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i wombat - 2005-07-15 10:03:44
the Hafiz is lovely, it is a wonder to me how it seems that our human wisdom has existed for so long, where the most humane thoughts are not necessarily new, although we accumulate new ideas and technologies and skills, we may not have improved our sense of what it means to be human since the time of Shakespeare, cervantes, Erasmus...
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2fs - 2005-07-15 17:10:29
I'm not sure what you mean by "our sense of what it means to be human" exactly - but two possible responses: (1) why should that be something that "improves" over time...since we were human then, and we're human now? Or: (2) at the level that "understanding what it means to be human" coincides with "being humane," while I'm no believer in steadily onward progress, it's certainly true that in some respects, people generally are more humane than in Shakespeare's time. At least, we don't enjoy bearbaiting or tying up the insane as much as we used to (speak for yourself Karl).
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i wombat - 2005-07-15 23:45:06
well yeah, that's the question, what progresses, and what doesn't? and when? and why? when I read these guys from 500 years ago, I think "if most people alive today had the human understanding of these guys, it would be a better world" not that your average guy back then was up to this standard either...
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