quotablebookquotes discussion

From page 120 - 252.

So, I'm a little behind, but soldiering onwards. I will finished up a few days late, but what can one do? Onto business:

Hellenism:
I found that this did a disservice to such a large date gap. Hellenism is currently one of my favourite periods, with a huge growth in intellectual culture. Jostein did not mention Lucretius who is an important figure in the Hellenistic period and one who's writings I highly recommend. They're very poetic and easy to read, but packed with important ideas. I will soon be reading his works again for leisure. He did, however, skim over Seneca; who, from a scientific stand point, is one of the most important stoic figures, though I do understand that both Marcus Aurelius and Cicero, both of whom have been quoted on our blog by Emma (though she doesn't think philosophy necessarily has a place in out blog) and neither of whom I've read personally, are important to the time.
Overall, I do believe that his brief outlines of all the major schools of thought was very well done.

The Postcards:
This chapter was an excellent set up for what is to come. We, again, see the mirror and the importance of reflections and learn more about Hilde and her father. This is something we will want to keep in the back of our minds.

What did you think of these past two chapters? What philosophical school of thought was your favourite (mine is the Epicureans; if I wasn't a Kantian, I'd be an Epicurean.) Have you been enjoying the philosophy and the mystery?

Two Cultures:
I was a little disappointed by this chapter to be honest. I think that it did a good job at setting up The Middle Ages, but it under valued the importance of Islamic philosophy to the middle ages. This thought will continue in the next section.

The Middle Ages:
Okay, so there are a lot of people who I would have liked to be mentioned that I believe are important to the history of philosophy who weren't. First of all, our three big Islamic philosophy: Al Hyphan (this is spelt really wrong and I can't find the right), Al Farabi, and ibn sina (avicinna). There was also no mention of Thomas More, the English Humanist who wrote Utopia. Other than that it was a good outline. It could have gone more into depth about humanism, which is a more complex idea than stated in the book, and they did talk about Pico briefly which is good. It was okay. Oh! and the fact that they talked about the rise of the university made me really happy!

The Renaissance:
We are leaving my current area of expertise. They gave you the bare bones of everything. Some of the movers and shakers of this time were left out. Also, if you want to learn more about the Reformation, during FYP I read a really good collection of Martin Luther's essays which I would highly recommend. He's quite witty and I laughed more than once while reading it.
That's all I have to say about that.

What did you think about the Renaissance and Reformation? Why do you think it's important? Do you think that the Middle Ages are actually dark? How come?
What do you think the whole deal with Hilde is?

*I'll be adding my quotes to the quote page later this afternoon*