Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from On the Interpretation of Empedocles: A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Literature in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, (Department of Greek)
To these difliculties of interpretation are added, in the case of Empedo cles, the especial problems set by the employment of highly poetic and imaginative imagery which nearly always obscures the meaning. The use of this imagery constitutes indeed a presumption that the thought is not over precise. Thought does not reach clear and accurate conceptions before command of language has been obtained, and unless the poet deliber ately chose to conceal his thought, his ideas must be regarded as subject to the same limitations as his diction. It is conceivable that Empedocles should at times choose picturesque imagery to capture the ears of his hearers. Were his thought precise and abstract, however, he would surely, like Parmenides, often lapse into more logical modes of expression. We may well believe that much which seems to us consciously figurative was by the poet meant as statement of fact. It would be strange indeed if the mythological mode of conceiving the universe were completely abandoned from the very inception of philosophic thinking. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
