Tuesday, August 20, 2024

The Waning of the Middle Ages




The Waning of the Middle Ages
is a classic by the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga. It's also the condition of the current generation of baby boomers. Old Age is different from other stages of life due the fact the end is in sight. During the Middle Ages, scholastic philosophers famously debated about how many angels could populate the top of a pin. In middle age, there's similarly time to quibble about the fine points since life still feels eternal. In old age one is forced to develop a truly philosophical (rather than scholastic) attitude to life.  Realism and nominalism were the two great systems of philosophy debated in the Middle Ages. In retirement colonies, stoicism and the simple dichotomy between the pre-Socratic Eleatics (Zeno, Parmenides) and Milesians (Anaximander, Thales) become the talking points. 
Mentoring is, btw, one of the duties and privileges of the later years.

read "Frankel" by Francis Levy, Vol. 1 Brooklyn

and listen to "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G.


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