
What Is Digital Humanism? - colinprince
http://kottke.org/17/04/what-is-digital-humanism
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hackuser
Speaking very generally (and based on slightly faded memory), one reason they
liked old things in the Renaissance was because there was a point of view that
the prior ~1,000 years, since the fall of Rome, was a waste intellectually,
and that the way forward was to revive the Roman and Greek knowledge. I don't
think the same conditions apply today, and IMHO perhaps Humanism's goals
should be accomplished by other means than focusing on preserving or reviving
the past.

(Disclaimer: The following mostly is based on memory; details may be off a
bit. Sorry.)

Hegel said in the 19th century (paraphrased), "he would 'put on seven-league
boots' in order to skip over the thousand years between the 6th and 17th
centuries and, having at last arrived at René Descartes, said that now he
could 'cry land like the sailor.'"[0]

Even the name of that prior, wasted period, the "Middle Ages", was given to it
by people in the Enlightenment: From their point of view it was the middle
between two great periods: Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, and the
Enlightenment.

The Middle Ages ended, in a sense, with the reintroduction of most of the
ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle's works to Europe, where they had been
lost for centuries. Aristotle was highly respected and presented a worldview
that challenged Scholasticism, the philosophy of the Church. Thomas Aquinas, a
name many recognize, made it a mission to reconcile Aristotle with the Church.

It's a good reminder that civilization is a fragile thing, and we are stewards
of it. We don't want the next 1,000 years to be lost, too.

[0]
[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Scholasticism](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Scholasticism)

~~~
boomboomsubban
Aristotle's works were never lost to Europe, they were doing fine in Spain the
entire time. This entire thing is a long propagated mythology that things were
at their best when Europe dominated the Mediterranean. The Middle ages were
Islamic and Chinese golden ages, and the Han dynasties equalled or surpassed
anything in the Greco-Roman sphere.

~~~
hackuser
I don't quite understand. The scholars of Europe did not have access to
Aristotle's works. Are you saying that isn't true? Was Spain isolated from the
rest of Europe during the Middle Ages?

> This entire thing is a long propagated mythology that things were at their
> best when Europe dominated the Mediterranean

I don't understand how saying that they lost access to their greatest scholar,
Aristotle, and had to rely on people from another part of the Mediterranean to
preserve and return his works to them, supports a claim that "things were at
their best when Europe dominated the Mediterranean".

Also, do you have some source for what you are saying? If you look at the cite
in my post, you can read much of what I said, including about Aristotle.

~~~
boomboomsubban
>I don't quite understand. The scholars of Europe did not have access to
Aristotle's works. Are you saying that isn't true? Was Spain isolated from the
rest of Europe during the Middle Ages?

Uh yes? Spain was part of the Umayyad Caliphate and then various other
Caliphates until the Reconquista ended Islamic Spain in 1491. Islam never lost
Aristotle.

Saying that Europe largely lost Aristotle isn't propagating the myth,
repeating Hegel and Descartes Eurocentric views is, as is saying civilization
is fragile when it survived fine.

A lot of the reason the European's liked old things is that they could then
claim it was European knowledge rather than Islamic. Examples include Aquinas
commissioning a translation of Aristotle from Greek sources, as the existing
copies were translated from Arabic.

As for sources, yours only shows that Aquinas rationalised Aristotle and
Catholicism, which is true. On what I've said, if you didn't know about Al-
Andalus I don't know where to begin. Anything about the Umayyad Caliphate
would be a start, or almost any modern history of the age.

I'm also completely ignoring that the "Fall of Rome" happened in 1453, largely
considered the end of the Middle Ages.

~~~
hackuser
Unfortunately, I don't think I want to get caught up in this kind of
conversation.

~~~
boomboomsubban
The only controversial part of what I said is that they liked old things to
avoid the tie to Islam. Al-Andalus was Spain, Islamic philosophy was heavily
influenced by Aristotle, everyone called the Byzantine Empire Roman, and we
are taught a very Eurocentric history.

Sorry to continue on, wanted to establish that these things are certain. Don't
want to fall into a new blend of scholasticism.

~~~
hackuser
It was the tone and listening (or lack thereof), not the content. No big deal,
but life is too short ...

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alistoriv
On a similar note, if you're interested in the sort of things the Renaissance
Humanists were preserving the Ritman Library[0] has quite a collection that
it's in the process of making available online.

[0] [http://www.ritmanlibrary.com/](http://www.ritmanlibrary.com/)

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westmeal
Would SciHub count as an example in this case?

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dwe3000
It's funny to me how comments on an article on digital librarians has strayed
so far down a rabbit hole.

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Iv
Kopimi is the Word. Kopimi is the way.

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baldfat
THANK YOU Humanism NEVER meant Atheist anything till just a few decades ago.
Stop destroying the meaning of a word that goes back centuries just because
you don't want to use the word Atheist. Thank you

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sabertoothed
Why did that trigger you?

~~~
baldfat
I went to Graduate School for a Masters in Theological Studies. My focus is
the Historical Theology (To know what people groups believed in specific times
and locations). So this is a high travesty of centuries of thought both
Christian and non-Christian.

Just look at the founders of Humanism, one being Martin Luther. The whole
Reformation was built on Humanism. Martin Luther's whole world change from
being a Priest to being the first Reformer to actually die of natural causes
was that he was going to the bathroom and realized that Jesus also poops.
Popular thought is he was scared by lightening, but that's weak academic
research. That really is Luther's turning point, Jesus pooped. History of the
Western and now the whole world has changed because of that one Humanist
thought.

The whole birth of Humanism was "emphasizes the humanity of Jesus." Now we
changed the term completely 180 just so people won't use the term Atheism to
define themselves but they will fight to hold on to the equality of humanism
and atheism.

I actually have had days of discussions with various modern Humanism thinkers
and leaders. They don't deny that fact, but they also choice to defend that
Humanism equals Atheism. It is like a Intellectual Hijacking of Centuries of
Thought and Philosophy. It's because the preference of semantics but it is the
actual opposite of the word, thought and historical meaning of that word.

