Hughlings Himwich

Vae!

Onegonethewaithefe

Oywoemangwaeweh

 

The Metaphorical Imperative

 

 

Believe in Love

 

 

 

Etymology of philosophy

The etymological meaning of philosophy is usually given ‘as love of wisdom.’ This is misleading, perhaps even a serious misunderstanding.   ‘philos’ refers to the feeling that exists between friends. Thus, the proper understanding of the etymology of philosophy’ is not the solitary search for wisdom but the conversation that occurs among friends who pursue knowledge in common. It is the necessary propaedeutic to an ineffable and mutually private illumination.

Virtus

 

Virtus semper nova est. 

Etymology of Pity and Piety

‘Pity’ and ‘piety’ both ultimately derive from the Latin pietas which, as used by Vergil, means the fulfillment of duties to family, country and gods. Aeneas is a man marked out for his pietas (pietate insignis). In Latin, pietas does occasionally suggest ‘affection’ and even ‘compassion’, especially with respect to family members and friends (vide pietas, Lewis & Short). Generally, commentators have not recognized this last occasional use,even though affection of a father for his child or the child for his father iscompletely natural within the context of familial obligation.  Later, Christian writers extended the meaning of pietas to include God’s mercy.  This too, however, has its parallel in classical civilization where a man’s pietas is expected to earn him a gracious response from the gods.  Indeed, Aeneas complains loudly about the apparent lack of divine reciprocity for his pietas.  Today, ‘piety’ is almost exclusively used within a religious context and even sometimes pejoratively connotes ‘holier-than-thou’ pretensions.

In OF there were two spellings for pietas: piete and pite, both with the sense of compassion included at first within the idea of fulfilling one’s religious duty and later simply as compassion itself.  Later, ‘piete’ and ‘pite’ became differentiated, with the latter (pite/pity) becoming a secular expression.

Reality Is not what we think it is

Philosophers, theologians, mystics, and even physicists are wont to return to the etymological background of certain key words to garner support for their theories de rerum natura. It is as if the root meanings of words like “reality,” “truth or “sin” provide a kind of archeological record of the mind, revealing profound insights based on a primordial and pristine perception of things. We can briefly observe how this etymological digging works in the excavation of that most controversial word, “reality.” “Reality” derives from the Latin noun res: thing, circumstance, condition, affair, etc. Res itself is cognate with the Latin verb reor, reri: to think. A philosopher who gets a hold of this last root meaning may suggest that “reality” is what you are able to think about. He may go on to argue that reality is a concept that mediates between the known and the unknown and, indeed, points beyond itself since what can be thought about and what is known are on principle always limited. Some Zeno, delighting in paradox, may argue that reality is precisely not what we think it is.