Scribes: Elaine
Barber and Sarah
Minchom
These
minutes were not spoken; for another version,
The lecture began with a discussion
of the cosmos vs. the
universe. Professor Hutchinson
explained that the universe is necessarily one, a totality. The Greek word for this is pan meaning "the whole". The word cosmos is derived from the same word as
cosmetic, meaning arrangement or adornment. It implies the structured part of the whole. It was noted that philosophers were
divided as to whether there is one cosmos in the universe or many.
A student brought to Professor
Hutchinson's attention that there was confusion identifying the secondary and
primary voices in textbook. To
clarify this confusion Professor Hutchinson made a comparison between pages 119
and 127. Translations found on
page 127, by the ancient Greek, Simplicus, ( F11-14) are from Aristotelian and
Platonian manuscripts. Original
copies had undergone much change, as manuscripts were repeatedly hand copied
onto another medium and, as many texts were lost or destroyed, it was often
only the younger copy, if any, that survived. The editors of today's texts must read all the remaining
manuscripts and then deduce from them what the original author's intent was. In the cases where most of the work was
lost the testimonies of more modern scholars, that had produced books or
commentaries on the original manuscripts, would then be used to fill in the
missing fragments of the surviving text through testimonials. For example, T6 Pgs. 126-127. In comparison with this, on page 119 it is the author's
voice, giving his own interpretation of the meaning of Anaxangoras's
theories. But the author's
interpretation is disputable because it was only written in the last few years
and therefore, has no antiquity.
Prof. Hutchinson stressed
the analogous relationship between the author's words and reading a newspaper,
thereby showing the importance of understanding the original source instead of
relying on a second hand interpretation.
In a quick correction, Professor
Hutchinson clarified that when he made the analogy that the universe and cosmos
were like rice pudding with raisins, what he meant was that the rice pudding
was the universe and that the raisins, infinitely spread throughout the
pudding, were the individual cosmoi, or “cosmoses”.
The question was raised as to how to
properly cite a text. Professor
Hutchinson stated that he was more concerned with the principle of referencing
than the technical requirements.
He stated that referencing is not just to "cover your ass" but
also so that the person reading your composition will be able to easily find
the text and (original texts) you are referring to, and therefore it is
recommended that you give the title, author, and page. If referencing testimonial or fragments
one should give the original author, with the title of the book this fragment
is found in, as well as the translator, and the secondary book.
It was also pointed out that when
reading ancient philosophers' texts we need to remember that they each have
their own system or convention for referencing other philosophers works, and
will refer to a section as "in the beginning", etc., since there were
no books in ancient times, rather scrolls. Therefore, we should think of referencing ancient philosophers
work as you would reference the Bible (i.e. book, chapter, verse)
Next we began the discussion on
Anaxagoras, the date of whose life span is unclear, but estimated to be around
500BC-(425-428BC). He came to
Athens from the northern part of Aegean, Clazomenae around 480BC during the
time of the Persians attempt to invade Greece. Against all odds the Greeks managed to repel them because a
civil soldier ran twenty-six miles to warn the Athenians of the approaching
attack. After defeating the
Persians Athens prospered and their established alliances allowed them to share
in a common defense (much like today’s NATO) and a common sphere of
influence.
Anaxagoras, who was closely
associated with the influential political leader Pericles, an internationally trusted
nation builder and the first serious world leader, was accused of serious
crimes (for his heretic belief that the sun was a glowing hot stone rather than
the Athenian's divine being) and was driven out of the city. As there were many other heretic
thinkers in Athens it is unlikely that this was the actual reason for the
trial, but more likely that he was persecuted for his association with Pericles
(much like Socrates persecution for being associated with politicians in later
times). It was mentioned that from
the fifth century on, Athens became the centre for Greek philosophy, remaining
so for over one thousand years.
The Milesian cosmology is similar to
Anaxagoras', concerning his theories with explanations of natural phenomenon,
such as rainbows and earthquakes (for reference see the testimonials and
fragments on pages 128-129).
Anaxagoras' standard cosmology, which was a very revolutionary idea for
his time, was based on the idea of the process of separation, caused by a
vortex. With the idea of
infinitely small parts, the separation into elements is never complete, and
every least thing we have contains elements of every other thing therefore
cannot have least parts. Professor
Hutchinson's suspicion is that Anaxagoras is replying to Zeno's problem of
infinite divisibility, as well as that knowledge must be based on reality, and
definitely to Parmenides' theories that what-is cannot come from what-is-not.
Anaxagoras realised that there are two views on the origins
of the elements:
a) its beyond our comprehension so why question their coming
into being
b) they've always existed, and therefore there is no change
in the universe, just a rearrangement of elements and thus do not need to
explain coming into being.
Anaxagoras decided the latter to be
best answer to the cosmological problem of how can we have cosmology if it
relies on knowledge? As to the
problem of Parmenides’ theory of the stationary nature of space,
Anaxagoras either didn't think it important enough or we don't have is
response. Briefly, Professor
Hutchinson pointed out Anaxagoras' belief that the building blocks of the
world, seeds of material, were constantly being broken down, and recollecting.
To end the lecture Professor Hutchinson referred to F5 on page 122, which indicates Anaxagoras' belief that there is reason to believe that forces, which created this cosmology, could quite possible have created other cosmologies differing only in size, found inside our universe. This is an idea which is being discussed still today.