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16566
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Poetry is more philosophic than history, as it concerns universals, not particulars [Aristotle]
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Full Idea:
Poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.
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From:
Aristotle (The Poetics [c.347 BCE], 1451b05)
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A reaction:
Hm. Characters in great novels achieve universality by being representated very particularly. Great depth of mind seems required to be a poet, but less so for a historian (though there is, I presume, no upward limit on the possible level of thought).
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19673
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Galileo mathematised movement, and revealed its invariable component - acceleration [Galileo, by Meillassoux]
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Full Idea:
Galileo conceives of movement in mathematical terms. ...In doing so, he uncovered, beyond the variations of position and speed, the mathematical invariant of movement - that is to say, acceleration.
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From:
report of Galileo Galilei (Two Chief World Systems [1632]) by Quentin Meillassoux - After Finitude; the necessity of contingency 5
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A reaction:
That is a very nice advert for the mathematical physics which replaced the Aristotelian substantial forms. ...And yet, is acceleration some deep fact about nature, or a concept which is only needed if you insist on being mathematical?
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