Greek Grice

From:

http://lsv.uky.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0810B&L=CLASSICS-L&P=R223&I=-3

Hellenism was a Pose, not a Code. M. Davidson reports (does not say), in a post, "... Jewish people invented...". "One further question is prompted by Dr. Sand's account, as he himself notes: if most Jews never left the Holy Land, what became of them?"

Well, there's Arnold's account -- in the Victorian webpage, "Hebraism and
Hellenism". Arnold writes:

"We English, a nation of Indo-European stock, seem to belong naturally to
the movement of Hellenism"

which was probably a naive question to say in 1869, but hardly self-evident
(auto-noematic) given the force of the "heathen" movement in England. As
described by Arnold, the core of this "Hellenism", which is a 'credo' based on
reality, truth, and beauty could well have been the result of an Indo-European
'nation' found herself in a _southern_ climate. Indeed, most accounts of
Greek philosophy but the blame on the _weather_, being too good *not* to 'think'
things.

Arnold is also writing as a sort of boring Victorian (that he possibly was)
and thus, he minimises the "Hellenism" movement in neo-classical art that was
providing a revolution in, among other Establishment places, the Royal
Academy of Art. His is a 'account-for-the-common-reader' (I never was one of them)
and thus avoids academic talk of say, Greek philosophy, and
classical-studies per se in the only place then reasonably safe to proceed with such studies:
Oxbridge.

Arnold refers to the 'sponaneity of consciousness' that Hellenism
represents, and quotes from some _anti-Hellenistic_ 'hebraists': "Has raised up thy
sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece" (Zechariah).

He refers to Aristotle as paradigm of Hellenism with his emphasis on
'knowledge, deliberate will, and perseverance'. He also mentions Epictetus and
Plato. He contrasts the tenets of Hebraism with things that "Socrates [would just
have] judged impossible". Then it's back to the 'perfect intellectual vision'
of the Hellenes, which he summarises in the word, 'philomathos'. "To see
[things] in their beauty", the "aerial ease, clearness, and radiance", "beauty
and rationalness". On the other hand, he focuses on Hebraism's idea of 'sin':
"The space which sin fills in Hebraism, as compared with Hellenism, is indeed
prodigious" (But then I wished he would have been more familiar with opera
and tragedy which is _all_ aboout hubris). Arnold comments on 'beauty, as a
grand and precious feat for man to achieve' as a tenet of Hellenism, and quotes
from George Herbert, "Venus, the life-giving and joy-giving power of nature,
so fondly cherished by the [Greek] world, could not save followers, ... the
severe words of the apostle came bracingly".

The classic scholar Dover was 'circumcised' (or a 'roundhead' in
school parlance -- not meant to offend -- just slang!). I'm surprised that in
an otherwise intellectual piece that Arnold writes, he _has_ to mention the
cavalier/roundhead distinction again, when he quotes directly from Romans
3:1-2, "What advantage then hath the Jew, Or what profit is thereof circumcision".
Well, some of my friends, who are circumcised -- and my female friends, too,
oddly -- says it's better for sex.

Arnold goes on historically to talk of the Renaissance and how "the subtle
Hellenic leaven of Renaissance found its way". He goes on to discuss Luther
almost in the sui-ipsius-interpres (or 'interpretant', as I prefer, following
Pierce), and makes an extraordinary point. For the 'over-subtle' "Greek
philosopher", "For Hellenism, for the thinking side in man ... the attitude of mind
of Protestantism towards the Bible in NO RESPECT DIFFERS [my emphasis. JLS]
from the attitude of mind of [disparaged] Catholicism towards the Church."

Arnold cannot hide his Anglo-Saxon attitudes, and goes on to disparage the
Italians (I am reminded of Diego della Mirandola). Unlike the French, who
after all are named after a Germanic tribe, and the Angles, ditto, it's the
Italians who are to blame for their 'hellenic' pose. In a passage almost
impossible to digest, he goes on to discuss "a side of moral weakness, and of
relaxation" "which in Italy showed itself with the most startling plainness". He goes on to talk on behalf of _all_ Englishmen (excluding perhaps those who were
'italianate' enough to be beyond redemption -- the devils incarnates -- when
he notes that a purely Hellenic pose -- with its accompanying "moral
indifference and lax rule" could never satisfy Victoria and her subjects!

New-World people, he sees as representing the Hebraist spirit -- and goes on
to praise "the genius and history of ... (the) English" "and our American
descendants" "to the genius and history of the Hebrew people" --.

This is almost back to M. Davidson's quote:

"One further question is prompted by Dr. Sand's account, as he himself notes:
if most Jews never left the Holy Land, what became of them?"

It's a pity he doesn't care to answer it.