True human height is not measured in feet and inches but in the altitude of the thoughts we think and the problems we engage. The higher the problems, the higher the man.
Category: Aphorisms and Observations
Scientism
Those who hold that the only knowledge is scientific knowledge will not be content to restrict themselves to such knowledge; they will be tempted to pass off as scientific what is not. The prime and best example is scientism itself: it is passed off as scientific when it is a philosophical thesis with all the rights, privileges, and debilities pertaining thereunto.
(Details in Scientism category.)
Kerouac’s Posthumous Solvency
Some become solvent only after their dissolution. The case of Kerouac. His solvency came long after he had dissolved himself in that sovereign solvent of soul and body, alcohol. But money, though making solvent, is a solvent too, of human ties, as his relatives learned when they fell to fighting over his estate.
If the Young Will Let Them
As long as their health holds out and they avoid mirrors, the old can cultivate the illusion that they are still young. If the young will let them.
Admiration and Contempt
Your first mistake was to admire him inordinately, your second, after he proved less than wholly admirable, was to swing over to contempt. No one is worthy of unqualified admiration, and no one is wholly contemptible.
An Aphorism of Mine Translated into Slovak
Dear Mr. Vallicella,
My name is Cyril Šebo, I am an English teacher in Slovakia and also a blogger on our national Slovak blogspot
http://cyrilsebo.blog.sme.sk/clanok.asp?cl=309289
Today is The International Day of Translators and in my blog I dared to use one of your thougts from your blog, to show how difficult it can get to translate some thoughful ideas into another language.
Your statement I have borrowed was, "Silence is a grating clangor to the unwhole man."
I also suggested a translation and encouraged the readers to provide their critical analysis and possible (better) translation variants.
The blog post has received a very good following so far, people especially speculated about the poetic figure of "grating clangor" and the philosophical aspect of the "unwhole man."
Somebody also suggested a reversed translation of one of the Slovak versions into English: "Silence is a scratch and clangor in the ear of a man lacking inner integrity."
If your time allows, can you please let us know, whether this is close to your original idea, or is it absolutely ridiculous?
Thank you very much,
Cyril Šebo
Dear Mr. Šebo,
I am glad you enjoyed my aphorism and found it stimulating. I wrote it on 3 January 1972 while a young man living in a garret in Salzburg, Austria. When I opened the skylight in the bathroom I got a view of the Salzburg Festung, 'fastness' being a nice old poetic English word for Festung.
As for your reverse translation, I would say that it conveys the idea that I was trying to express, but does so in a way that violates one of the rules for a good aphorism. The good aphorist aims at economy of expression. A good aphorism is terse. "Scratch and" is superfluous, as is "to the ear." Clangor is a loud ringing sound; sounds are perceived through the ears; so there is no need to add "to the ear." 'Clangor' has the added virtue of sounding like what it means. The 'resonance' of the word is diminished by the addition of "scratch and." "Unwhole man" is a more poetic and economical way of saying "man lacking inner integrity." But that is what I meant.
At the time I wrote the aphorism I may have been reading Max Picard who wrote a book entitled The World of Silence. Here is something about Picard.
Amounting to Something
One only truly 'amounts to something' when one no longer holds this to be the goal. (Written 24 June 1972)
Permanence and Impermanence
Both worldling and philosopher distinguish between the permanent and the impermanent. How then do they differ? For the philosopher what the worldling calls permanent is impermanent, while for the worldling what the philosopher calls permanent doesn't exist.
False Modesty
To appear modest, some of us preface our remarks with, "Correct me if I'm wrong." But we say it only when we know we are not.
Human Perversity
People want sympathy and understanding. But we must be careful how we show them. "I understand exactly how you feel" may earn the response, "You have no idea how I feel, how the hell could you?"
Sweet Mystery of Life
Some of life is comprehensibility and some is mystery. It is comprehensible that it is so; mysterious that it should be so.
Negativity Breeds Negativity
Negative people elicit negative responses from others. So they suffer twice: from their own negativity and from the negativity they cause.
No Man is a Beast Merely
It is natural for a beast to be bestial, but not for a man. He must degrade and denature himself, and that only a spiritual being can do. Freely degrading himself, he becomes like a beast thereby proving that he is — more than a beast.
Requite Good with Good
Requite good with good; evil with justice.
On a Saying Often Attributed to George Santayana
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — George Santayana
Those who can remember the past and are able to learn its lessons are typically not those with the power to make a difference in the present so as to prevent the repetition of the past; and those with the power to make a difference typically either will not or do not remember.