News of The Academy

What does it mean to say:<br />I respect (a) tradition<br /><br />Do I have to follow a tradition to respect it?<br />If no - why must I "when in Rome, do as the Romans do"?<br />If yes - does that mean I am incapable of respecting traditions I do not follow?<br /><br />Is tradition something which can be seen - behaviours we perform in certain circumstances?<br />Is it these observable things alone, or does it ...

According to Freud (and others) we are driven by the pleasure principle: we behave in order to maximise pleasure minimise pain. <br />This implies that everything we do is in our own interests, so that even if we do something for others, this is inherently selfish; we do it because it makes us feel good.<br /><br />Then again - even if we ARE driven by the pleasure principle - do we not still choose how ...

<br />po/lemoj pa/ntwn me\n path/r e)sti, pa/ntwn de\ basileu/j, kai\ tou\j me\n qeou\j e)/deice, tou\j de\ a)nqrw/pouj: tou\j me\n dou/louj e)poi/hse, tou\j de\ e)leuqe/rouj.<br /><br />"War is the father of all and the king of all, and shows/makes some gods and some humans; some it makes slaves, some free."<br /><br />It's not entirely clear what exactly Heraclitus means by "war" here - he's called "the dark/obscure one" for more than just his gloomy outlook - ...

potamoi=j toi=j au)toi=j e)mbai/nome/n te kai\ ou)k e)mbai/nomen, ei=me/n te kai\ ou)k ei=men.

"Into the same river we step and step not; we are and we are not."

Well, from our topic "Truth & Music" I posed another meaningless question:<br />"Well, maybe that is another topic for discussion - why are so many musicians mathematically minded? It is very common and has been commented on many times (its not just a fluke thing with my own group of friends). Is there a part of the brain which is associated with numbers/music? What about other artists (or writers/dancers & so on). Are there other ...

There is one issue which perplexes me in the study of classics and which came to mind as I was sitting in my car in Eton at the weekend and idly looking out at inscrptions on the school walls in Latin and Greek. ::)<br /><br />Throughout the best part of the last two millenia, education of leaders in Western Europe has focussed on Latin and Greek civlisation and culture. Here in England schools immersed the ...

Some hard-nosed thinking from a Hellenistic school, to balance the solipsism. :)

tara/ssei tou\j a)nqrw/pouj ou) ta\ pra/gmata, a)lla\ ta\ peri\ tw=n pragma/twn do/gmata: oi(=on o( qa/natoj ou)de\n deino/n, e)pei\ kai\ Swkra/tei a)\n e)fai/neto, a)lla\ to\ do/gma to\ peri\ tou= qana/tou, dio/ti deino/n, e)kei=no to\ deino/n e)stin.<br /><br />o(/tan ou)=n e)mpodizw/meqa h)\ tarassw/meqa h)\ lupw/meqa, mhde/pote a)/llon ai)tiw/meqa, a)ll' e(autou/j, tou=t' e)/sti ta\ e(autw=n do/gmata. a)paideu/tou e)/rgon ...

In the 'Truth and Music' thread, Elucubrator outlines this theory of knowledge:<br /><br />...the mind is compared like an empty space full of cages, and everytime you learn something you place a white dove in one of the cages. Eventually, you have so many cages and doves that there is no way that you can see them all. The earlier cages have been pushed back to make room for the  more recent arrivals.<br /><br />...then ...

In essence, this is the place for Discussion and Debate.

Suitable Topics
In general, anything which has multiple viewpoints is suitable. So, the range of possible topics is quite diverse, from Is Mathematics A Language? to This Thread Does Not Exist!.
Threads here do NOT necessarily have to be serious! So long as you can discuss/debate a topic based on evidence (factual or facetious as the case may be), it's allowed.

The Nature of Discussion ...

If someone says: I know this music - under what circumstances could it be considered true?<br /><br />* What if they just recognised a piece - had heard it before, were hearing it again, and recognised it was the same piece?<br /><br />* What if they could only recognise the piece when rendered with the same voice/instruments?<br /><br />* What if they could recognise a song but not sing it back to you?<br /><br />* ...