Aristotle’s lisp, why Socrates loved dancing and other tales of ancient thinkers | Hacker News Reader

Aristotle’s lisp, why Socrates loved dancing and other tales of ancient thinkers

washingtonpost.com

58 pointsdiodorus13 comments

Diogenes Laertius is a fun read, full of entertaining stories and....urban myths, probably most of which never happened. The article admits that then says "Did you know..." as if it's all fact.

By the way if you haven't, read Plutarch, who is vastly superior in every way, and taught history and practical wisdom to people for a thousand years, and goes on doing so.

> Once when the philosopher was enjoying an especially fine afternoon, his admirer Alexander the Great asked whether there was anything he could do for him. Diogenes answered that the conqueror could move out of the way since he was blocking the sun.

This is quite interesting. Upon deeper inspection, Diogenes asks from Alexander not to deny him the Sun. Alexander being a conqueror, can make quite a few things... But Alexander cannot make sunshine, he can only deny sunshine by standing in the way/killing/destroying.

I think Diogenes is teaching a lesson to Alexander.

If you want to learn more the History of Philosophy with any gaps podcast is fantastic. This[1] is the episode which discusses that meeting

[1]. https://historyofphilosophy.net/cynics

Highly recommend History of Philosophy Without and Gaps podcast. It's fantastic, thorough, and makes no assumptions about the listener's background. My only regret, is that I expect it will take him 10 more years (at least) to finish the history. I don't want to wait that long!

Have you listened to the 'sibling' podcast on Eastern Philosophy? I've been meaning to check it out but haven't gotten to it yet. I did quite like History of Philosophy Without and Gaps, as far as I got anyways!

Do you mean the podcast on Indian Philosophy? I found it a bit harder to follow. I assume that is because the technical terms used by the Indian Philosophers were less familiar to me (i.e. veda, etc). Still I found it highly interesting.

Is δεν-είναι-διασκεδαστικό supposed to mean “defun”? That’s a different kind of “fun” right there (“fun” as in “I had fun at the park” instead of “fun” as in ”function”).

It means "it's not fun".

NOT lisp the language.

Yes. One of the classic Greek texts is “Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs” by Aristotle.

Many would confuse a "lisp" to the language. It's HN anyway.

When I read the article title, I immediately thought of the language LISP as well. The idea made me chuckle though, so I commented.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com