, and the world of the text [Zimmermann,J]
|
|
Full Idea:
The 'hermeneutic circle' of understanding is not between the author and the reader, but between my understanding myself in my own world, and the world projected by the text, with its possibilities for life.
|
|
From:
Jens Zimmermann (Hermeneutics: a very short introduction [2015], 4 'How texts')
|
|
A reaction:
I'm not much of a fan of hermeneutics, but this idea seems quite important. Readings of Dickens in1860, 1930 and 2020 are very different events. For example, which parts catch the reader's interest, or jar with their sensibilities?
|