The issue of how to translate ancient Greek is huge. The first translation I read of "Outlines of Pyrrhonism" was by Annas & Barnes. My reaction was that it was very interesting. I then picked up Mates' translation. It was hugely different! Mates leaves all of the difficult-to-translate terms untranslated. The reader must decide what they mean. With this, I *got* what Sextus was trying to convey.
Very interesting…. Is this to say something along the lines of what we might call “contemplative practice” or a contemplative life…. And that translators have rendered this as “theoretical philosophy”? That would be rich…. So much gets passed through an intellectualistic filter in the modern day….
First, we might want to chat about this in our next Psy-Phi Dialogue. :-) Second, this idea of *attention* is something I'm just starting to explore, but it's a direction that I find very intriguing. For instance, in the passages I translated this morning I came across a phrase that I rendered as "attention to truth", not "contemplation of the truth". One thing I like about the concept of attention is that it feels more active (for Aristotle, living simply *is* activity) and it also feels like something you can guide yourself to practice in a directed way; "pay attention to this thing" or "give attention to this person" feels like the kind of "command" I could issue to myself, whereas "contemplate this" feels more vague. Also there is a strong connection to an ethics of care for others and for yourself, which feels right to me on many levels (also I would connect this with the original meaning of "therapy" in ancient Greek and the Socratic idea of "care for the soul"). As I say, I'm just starting to explore this and it deserves a journal entry of its own...
Fwiw I had a meditation instructor years ago who if memory serves more or less defined meditation as the practice of cultivating attention
I believe I also read the word “meditation” itself was used by westerners in an attempt to divorce what we now call “meditation” from the religious connotations associated with “contemplation”
Anyway just riffing here but I appreciate this distinction and yes! good topic for dialogue 😁
The issue of how to translate ancient Greek is huge. The first translation I read of "Outlines of Pyrrhonism" was by Annas & Barnes. My reaction was that it was very interesting. I then picked up Mates' translation. It was hugely different! Mates leaves all of the difficult-to-translate terms untranslated. The reader must decide what they mean. With this, I *got* what Sextus was trying to convey.
Translation is impossible, yet some of us are drawn to it nonetheless...
Very interesting…. Is this to say something along the lines of what we might call “contemplative practice” or a contemplative life…. And that translators have rendered this as “theoretical philosophy”? That would be rich…. So much gets passed through an intellectualistic filter in the modern day….
First, we might want to chat about this in our next Psy-Phi Dialogue. :-) Second, this idea of *attention* is something I'm just starting to explore, but it's a direction that I find very intriguing. For instance, in the passages I translated this morning I came across a phrase that I rendered as "attention to truth", not "contemplation of the truth". One thing I like about the concept of attention is that it feels more active (for Aristotle, living simply *is* activity) and it also feels like something you can guide yourself to practice in a directed way; "pay attention to this thing" or "give attention to this person" feels like the kind of "command" I could issue to myself, whereas "contemplate this" feels more vague. Also there is a strong connection to an ethics of care for others and for yourself, which feels right to me on many levels (also I would connect this with the original meaning of "therapy" in ancient Greek and the Socratic idea of "care for the soul"). As I say, I'm just starting to explore this and it deserves a journal entry of its own...
Well that is quite interesting….
Fwiw I had a meditation instructor years ago who if memory serves more or less defined meditation as the practice of cultivating attention
I believe I also read the word “meditation” itself was used by westerners in an attempt to divorce what we now call “meditation” from the religious connotations associated with “contemplation”
Anyway just riffing here but I appreciate this distinction and yes! good topic for dialogue 😁