Serching for the origins of ideas
09/04/14 05:28
Chances are you don’t read my blog out of a love of the history of philosophy, but from time to time I find myself thinking about how certain ideas became prominent in our culture. When we in the west refer to ancient times, we often are referring to Greek and Roman history. Those two empires dominated much of thought and civilization for many centuries and gave rise to many ideas that persist to this day. Of course there are other ancient traditions, many of which gave rise to significant philosophical concepts, in other parts of the world.
The problem is that we don’t really know much of anything of those ancients by direct record. It isn’t as if our libraries are filled with the books that they wrote. Socrates, for example, is often referred to as the originator of some of the foundational ideas of democracy and is credited with a specific form of teaching and learning. Socrates, however, believe that the dynamic nature of thought and ideas was inhibited by writing. He himself didn’t leave behind a collection of writings. We know most of what we know about Socrates and his way of thinking from the writings of his student Plato and Plato’s student Aristotle. The ideas were well-worn and, one might presume, edited, by the time they were put into the form in which they have been preserved for the historical record.
One of the sources of our knowledge of the nature of the thought and ideas of the ancients is Cicero. Cicero lived from 106 to 43 B.C.E. He was a brilliant Roman orator, philosopher, and statesman. He wrote many works, but his “On the Nature of Gods.” is perhaps his most well-known work. In it he presents a debate among an Epicurean, a Stoic, and a Skeptic. It is Cicero’s presentations of the thoughts of these three schools of philosophy that is the source of much of what we know about how these ideas emerged in ancient times. Of course there are other sources and direct ideas have survived in the writings of adherents to the individual philosophies, but often what we know comes second or third hand and some of the most accessible statements of the ideas of the ancients come from those who commented on the thoughts of others. This is true of Cicero’s writing.
The point I am trying to make here is that we often don’t know exactly what the ancients thought. We have an idea of an idea - a memory of a memory. Still our thoughts and even our language are influenced by thoughts that embargoed long before we came into this world and whose origins are often obscured in the past.
Cicero didn’t start out as a fan of Julius Caesar, but he learned to accommodate Caesar once it became clear that he had prevailed against the Republic. The transition of the republic founded by Greek-influenced ideas of democracy into an empire with a huge regional reach influenced much of the history of our part of the world. Our language and culture have been shaped by Roman thoughts and ideas.
It all started with the crossing of the Rubicon. OK, that wasn’t the real beginning, but in Suetonius’s record of the event. It was a dramatic moment. In those days, Governors of Roman provinces were allowed to be military commanders in their provinces. They were, in effect, the generals of the Roman army in their area. However, provincial governors didn’t hold the same power within Italy proper. In Italy, only elected magistrates could stand at the head of a contingent of troops, a position known as holding imperium. The law was so strict that any regional governor who tried to hold imperium within Italy was sentenced to death.
In 49 B.C.E. Caesar broke the law with intention. He led his legion south over the Rubicon river from Cisaipine Gual into Italy, heading for Rome. The Rubocon river marked the boundary. It isn’t one of the major rivers in the region, and its course is likely to have changed over the years, so no one is completely sure where the crossing took place, but Seutonius wrote that Caesar uttered the words, “alea lacta est” (the die has been cast). In Seutonius’ account Caesar is hesitant as he approaches the river, but once he has crossed and military conflict is inevitable he seems to have become set and hardened in his choice. Had Casear’s troops been defeated, he would have been put to death and history would have turned out much differently. It is likely that the course of Christianity might have been much different were it not for the Roman empire.
Today, there isn’t much to see if one visits except for one of the most polluted rivers in Italy. The river was minor during Roman times and is even smalleer these days with all of the pumping of underground waters for agricultural irrigation.
The phrase, “crossing the Rubicon,” has entered the lectionary of our language. It is generally used to indicate passing a point of no return. Michael Ruppert used the phase as the tile for his book about the attacks of September 11, 2001. He isn’t the first to use the phrase in reference to a different historical event than Caesar’s march toward Rome.
If you do a quick Internet search on the word Rubicon the first sites toward which you will be directed are commercial sites selling the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. The Rubicon is the name selected by Jeep for its most rugged off-road vehicle. It’s name doesn’t come directly from Julius Caesar or Roman history. It is a reference to an extremely challenging 22-mile jeep trail in Colorado. It is especially challenging because of the size of the rocks and other obstacles that are a part of the trail.
Now the trail probably got its name from someone who understood the reference to Caesar and the river in Italy, but common usage has transported us far from the ancient roots of the meaning of the term.
We are shaped by the past even when we don’t take time to recognize the influence of the ancients on our present lives. Taking a journey through the history of philosophy in search of the roots of the ideas that we hold dear can be as challenging and adventurous as taking a jeep on the Rubicon trail.
The problem is that we don’t really know much of anything of those ancients by direct record. It isn’t as if our libraries are filled with the books that they wrote. Socrates, for example, is often referred to as the originator of some of the foundational ideas of democracy and is credited with a specific form of teaching and learning. Socrates, however, believe that the dynamic nature of thought and ideas was inhibited by writing. He himself didn’t leave behind a collection of writings. We know most of what we know about Socrates and his way of thinking from the writings of his student Plato and Plato’s student Aristotle. The ideas were well-worn and, one might presume, edited, by the time they were put into the form in which they have been preserved for the historical record.
One of the sources of our knowledge of the nature of the thought and ideas of the ancients is Cicero. Cicero lived from 106 to 43 B.C.E. He was a brilliant Roman orator, philosopher, and statesman. He wrote many works, but his “On the Nature of Gods.” is perhaps his most well-known work. In it he presents a debate among an Epicurean, a Stoic, and a Skeptic. It is Cicero’s presentations of the thoughts of these three schools of philosophy that is the source of much of what we know about how these ideas emerged in ancient times. Of course there are other sources and direct ideas have survived in the writings of adherents to the individual philosophies, but often what we know comes second or third hand and some of the most accessible statements of the ideas of the ancients come from those who commented on the thoughts of others. This is true of Cicero’s writing.
The point I am trying to make here is that we often don’t know exactly what the ancients thought. We have an idea of an idea - a memory of a memory. Still our thoughts and even our language are influenced by thoughts that embargoed long before we came into this world and whose origins are often obscured in the past.
Cicero didn’t start out as a fan of Julius Caesar, but he learned to accommodate Caesar once it became clear that he had prevailed against the Republic. The transition of the republic founded by Greek-influenced ideas of democracy into an empire with a huge regional reach influenced much of the history of our part of the world. Our language and culture have been shaped by Roman thoughts and ideas.
It all started with the crossing of the Rubicon. OK, that wasn’t the real beginning, but in Suetonius’s record of the event. It was a dramatic moment. In those days, Governors of Roman provinces were allowed to be military commanders in their provinces. They were, in effect, the generals of the Roman army in their area. However, provincial governors didn’t hold the same power within Italy proper. In Italy, only elected magistrates could stand at the head of a contingent of troops, a position known as holding imperium. The law was so strict that any regional governor who tried to hold imperium within Italy was sentenced to death.
In 49 B.C.E. Caesar broke the law with intention. He led his legion south over the Rubicon river from Cisaipine Gual into Italy, heading for Rome. The Rubocon river marked the boundary. It isn’t one of the major rivers in the region, and its course is likely to have changed over the years, so no one is completely sure where the crossing took place, but Seutonius wrote that Caesar uttered the words, “alea lacta est” (the die has been cast). In Seutonius’ account Caesar is hesitant as he approaches the river, but once he has crossed and military conflict is inevitable he seems to have become set and hardened in his choice. Had Casear’s troops been defeated, he would have been put to death and history would have turned out much differently. It is likely that the course of Christianity might have been much different were it not for the Roman empire.
Today, there isn’t much to see if one visits except for one of the most polluted rivers in Italy. The river was minor during Roman times and is even smalleer these days with all of the pumping of underground waters for agricultural irrigation.
The phrase, “crossing the Rubicon,” has entered the lectionary of our language. It is generally used to indicate passing a point of no return. Michael Ruppert used the phase as the tile for his book about the attacks of September 11, 2001. He isn’t the first to use the phrase in reference to a different historical event than Caesar’s march toward Rome.
If you do a quick Internet search on the word Rubicon the first sites toward which you will be directed are commercial sites selling the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. The Rubicon is the name selected by Jeep for its most rugged off-road vehicle. It’s name doesn’t come directly from Julius Caesar or Roman history. It is a reference to an extremely challenging 22-mile jeep trail in Colorado. It is especially challenging because of the size of the rocks and other obstacles that are a part of the trail.
Now the trail probably got its name from someone who understood the reference to Caesar and the river in Italy, but common usage has transported us far from the ancient roots of the meaning of the term.
We are shaped by the past even when we don’t take time to recognize the influence of the ancients on our present lives. Taking a journey through the history of philosophy in search of the roots of the ideas that we hold dear can be as challenging and adventurous as taking a jeep on the Rubicon trail.