Philology by James Turner
- Some great phrases from the book:
- polymath (throughout) and dilettante (103)
- engineer of erudition (110)
- autodidact (153)
- “any single label falsely pins him down” (288)
- “varied, if mediocre, talents” (313)
- Definitions of philology:
- the multifaceted study of texts, languages, and the phenomenon of language itself (ix)
- history is key, and comparative by nature, inherently genealogical (x)
- a paradigm of knowledge (xi)
- for the Greeks: linguistic speculations, rhetoric, textual philology, and grammar (4)
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- Key insights:
- this book is about how we organize and compartmentalize knowledge, which has great implications for how it is used and increased (xv)
- discussion of the development of the Bible (20-22)
- “few species show more inertia than the bookworm” (24)
- “The Christian religion does not rest of proof but on persuasion, which is superior to proof” -Lorenzo Valla (1407-57) (35)
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- place of philosophy relative to humanities (epilogue)
- General outline:
- Prologue: gives
- Chapter 1: one of the more interesting chapters, since it covers antiquity to 1800
- Chapter 2: renaissance
- Words from this book:
- erudition (lots, starting on 1)
- collate: to compare manuscripts (10)
- emendation: revision/correction to a text (12)
- coterie: small group of people with shared interests (33)
- suzerainty: arrangement where larger power controls foreign policy of a tributary state, which is allowed to rule itself internally (39)
- extant: still in existence (39)
- amity: friendly relationship (41)
- polemical: critical, hostile (45)