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Dipped into Neoplatonism today for some novel research. (Felt sad about the murder of Hypatia all over again, as one does.*)

But in general, it always strikes me how much 19th-C categories fudged our sense of history. "Neoplatonism" is an early Victorian term used to organize late-Hellenic philosophies pre- & post- Plotinus. But it's *much* more fruitful to study the progression of "one-ness" from older Egyptian & Indian philosophies, through 3rd C BC Plato & beyond.

Periodization is a trap!

*This has been another episode of "esoteric thoughts accumulated while diving down research rabbit holes, with ML" - but I had a chuckle when I realized that I *do* often pause to think about the murder of Hypatia, and the earlier burning of the Library of Alexandria.

You know that toxic bro meme about how you're not a real man if you don't think about the Roman Empire at least weekly? This is my version of that: I grieve the destruction of knowledge and scholars... way more than is healthy. 😅

@MLClark The main reason I think of the Roman Empire so often is I keep looking at the news and going "Again? Still?!?"

: )

@MLClark as I am researching the pagan spirituality of the lands of my ancestors, I’ve read that there aren’t written records, and that the only stuff written about these traditions (Druid and Celtic) was by the people trying to convert them and so was most likely less than accurate.

I suppose there is some magic in the mystery…but gee whiz.

@MLClark in this case, the destruction of knowledge was by tainting it.

@MLClark

i agree. tracing the way ideas get developed and expressed in different cultures and periods is much more fruitful.

@holon42

I understand why strict periodization happens - especially in eras when so much was lost and destroyed, so you don't have a fuller sense of the conversation. But just because one person is the only voice to have survived doesn't mean one needs to configure them as *the* turning point... especially when their own texts very plainly reference a community of peers, and a long line of preceding thinkers.

The myth of individual genius leaves every generation with so much unlearning to do.

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