Beginning in May of 2022, I will offer virtual options for working with me to improve your skills in reading French, German, Latin, or Spanish literatures, to engage in Great Books discussions, and to provide support for the self-study of foreign languages. If these might interest you, please fill out the application form on my website at alexanderarguelles.com/academy/ If this is not for you, but you know someone whom it might interest, please pass this information on to them.
Professor, I just wanted to thank you for this video. I'm an avid reader and writer (i own at least 2000 books) and i'm always looking for more great books. I also have always felt the Enlightenment thinkers tarnished the reputation of the middle ages unduly, and am excited to hear that you agree. It's actually my love of literature that finally pushed me to learn a language, Japanese, in my mid thirties. I will say I've studied a lot and I'm doing quite poorly lol. I've tried to focus on reading, but even there i can't get through a middle school book without constant look ups after spending a good 3 hours a day on flashcards for a year. I will get there, but it seems to me I might not be as disposed to it as some. Though right now I've shifted my focus and am trying to listen a lot more to see if that's more helpful to me. Anyhow, i just wanted to thank you and say you're a real inspiration and that i hope one day I'll have french, spanish, german, and russian under my belt so i can read all my favorite literature. lol
Thank you so much for concurring that this Age has been unfairly tarnished and maligned. The European languages you mention will all allow you to read their literature sooner than Japanese will...
Thank you. I suspect that we humanities folk do not reciprocate often enough, i.e., that you come here seeking balance more often that we can be found perusing videos about science and math...
@@ProfASAr This is a good observation. That is definitely what humanities people should do! I myself am a mathematician and there is definitely an antisymmetry when it comes to seeking for different areas of thought.
@@gamzeonder8763 There was not among "renaissance men" and this should again be an ideal for polymaths. I suppose it is built into the Great Books of the Western World with the inclusion of things like Newton's Pincipia, which I must admit I find truly frightening...
Another great video, Alexander. There really is a lack of content and discussion on the great books, so it's great to see someone so well versed in them offering such in detail analysis. I am currently reading Adler's How to Read A Book and just obtained a set of the Gateway to the Great Books that I will be jumping into right after. I'm going to get a second edition of the Great Books of the Western World shortly as well. I have seen others discuss the omission of the middle ages from the collection. If you were to suggest maybe a half dozen books to fill that gap in the set, that are also in the English language, which would you choose?
Thank you for the kind words of appreciation. As for suggestions to fill that gap, that are available in English, I don't want to answer off the cuff but would have to give that some serious thought.
Dear Dr Alexander first I must thank you for all your videos especially when you post videos on medieval literature which is a favourite topic of mine. I really love your collection of books. I have also collected some course books to study occitan old norse old Irish old church slavonic etc but unfortunately they are all pdfs. I am an old school I love real books their smell but right now I depend on these pdfs for my study. I am a fan of bilingual books. I really don't like teach yourself series now a days. I don't learn languages so that I can order coffee or know weather. I learn languages so that I can read some of the greatest literary masterpieces in their own languages. I don't talk much being a shy guy from my childhood so I totally sometimes neglect the conversation ascept of a language which many say is very important of language learning but with whom shall I talk in igbo or old norse or basque living in remote district in West Bengal.thank you again for all your guidance and videos. Yours truly Rahul Mitra
Wow! so cool to see you in your library, where we can see more of your books there. What a gift to have you back online Professor! I love history and often feel lonely with no one to discuss what I am reading with. Currently, I am reading ancient Chinese history and Greek history.
Hello Carol, and thank you so much for the words of appreciation. I am happy to provide a locus for people who want to discuss things such as ancient history!
Thank you for posting this fascinating video. My own experience is that most of what I read as a child left me with the impression that, after the fall of Rome, everyone in Europe was miserable because they were living in the middle ages, and, for 1000 years, most people were impoverished serfs and there were knights feuding with each other. An example is a book that I read when I was about 9 years old called "A Child's History of the World" by V.M. Hillyer, which in retrospect seems like a catalog of simplistic misconceptions about history. In that book, the first chapter after the fall of Rome was called "Nightfall". There are also books like "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo in which one of the themes was that life in the middle ages was horrible.
I will most definitely enjoy this in its entirety tomorrow morning, but at first glance through the video description - thank you for the link to the medieval music channel! This is a great way to get in touch with an older language. Far and away my personal favourite is "Meie din liechter schin" by none other than Neidhart von Reuental, and this is the single best performance I have so far heard of it, wonderfully sung in this olden tongue (and with interlinear text in Neuhochdeutsch/Mittelhochdeutsch/Englisch): ruclips.net/video/LDIljrlYaVg/видео.html
Professor, is it reasonable to approach the study of medieval Western literature without a prior grounding in biblical literacy? As I understand, the influence of the Bible is widespread and far-reaching and I wonder if I am ill-equipped to approach much of what has been written in the West without first having taken the time to study these foundational texts of Western culture. Do I have that right?
You would definitely be much better off with this foundation than without it! And since you are aware of this, why not read the Bible through, as literature, a couple of times before embarking upon other texts.
Por si Ud. lo desconoce, le aconsejo un canal que se llama ADEH TV. Es obra de dos profesores de lingüística, ambos argentinos, pero va de temas literarios y mitológicos. Tematizan ahí muchos autores y obras antiguos y medievales. Aquí le pongo su perfil: ruclips.net/channel/UCRaVE4HC0N86FZzgcw5WU-Q
I’ve been following your content for almost a year now and it has really fed my zeal for language, history, and cultural anthropology. Just wanted to say thanks for enriching my life with your wonderful content
I never talked about it, but I am a math undergrad, so I am low informed on humanities. WIth that said, I remember my history teacher saying something on the lines of "the dark ages were called as such because the church gatekeeped science during this period, so no advances were known to public. After that, the iluminism came in and rediscovered and advanced science and formalized it as well" I think that is correct. Prof. Arguelles, please correct any mistake in my statement. One question: is there any more "forgotten great books" videos to be made on the future?
Hello William. You are probably correctly remembering what your history teacher told you, but what you were told is not correct, but a perfect example of the gross exaggeration and stereotype that I was spoke of in the beginning of the video. More book videos to come? Probably!
An absolutely magnificent talk! It is a noble endeavour to remark the importance of medieval literature, unknown as it is. You will most possibly know it, but if not, I highly recommend you the Andanzas y viajes of Pero Tafur, a fascinating piece of late medieval travel literature, the Cátedra de Letras Hispanicas edition is impeccable.
Hello Professor, have you ever gotten into subscribing to medieval RUclipsrs like The Metatron, Shadiveristy, and Skallagrim. If your into learning about allot of things you weren’t able to learn about then I highly suggest you watch The Metatron but Skallagrim and Shad are the type of people for beginners however they are still enjoyable to watch. While your at it subscribe to Max Miller cooking history. All of these people look at history in general accurately. Their is so much that you would never think about in everyday life.
@@ProfASAr your welcome you see I know of people and RUclipsrs who love medieval and ancient history. But never do they lol at these RUclipsrs who talk about stuff that you wouldn’t normally see in books because they are very hard to find info. Skallagrim and Shadiversity are type of people who look at these popular RUclips videos full of false or wrong info. So they correct them or they look at the stuff that you would normally see in fantasy like Inns, Guilds and compare them to the difference of the real meidval inns or guilds or knights or stuff that people love about the Middle Ages and the similaries because like you said. Not everything is like what is seen in the movies, they also like to look at the what ifs or the could you in history through a real life perspective like what if dragons, elves, or dwarves existed. Or could you put a sword in your back which surprisingly you can in real life. So stuff like that which could be done and have been done not just in medieval times but in real life in general. Now Metatron is more serious when it comes to his videos, they are enjoyable but they are like your videos and depending on the topic they could be really long. Eventhough they aren’t long as this video, they still feel like an hour. These people do videos for anybody, even if you know allot about the Middle Ages or history in general. I still i Highly suggest you check these RUclipsrs out, because like i said theirs just so much info that these RUclipsrs say that others will never say because it’s a long time period and nobody can cover everything.
Also don’t forget to subscribe to them, because like most RUclipsrs they will upload daily content however you never know what’s going to be good and what’s going to be bad if you know what I mean.
I'm Swiss who is native in (Swiss)German, fluent in English and I was once on conversation level in French. This was a fun video as I had to jump between languages. I noticed that you left out eastern Europa and countries like Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands and so on. Did you do so because there is less content from there or is it because you are just not as familiar with it?
I'm not so familiar with the Slavic traditions, but for the West, I was not trying to be comprehensive country by country and there is only so much one can cover in a single video.
@@ProfASAr This makes sense. Being comprehensive requires a life long commitment on that specific goal. When it comes to Swiss authors from the past the only one I know of is Jeremias Gotthelf (1757-1824). I was never into literature, so my knowledge is pretty limited. We read a book of his at school, that's why I know of him. _Die Schwarz Spinne_ is quite good and impactful, according to what I've heard. I can't really judge it for myself as I don't have the education and experience to say anything besides my own taste.
Thank you for the appreciation. As for the call to a microphone, you are certainly not the only one, but frankly I am baffled as to what you want and why. I spent more time editing the audio of this audio than any other - reducing noise, normalizing, compressing, adding EQ - and it sounds crystal clear to my ears (which may be damaged by too much shadowing) and I cannot imagine how it could sound any louder or clearer. I have purchased and used a wireless microphone that came highly recommended (Boya) on my Harrius Potter video, and that, to my ears, is worse than any other recent video, plus it was very complicated to use and set up and try to edit. I can't really spend more time on my videos that I already do, and I don't have a lot of money to spend on equipment. If those of you who want me use to use a microphone would pool a donation for this purpose, purchase something that can easily and simply transmit better audio to an Android phone camera, and send it to me, I would be happy to use it.
@@ProfASAr Your post-production efforts were certainly successful - the audio quality on this video is indeed clear and audible - impressive given the distance from the microphone. So no problems there! There are certain types of mics like the one that Steve Kaufmann uses (you can see it in recent videos) which produce a very high fidelity sound, and would no doubt sound better, but I personally have no issues here.
@@davexhayter Thanks for confirming that, David. I have made some videos in which the volume is too low, and others (using microphones!) in which it just seems bad or off, but I can't imagine how the sound in this would be better if I were to use a microphone. Again, I have responded to the recurrent calls to use one by purchasing and experimenting with them in the past, but they have not worked well, and trying to get them to do so has been too time consuming. If someone knows of a good one that can simply plug into and transmit the desired better sound to an android phone camera, there is a donation to Ko-Fi option at the bottom of the description box for all of my videos - send me the money to get one and the link to a place to order it and I will be happy to give it a try.
You might enjoy the Baltimore Consort, The Unicorn Ensemble, or Jordi Savall as musical accompaniment to these fine recommendations. Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful recommendations.
Thank you. I do indeed enjoy all three artists and ensembles whom you mention, and I believe Unicorn and Savall, at least, have works on the channel I recommended.
I’d love to know more about the Spanish literature you briefly touched on in this video. I know of El Cantar de Mio Cid of course, but those other works sound so interesting and had no idea they existed! Would you be able to list the names and genres of the books in this video? Do you have any other references for medieval Spanish literature?
Evan, you have so many detailed questions for me... I can't provide everything in comment sections, or even in videos. My website will be live very soon with a Q&A section, where I will welcome your inquiries. I also hope to work with you in some of the reading and discussion circles!
Hello, Professor! Thank you for another great video. You always inspire me to to learn more! Having said that, it's a pity you didn't show any books written in Slavic languages. The medieval Europe was full of Christian Slavic countries: Ukraine (= the Kievan Rus'), the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality of Serbia, the Kingdom of Croatia and the Banate of Bosnia, the Principality of Nitra, Great Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, and the Kingdom of Poland. We have a vast body of literature as well: chronicles, philosophy, poetry… It's a pity the medieval literature of these different Slavic countries remains unknown to most non-Slavic scholars, and even some attempts at more comprehensive overviews such as this one here still exclude the heritage of Slavic nations.
Thank you for agreeing with everything about the middle ages, every single misconception about the middle ages is so irritating that i just wish i could just go up to the people who made these stupid misconceptions and tell them whats true so these misconceptions would never exist and we wouldn't have to deal with all of this.
Maybe you can write down all your books? I’m rebuilding my reading collection and have been wanting to learn Latin for ages it would be good to help my motivation to be able to read all of those classics particularly St Thomas Aquinas and his catholic teachings.
How long have you been learning languages ? and I am 18 years old and I know Arabic and English and I want to learn Spanish because it's easy language , honestly I want to contact with you .
I am glad to make your acquaintance. If you start studying systematically now and keep up your enthusiasm, there is no reason why you cannot achieve what I have done - or more.
Excellent video! Though I had to laugh at the "if you like pornography" part! Nice collection and definitely a body of literature that attracts me much more than anything written much after, Medievalist and Latinist that I am (amateur, at that).
wonderful insightful video Alexander and saddened that ive only come to this video of late, therefore ive missed out on your course on reading languages. I have observed your earlier videos on assimil and language learning and have a mere modest foothold in latin , greek, french and dutch with an interest in russian, spanish and german. Though more of interest in old english, norse and medieval french. I would appreciate your ideas on resources to tackle these languages. you covered a great deal here with a very rich array of knowledge. My degree in philosophy and politics had been a disappointment back in early 1990s as it seemed very elementary compared to what have read afterwards and your hour video that both encourages yet saddens me to know i have so much to learn and in mid 50s now, i fear time may not be too kind to me but i will persevere thanks to you. As far as latin , would you recommend assimil latin or lingua latina? Would you say intensive latin by mooreland is a profitable source? Thank you...
Thank you for your kind words of appreciation. If you are really interested in studying medieval languages with me, you are by no means too late. In fact, you are right on time for Old Norse, which will begin next week. And you would also be welcome to join Old English and/or Old French in progress. If you were to join one of these, we could talk in person about which Latin text would best suit your style as a learner. Lingua Latina is most popular, Assimil would allow you to work on your French at the same time, and Mooreland uses an entirely different approach. There are lots of other possible resources as well.
Great content, your presentation touched different parts of Western Europe ands different genres. Thank you. If I can make one or two remarks : your video seemed a bit static, with you in the same position, sitted and far from the camera. Also, you seemed often out of breath... I little pause here and there. Have tought about adding on screen an image or the title of the books you are talking about?
Thank you for the kind comments and good suggestions. I know you mean well, but I am just a man trying to share knowledge and information, not a professional film maker. Do you have any idea how long it takes to shoot and edit a video like this for sound, etc., already? The steps you are suggesting may sound simple, but in my experience everything related to video production takes hours longer than one might suspect.
Well as a person who is utterly in love with the Carmina Burāna, one who reads Germanic chronicles, and who wants to read Old Catalan and Old Occitan (many thanks for the recommendations, I will try to set aside time to read some of that stuff in the summer), I never thought of the Middle Ages as utterly backward and miserable, in fact I idolise that period, if anything. So happy to hear that you are just as invested in this period, Professor! 3:26 I did not expect the Professor to mention Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As with all forms of satire, one has to take this movie with a grain of salt and understand that it's not expressly trying to make an accurate statement about the Middle Ages. In fact, since it's depicting the Arthurian legends, and Arthur being based on a person who lived in the 5th/6th centuries A.D., the period depicted in the movie falls well within "the Dark Ages" proper. Just had to get that out there.
Thank you for the input, Ian. I meant to stress more in the video that Catalan and Occitan are so closely related that they were essentially one and the same language at that time.
@@ProfASAr Catalan and Occitan were indeed closely related but not really “one and the same language at that time”, since they had separate and distinguishable written traditions from the very beginning.
@@felixarquer7732 They are members of the same twig on the same branch of a family tree. If you learn how to read one, you have also learned how to read the other, have you not? In this sense they are the same, the way Norwegian and Danish are the same, or the way that spoken Hindi and Urdu are the same. Of course there are important differences to insiders and to specialists, but to outsiders approaching these linguistic phenomenon, these are 2-for-the-price-of-1 deals.
@@ProfASAr We are both probably right, from our different perspectives. As an untrained (Catalan) insider, I have little trouble with medieval Catalan whereas I find medieval Occitan much harder, though this is clearly due to my very limited experience and to poetry being more challenging (I haven’t tried Provençal prose). “Separate written traditions from the very beginning” was my adaptation of one specialist’s words about these languages in the period: “(...) des dels testimonis escrits l’occità i el català es mostren irreductibles a una unitat.” (J. Bastardas, La llengua catalana mil anys enrere). I suppose further proof could be, for example, that one of the first longer texts in Catalan (Homilies d'Organyà, ca. 1200) is the translation of an Occitan original, and that Occitan grammars and dictionaries were produced in order to teach Catalan troubadours how to compose in the language. Anyway, your quick but quite representative survey of medieval Catalan literature is very much appreciated, since stateless cultures are usually invisibilized.
A very stimulating talk! I know next to nothing about the Middle Ages, I admit, but I hope to look into the subject some day - and this video is certainly a motivator.
Hey Alexander i want to ask a question, what do you think about medieval movies and games and im not talking about ones like robin hood, kingdom of heaven, and knight fall where its just a complete mess and its more of a fantasy rather than a history. Im talking about ones like Outlaw King, The Northman, and Kingdom Come Deliverance where they take place in the real world and they focus on the historical figure or the environment accurately through what history actually tells us rather than just making something that you think was the middle ages. Also what do you think about medieval movies in general that do a horrible job predicting the middle ages?
Thanks for the appreciation, as always. Not sure I understand your question or how it fits into this video - what do you mean by passive listening? 1. "Listening to, enjoying, and understanding the content of an audiobook but not shadowing it simultaneously?" Absolutely! 2. "Playing language learning tapes of a language you may not even understand in the background / under your pillow at night, hoping to get habituated to the sounds of it over time?" Not at all.
(I have not seen the video yet so apologies if I repeat things you mention). As someone who has studied medieval philosophy as the regular part of the theoretical philosophy curriculum of my university, I came to understand just how intellectually stringent and academically rigorous the medieval philosophers were (I say this as an atheist, which is important since I notice a lot of fan-fair for medieval philosophy comes from believing Catholics, and I do not want my appreciation to be confused with some kind of faith-inspired appreciation). While there is truth to the generally held belief that their subject matter was more narrow than in comparison to antiquity and the renaissance, with medieval philosophy being more focused on trying to make theology and faith intellectually respectable, it is still by no means hyper dogmatic, scholastic dialectics was more objective than the majority of what comes out of the more politically charged fields of modern universities. Medieval philosophy was however very good at fine-sharpening already established philosophy. Scholastic logic is no joke. In modern theoretical philosophy, a great deal of medieval methods are still used, sometimes principles we think are new are upon closer inspection found in the medieval philosophy. If there is one idea which in some ways symbolises the rigour but also the unknown contribution of medieval theoretical philosophy: Occam's razor. This principle which is considered one of the most important foundations of theoretical philosophy and by extension science is well known, but few know that its postulator, William of Occam (ca. 1287 - 1347) was in fact a medieval philosopher. Now, Occam was not the only philosopher who postulated this, many medieval philosophers postulated similar stances before him, a few ancient philosophers as well (most notably Aristotle). And it is true that the most common formulation of the idea attributed to Occam is not actually his (which has led to the myth that Occam never actually postulated his own razor, which is a myth). But the point is, Occam's razor is named after one of many philosophers of the medieval period because this principle - regarded as a highly modern and scientific one - was one of the most commonly accepted and adhered to cornerstones of medieval philosophy.
Thank you so much for writing such a detailed and thoughtful comment even before watching the video. I hope you will add another after doing so! I do talk about philosophy in general, Occam's Razon in particular, in it. Finally, thank you for pointing out that the incredible mental achievements of the likes of Thomas Aquinas can be appreciated even without sharing his faith.
@@ProfASAr Thank you! Having watched the video now, it is interesting how many of your explanations for why the middle ages are so underappreciated are similar to ones I have personally arrived it. I find similar discrepancies when it comes to how the society of the middle ages is compared to antiquity. Especially when it comes to what I call the "citizen fallacy", in which the rights and status of the inhabitants of a society are judged nowadays only if they were citizens (or a rough analogue of citizenship) of a society. This means for example that the relative lack of slaves during the High Middle Ages (sometimes outright the banning of it in certain countries) meant that the bottom of society were now included as actual members of it, which means in the context of the fallacy that the same people who heavily criticise serfdom in the middle ages do nowhere nearly as heavily criticise the institution of slavery during antiquity. The fallacy thereby implying that slaves being seen as sort of outside of society, their complete lack of rights do therefore not reflect society, while serfs were certainly a part of society, therefore their relative lack of rights do reflect their society. This distinction is of course arbitrary, and therefore completely misses the point that the people in antiquity with the least rights were seen as property with NO rights, where as the people in the middle ages with the least rights were seen as human beings with at a minimum basic rights. Of course, slavery was a bit more complex since it also involved captured people, which changes they dynamic a bit, but let's leave that aside for the moment. A particularly telling example of this: "citizen fallacy": it has often been said (all though this is thankfully no longer as common) that ancient Sparta was an example of a strikingly egalitarian society. Why? Because most of the CITIZENS were relatively equal. What this of course completely misses is that Spartan society was being held up by a class of slave-farmers which were quite brutalised, with little to no rights, and the citizenry was in fact a warrior aristocracy. In the same breath, the middle ages is held up as an oppressively hierarchical society (which it certainly was by MODERN standards), to a large degree due to the institution of serfdom. Completely missing that the lowest of society in the middle ages had rights, and could, and did in fact sometimes, sue their feudal masters in courts of law, and sometimes even won (I can mention an example where an English serf sued their feudal lord for assault and won, and received a fairly huge payment as compensation). Compare this to ancient Sparta where the lowest in society were ritually declared war upon by their masters annually. It seems to me that often when the middle ages are judged, it is done so by modern standards (perhaps this also partially comes from that many of our modern institutions have their origins in the middle ages?), which obviously makes much of the middle ages seem backward in comparison. But when antiquity is judged, it is done so with full historical context in mind, which makes its achievements stand out in a whole other light.
When responding to criticism over what was left out, I once read, Mortimer Adler said that much of what was passed over was because they meticulously went through, using index cards, cataloguing how many of the topics in the Syntopicon that each work touched on, and only admitted ones over a certain threshold (such as those that touched on 50 or 75, I can't remember, unique topics in the Syntopicon). Furthermore, they wanted to make sure that the work built upon the previous works. If there wasn't enough cohesion with the rest of the set, or if there weren't enough of the Syntopicon topics touched upon, then the work was left out. Perhaps this may go some way to justify leaving out some of these works. I don't know because I'm not familiar with the literature of the time. Nevertheless, it might not be because of some prejudice against the literature or time. Any thoughts you have on this would be greatly appreciated. You know far more about the subject than I. Also, I'm a Protestant, but I really lament the anti-Catholic sentiment in Protestantism. It has done a lot of harm, even if it may have been justified at times (maybe at times such as those when Protestants were being burned at the stake).
Thank you for the detailed comment. Of course Adler and team were systematic about the way they went about this, but also admitted that some books were on there only because someone had a particular penchant for them (e.g., Sterne).
@@ProfASAr Wow! I wish that people would overlook such biases, as you do. I do want to say, I'm loving seeing what works you would add to the collection. They've got me wanting to read them. I can't read any language other than English yet, however. This is something I need to rectify, but I just don't seem to have the drive. I am starting to feel the urge to bring one of my languages up to a good level. I made it about half way through Assimil German before I just got bored of doing one thing too long, not because it was difficult. Aside from pronunciation, I seem to have some facility for language learning. I've studied maybe six or eight languages to some degree (Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, a tiny bit of Chinese and Korean, and I've looked at, and learned the abjad and some hieroglyphs of, Arabic and Egyptian respectively), but I just never stick with them long enough. Latin, German, and Japanese are the languages I know best, but I still don't know much at all in them. In Latin, I did about half of the first volume of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata and some of Wheelock's. I already mentioned my German. In Japanese, I know how to write maybe 800-900 kanji, and the kana, but only know about that amount of vocabulary. All of this to set up the following question. If you were to suggest which language would be most fruitful to learn well out of all these, so that I could pick one that would serve me well, which language would you choose? My main interests are in theology and philosophy, if that helps.
@@Real_LiamOBryan I was going to edit my reply but see that you have already responded to it. What I was going to add was that the system you described the team using sounds objective, but the result is an imbalanced account of the Great Conversation through the millennia, so it ought to have been supplemented or patched somehow. But the task of selecting 50 volumes from all the candidates is a thankless one, and if they had done it to my satisfaction, someone else would be criticizing them for something else. As I said in the previous video, the presence of the Syntopicon makes this a valuable collection work with, whatever its chronological shortcomings. As to your studies - I would love to help, but I need more details and a RUclips comment section is not the right place for this. My new website will launch later this month and will have a Q&A feature where people can write me with the kind of detail I need to provide a meaningful answer, and I can provide that answer in a public way that will benefit multiple people as it will remain as a reference that will be cross indexed thematically (kind of like the Synotpicon, now that we are on that topic). So, may I invite you to write me a detailed letter about you, your goals, your background, etc., and send it to my website now? I will have an answer posted for you there in the near future.
"Effort?" That rather makes it sound like it was all in vain. I hope that is not what you are implying as I do hope you learned something. Please treat it as a lecture, take notes, and ask questions about anything you are really curious or uncertain about.
@@ProfASAr I did not mean to imply it was in vain. I found the references to medieval Latin literature beyond Scholasticism useful and the French references interesting. It is unfortunate that you infer something less than laudatory when I thank you for putting forth effort and lead with a reply based on that specious inference. Good things require effort. That's not a comment on efficacy.
@@mac389ify Sorry for the misunderstanding, but please look at your original wording again and understand that "Thanks for the effort" followed by "it would have been..." can come across as "Nice try, but..." Since that is not what you meant, thank you for appreciating that yes, it does take a lot of effort, and time, to make these videos - not so much to conceptualize them, but to shoot them under the right circumstances, edit them, etc.
I think rather than a CD (what is a cd?), I could see the professor really excelling at directing the production of a series of books with audio similar to lingua Latina psi for other languages
We traditional Catholics tend to see the Middle Ages as something of a golden age (though I do admit that that is an oversimplification). While to-day we may have vastly superior technology, I do not believe that this is necessarily a good thing in all areas (every post industrial technology has had a extremely negative social impact that is ignored), nor is technological 'progress' (another idea of which I am extremely critical, to say the least) a good means by which to judge the value of a civilisation. On the contrary, a civilisation is to be judged on its philosophy, morality, appreciation for beauty, and adherence to the truth. In summary, it must fulfil the purpose for which it was created. Based on that criterion, it is my considered opinion that we are the people in a dark age, spiralling into a collapse.
"On the contrary, a civilization is to be judged on its philosophy, morality, appreciation for beauty, and adherence to the truth." And all of that, is relative. Obviously a Catholic will romanticize a time period where Catholicism was the status quo and demonize a period when thought evolved past it,
@@donthasselthehoff5753 It is not relative. We can discuss what the truth is, but denying that morality, philosophy, and truth are objective will get us nowhere. In fact, you have just made an objective statement; you contradict yourself and create a paradox in doing so. There is no neutral position, and you do not occupy it. You state the obvious by saying that a Catholic will approve of a society run according to Catholic principles; that is no different to saying the same thing about any other person. All you convey is that you disagree with Catholicism, but you only make that statement, nothing else. With that comment, you also show the hypocrisy of Liberalism and secularism. People who adhere to those ideas wish to give the impression that they have no religion, and regard all religions as equal. But their neutrality is a lie; these people do not have no religion, for it is impossible to have no religion, in a sense. Their religion is the religion of Liberalism and secularism, which they raise above all other religions. We are only tolerated so long as we do not infringe on the principles of Liberalism.
No gimmicks, no distracting animation, no extraneous bs, just clear and interesting information. Thank you!
I appreciate your appreciation!
Beginning in May of 2022, I will offer virtual options for working with me to improve your skills in reading French, German, Latin, or Spanish literatures, to engage in Great Books discussions, and to provide support for the self-study of foreign languages. If these might interest you, please fill out the application form on my website at alexanderarguelles.com/academy/ If this is not for you, but you know someone whom it might interest, please pass this information on to them.
Professor, I just wanted to thank you for this video. I'm an avid reader and writer (i own at least 2000 books) and i'm always looking for more great books. I also have always felt the Enlightenment thinkers tarnished the reputation of the middle ages unduly, and am excited to hear that you agree.
It's actually my love of literature that finally pushed me to learn a language, Japanese, in my mid thirties. I will say I've studied a lot and I'm doing quite poorly lol. I've tried to focus on reading, but even there i can't get through a middle school book without constant look ups after spending a good 3 hours a day on flashcards for a year. I will get there, but it seems to me I might not be as disposed to it as some. Though right now I've shifted my focus and am trying to listen a lot more to see if that's more helpful to me. Anyhow, i just wanted to thank you and say you're a real inspiration and that i hope one day I'll have french, spanish, german, and russian under my belt so i can read all my favorite literature. lol
Thank you so much for concurring that this Age has been unfairly tarnished and maligned. The European languages you mention will all allow you to read their literature sooner than Japanese will...
Really enjoyed this video. Thanks for providing a good resource by sharing your knowledge of these works.
As someone mainly active in quantitative STEM fields some more humanities exposure is enriching to listen to
Thank you. I suspect that we humanities folk do not reciprocate often enough, i.e., that you come here seeking balance more often that we can be found perusing videos about science and math...
@@ProfASAr This is a good observation. That is definitely what humanities people should do! I myself am a mathematician and there is definitely an antisymmetry when it comes to seeking for different areas of thought.
@@gamzeonder8763 There was not among "renaissance men" and this should again be an ideal for polymaths. I suppose it is built into the Great Books of the Western World with the inclusion of things like Newton's Pincipia, which I must admit I find truly frightening...
Another great video, Alexander. There really is a lack of content and discussion on the great books, so it's great to see someone so well versed in them offering such in detail analysis. I am currently reading Adler's How to Read A Book and just obtained a set of the Gateway to the Great Books that I will be jumping into right after. I'm going to get a second edition of the Great Books of the Western World shortly as well. I have seen others discuss the omission of the middle ages from the collection. If you were to suggest maybe a half dozen books to fill that gap in the set, that are also in the English language, which would you choose?
Thank you for the kind words of appreciation. As for suggestions to fill that gap, that are available in English, I don't want to answer off the cuff but would have to give that some serious thought.
@@ProfASAr That would make a great video! Thanks again!
Dear Dr Alexander first I must thank you for all your videos especially when you post videos on medieval literature which is a favourite topic of mine. I really love your collection of books. I have also collected some course books to study occitan old norse old Irish old church slavonic etc but unfortunately they are all pdfs. I am an old school I love real books their smell but right now I depend on these pdfs for my study. I am a fan of bilingual books. I really don't like teach yourself series now a days. I don't learn languages so that I can order coffee or know weather. I learn languages so that I can read some of the greatest literary masterpieces in their own languages. I don't talk much being a shy guy from my childhood so I totally sometimes neglect the conversation ascept of a language which many say is very important of language learning but with whom shall I talk in igbo or old norse or basque living in remote district in West Bengal.thank you again for all your guidance and videos. Yours truly Rahul Mitra
Thank you kindly for your note, Rahul, it is nice to hear from kindred souls.
*Mr. Arguelles, you are what I call a pure Perfect Melancholy. Like Tesla, you have a beautiful mind, a true gift to the world.*
Thank you ever so much for the kind words of appreciation.
Wow! so cool to see you in your library, where we can see more of your books there. What a gift to have you back online Professor! I love history and often feel lonely with no one to discuss what I am reading with. Currently, I am reading ancient Chinese history and Greek history.
Hello Carol, and thank you so much for the words of appreciation. I am happy to provide a locus for people who want to discuss things such as ancient history!
Thank you for posting this fascinating video.
My own experience is that most of what I read as a child left me with the impression that, after the fall of Rome, everyone in Europe was miserable because they were living in the middle ages, and, for 1000 years, most people were impoverished serfs and there were knights feuding with each other. An example is a book that I read when I was about 9 years old called "A Child's History of the World" by V.M. Hillyer, which in retrospect seems like a catalog of simplistic misconceptions about history. In that book, the first chapter after the fall of Rome was called "Nightfall".
There are also books like "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo in which one of the themes was that life in the middle ages was horrible.
Thank you for confirming, unfortunately, the fact of how ubiquitous this stereotype is.
I will most definitely enjoy this in its entirety tomorrow morning, but at first glance through the video description - thank you for the link to the medieval music channel! This is a great way to get in touch with an older language. Far and away my personal favourite is "Meie din liechter schin" by none other than Neidhart von Reuental, and this is the single best performance I have so far heard of it, wonderfully sung in this olden tongue (and with interlinear text in Neuhochdeutsch/Mittelhochdeutsch/Englisch): ruclips.net/video/LDIljrlYaVg/видео.html
Thank you providing the link to the text, Chris. I hope you profit from the whole lecture when you get a chance to hear it.
@@nextstepelt5170 Good to know, Mathew - did you baby like it as well? Got to get an early start with them, you know...
Thanks Professor Argüelles for your new addition to your channel.
You are most welcome.
Professor, is it reasonable to approach the study of medieval Western literature without a prior grounding in biblical literacy? As I understand, the influence of the Bible is widespread and far-reaching and I wonder if I am ill-equipped to approach much of what has been written in the West without first having taken the time to study these foundational texts of Western culture. Do I have that right?
You would definitely be much better off with this foundation than without it! And since you are aware of this, why not read the Bible through, as literature, a couple of times before embarking upon other texts.
@@ProfASAr Many thanks for the affirmation! I will do just that, then.
@@JC-oo1iu If you do so, you will be far ahead of the masses who do not!
Por si Ud. lo desconoce, le aconsejo un canal que se llama ADEH TV. Es obra de dos profesores de lingüística, ambos argentinos, pero va de temas literarios y mitológicos. Tematizan ahí muchos autores y obras antiguos y medievales. Aquí le pongo su perfil: ruclips.net/channel/UCRaVE4HC0N86FZzgcw5WU-Q
Gracias por la recomendación, ¡me gustaría tener conversaciones interesantes como lo hacen!
I’ve been following your content for almost a year now and it has really fed my zeal for language, history, and cultural anthropology. Just wanted to say thanks for enriching my life with your wonderful content
Thank you so much for your kind words. Hearing from people like you makes all the time-consuming effort of producing videos like this most worthwhile!
Excellent lecture, Professor Arguelles. It really opened my eyes to how many books are missing from the reading list in Adler’s How To Read a Book.
Thank you, Chad. Those who do long-term Great Books discussions with me will have the opportunity to supplement Adler's list with some of these.
I never talked about it, but I am a math undergrad, so I am low informed on humanities. WIth that said, I remember my history teacher saying something on the lines of "the dark ages were called as such because the church gatekeeped science during this period, so no advances were known to public. After that, the iluminism came in and rediscovered and advanced science and formalized it as well" I think that is correct. Prof. Arguelles, please correct any mistake in my statement. One question: is there any more "forgotten great books" videos to be made on the future?
Hello William. You are probably correctly remembering what your history teacher told you, but what you were told is not correct, but a perfect example of the gross exaggeration and stereotype that I was spoke of in the beginning of the video. More book videos to come? Probably!
An absolutely magnificent talk! It is a noble endeavour to remark the importance of medieval literature, unknown as it is. You will most possibly know it, but if not, I highly recommend you the Andanzas y viajes of Pero Tafur, a fascinating piece of late medieval travel literature, the Cátedra de Letras Hispanicas edition is impeccable.
Thank you for your kind words of appreciation, and for highlighting this magnificent and invaluable travelogue.
Exempla Conde Lucanor pulchra hispana ac universalis literatura est
Gratias. Certe el Conde Lucanor in anthologia mea iam inest.
@@ProfASAr quoque mihi placet Calila et Dimna legere latine
Hello Professor, have you ever gotten into subscribing to medieval RUclipsrs like The Metatron, Shadiveristy, and Skallagrim. If your into learning about allot of things you weren’t able to learn about then I highly suggest you watch The Metatron but Skallagrim and Shad are the type of people for beginners however they are still enjoyable to watch. While your at it subscribe to Max Miller cooking history. All of these people look at history in general accurately. Their is so much that you would never think about in everyday life.
Thank you for the suggestion - I have never heard of any of these - I will have a look.
@@ProfASAr your welcome you see I know of people and RUclipsrs who love medieval and ancient history. But never do they lol at these RUclipsrs who talk about stuff that you wouldn’t normally see in books because they are very hard to find info. Skallagrim and Shadiversity are type of people who look at these popular RUclips videos full of false or wrong info. So they correct them or they look at the stuff that you would normally see in fantasy like Inns, Guilds and compare them to the difference of the real meidval inns or guilds or knights or stuff that people love about the Middle Ages and the similaries because like you said. Not everything is like what is seen in the movies, they also like to look at the what ifs or the could you in history through a real life perspective like what if dragons, elves, or dwarves existed. Or could you put a sword in your back which surprisingly you can in real life. So stuff like that which could be done and have been done not just in medieval times but in real life in general. Now Metatron is more serious when it comes to his videos, they are enjoyable but they are like your videos and depending on the topic they could be really long. Eventhough they aren’t long as this video, they still feel like an hour. These people do videos for anybody, even if you know allot about the Middle Ages or history in general. I still i Highly suggest you check these RUclipsrs out, because like i said theirs just so much info that these RUclipsrs say that others will never say because it’s a long time period and nobody can cover everything.
Also don’t forget to subscribe to them, because like most RUclipsrs they will upload daily content however you never know what’s going to be good and what’s going to be bad if you know what I mean.
I'm Swiss who is native in (Swiss)German, fluent in English and I was once on conversation level in French. This was a fun video as I had to jump between languages.
I noticed that you left out eastern Europa and countries like Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands and so on. Did you do so because there is less content from there or is it because you are just not as familiar with it?
I'm not so familiar with the Slavic traditions, but for the West, I was not trying to be comprehensive country by country and there is only so much one can cover in a single video.
@@ProfASAr This makes sense. Being comprehensive requires a life long commitment on that specific goal.
When it comes to Swiss authors from the past the only one I know of is Jeremias Gotthelf (1757-1824). I was never into literature, so my knowledge is pretty limited. We read a book of his at school, that's why I know of him. _Die Schwarz Spinne_ is quite good and impactful, according to what I've heard. I can't really judge it for myself as I don't have the education and experience to say anything besides my own taste.
As always great content. One suggestion, it would be great if you had a better microphone for your voice.
Thank you for the appreciation. As for the call to a microphone, you are certainly not the only one, but frankly I am baffled as to what you want and why. I spent more time editing the audio of this audio than any other - reducing noise, normalizing, compressing, adding EQ - and it sounds crystal clear to my ears (which may be damaged by too much shadowing) and I cannot imagine how it could sound any louder or clearer. I have purchased and used a wireless microphone that came highly recommended (Boya) on my Harrius Potter video, and that, to my ears, is worse than any other recent video, plus it was very complicated to use and set up and try to edit. I can't really spend more time on my videos that I already do, and I don't have a lot of money to spend on equipment. If those of you who want me use to use a microphone would pool a donation for this purpose, purchase something that can easily and simply transmit better audio to an Android phone camera, and send it to me, I would be happy to use it.
@@ProfASAr Your post-production efforts were certainly successful - the audio quality on this video is indeed clear and audible - impressive given the distance from the microphone. So no problems there! There are certain types of mics like the one that Steve Kaufmann uses (you can see it in recent videos) which produce a very high fidelity sound, and would no doubt sound better, but I personally have no issues here.
@@ProfASAr This video sounds perfectly fine, I have no clue what the complaint is.
@@davexhayter Thanks for confirming that, David. I have made some videos in which the volume is too low, and others (using microphones!) in which it just seems bad or off, but I can't imagine how the sound in this would be better if I were to use a microphone. Again, I have responded to the recurrent calls to use one by purchasing and experimenting with them in the past, but they have not worked well, and trying to get them to do so has been too time consuming. If someone knows of a good one that can simply plug into and transmit the desired better sound to an android phone camera, there is a donation to Ko-Fi option at the bottom of the description box for all of my videos - send me the money to get one and the link to a place to order it and I will be happy to give it a try.
You might enjoy the Baltimore Consort, The Unicorn Ensemble, or Jordi Savall as musical accompaniment to these fine recommendations. Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful recommendations.
Jordi Savall, such great music.
Thank you. I do indeed enjoy all three artists and ensembles whom you mention, and I believe Unicorn and Savall, at least, have works on the channel I recommended.
@@ProfASAr my apologies, heard a few of the titles and that music sprung into my head.
Came here for the cat
Stayed for his talkings
If you would like a pure Merlin experience, go here: ruclips.net/video/vI3eoYg3hXU/видео.html
@@ProfASAr he's starting at my soul
I’d love to know more about the Spanish literature you briefly touched on in this video. I know of El Cantar de Mio Cid of course, but those other works sound so interesting and had no idea they existed! Would you be able to list the names and genres of the books in this video? Do you have any other references for medieval Spanish literature?
Evan, you have so many detailed questions for me... I can't provide everything in comment sections, or even in videos. My website will be live very soon with a Q&A section, where I will welcome your inquiries. I also hope to work with you in some of the reading and discussion circles!
@@ProfASAr haha sorry about that. If time permits I’d love to be a part of it!
How refreshing to hear the truth about the Middle Ages.
Thank you! Are you possibly interested in learning to read any medieval languages? If so, please look at the offerings in my academy.
What would you call the times when we wrote in runes?
The Viking Age. Proto-Germanic. Anglo-Saxon
The term you were looking for was Moors.
???
Thanks for this video, it’s always fun to go deeper into literature from eras that aren’t as fleshed out in the canonical lists.
Thank you for the appreciation!
Hello, Professor! Thank you for another great video. You always inspire me to to learn more! Having said that, it's a pity you didn't show any books written in Slavic languages. The medieval Europe was full of Christian Slavic countries: Ukraine (= the Kievan Rus'), the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality of Serbia, the Kingdom of Croatia and the Banate of Bosnia, the Principality of Nitra, Great Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, and the Kingdom of Poland. We have a vast body of literature as well: chronicles, philosophy, poetry… It's a pity the medieval literature of these different Slavic countries remains unknown to most non-Slavic scholars, and even some attempts at more comprehensive overviews such as this one here still exclude the heritage of Slavic nations.
Thank you for helping to make it known! I would love to know more about it.
Thank you for agreeing with everything about the middle ages, every single misconception about the middle ages is so irritating that i just wish i could just go up to the people who made these stupid misconceptions and tell them whats true so these misconceptions would never exist and we wouldn't have to deal with all of this.
Thank you for your apprecation.
Maybe you can write down all your books? I’m rebuilding my reading collection and have been wanting to learn Latin for ages it would be good to help my motivation to be able to read all of those classics particularly St Thomas Aquinas and his catholic teachings.
Please have a look at the Great Books lists on my website.
How long have you been learning languages ? and I am 18 years old and I know Arabic and English and I want to learn Spanish because it's easy language , honestly I want to contact with you .
I am glad to make your acquaintance. If you start studying systematically now and keep up your enthusiasm, there is no reason why you cannot achieve what I have done - or more.
Excellent video! Though I had to laugh at the "if you like pornography" part!
Nice collection and definitely a body of literature that attracts me much more than anything written much after, Medievalist and Latinist that I am (amateur, at that).
Wonderful to find a like minded spirit (or, in your case, to reconfirm this yet again!) Many thanks.
wonderful insightful video Alexander and saddened that ive only come to this video of late, therefore ive missed out on your course on reading languages. I have observed your earlier videos on assimil and language learning and have a mere modest foothold in latin , greek, french and dutch with an interest in russian, spanish and german. Though more of interest in old english, norse and medieval french. I would appreciate your ideas on resources to tackle these languages. you covered a great deal here with a very rich array of knowledge. My degree in philosophy and politics had been a disappointment back in early 1990s as it seemed very elementary compared to what have read afterwards and your hour video that both encourages yet saddens me to know i have so much to learn and in mid 50s now, i fear time may not be too kind to me but i will persevere thanks to you. As far as latin , would you recommend assimil latin or lingua latina? Would you say intensive latin by mooreland is a profitable source? Thank you...
Thank you for your kind words of appreciation. If you are really interested in studying medieval languages with me, you are by no means too late. In fact, you are right on time for Old Norse, which will begin next week. And you would also be welcome to join Old English and/or Old French in progress. If you were to join one of these, we could talk in person about which Latin text would best suit your style as a learner. Lingua Latina is most popular, Assimil would allow you to work on your French at the same time, and Mooreland uses an entirely different approach. There are lots of other possible resources as well.
Great content, your presentation touched different parts of Western Europe ands different genres. Thank you. If I can make one or two remarks : your video seemed a bit static, with you in the same position, sitted and far from the camera. Also, you seemed often out of breath... I little pause here and there. Have tought about adding on screen an image or the title of the books you are talking about?
Thank you for the kind comments and good suggestions. I know you mean well, but I am just a man trying to share knowledge and information, not a professional film maker. Do you have any idea how long it takes to shoot and edit a video like this for sound, etc., already? The steps you are suggesting may sound simple, but in my experience everything related to video production takes hours longer than one might suspect.
Cat stays on the lap until 34:38
Thanks for noticing the details!
Well as a person who is utterly in love with the Carmina Burāna, one who reads Germanic chronicles, and who wants to read Old Catalan and Old Occitan (many thanks for the recommendations, I will try to set aside time to read some of that stuff in the summer), I never thought of the Middle Ages as utterly backward and miserable, in fact I idolise that period, if anything. So happy to hear that you are just as invested in this period, Professor!
3:26 I did not expect the Professor to mention Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As with all forms of satire, one has to take this movie with a grain of salt and understand that it's not expressly trying to make an accurate statement about the Middle Ages. In fact, since it's depicting the Arthurian legends, and Arthur being based on a person who lived in the 5th/6th centuries A.D., the period depicted in the movie falls well within "the Dark Ages" proper. Just had to get that out there.
Thank you for the input, Ian. I meant to stress more in the video that Catalan and Occitan are so closely related that they were essentially one and the same language at that time.
@@ProfASAr That's fair, it's probably more of a petty geographical distinction than anything.
@@ProfASAr Catalan and Occitan were indeed closely related but not really “one and the same language at that time”, since they had separate and distinguishable written traditions from the very beginning.
@@felixarquer7732 They are members of the same twig on the same branch of a family tree. If you learn how to read one, you have also learned how to read the other, have you not? In this sense they are the same, the way Norwegian and Danish are the same, or the way that spoken Hindi and Urdu are the same. Of course there are important differences to insiders and to specialists, but to outsiders approaching these linguistic phenomenon, these are 2-for-the-price-of-1 deals.
@@ProfASAr We are both probably right, from our different perspectives.
As an untrained (Catalan) insider, I have little trouble with medieval Catalan whereas I find medieval Occitan much harder, though this is clearly due to my very limited experience and to poetry being more challenging (I haven’t tried Provençal prose). “Separate written traditions from the very beginning” was my adaptation of one specialist’s words about these languages in the period: “(...) des dels testimonis escrits l’occità i el català es mostren irreductibles a una unitat.” (J. Bastardas, La llengua catalana mil anys enrere). I suppose further proof could be, for example, that one of the first longer texts in Catalan (Homilies d'Organyà, ca. 1200) is the translation of an Occitan original, and that Occitan grammars and dictionaries were produced in order to teach Catalan troubadours how to compose in the language.
Anyway, your quick but quite representative survey of medieval Catalan literature is very much appreciated, since stateless cultures are usually invisibilized.
wonderful, thank you!
You are very welcome.
A very stimulating talk! I know next to nothing about the Middle Ages, I admit, but I hope to look into the subject some day - and this video is certainly a motivator.
Hello Liam, and thanks for the appreciation. If there is a 1000-year gap in your knowledge, then I am pleased to help prod you to fill it!
Hey Alexander i want to ask a question, what do you think about medieval movies and games and im not talking about ones like robin hood, kingdom of heaven, and knight fall where its just a complete mess and its more of a fantasy rather than a history. Im talking about ones like Outlaw King, The Northman, and Kingdom Come Deliverance where they take place in the real world and they focus on the historical figure or the environment accurately through what history actually tells us rather than just making something that you think was the middle ages. Also what do you think about medieval movies in general that do a horrible job predicting the middle ages?
Sorry, I don't watch enough movies to be a knowledgeable critic here.
@@ProfASAr understandable thanks for the reply
Seems very interesting!
What do you think about passive listening, is it useful at all?
Thanks for the appreciation, as always.
Not sure I understand your question or how it fits into this video - what do you mean by passive listening?
1. "Listening to, enjoying, and understanding the content of an audiobook but not shadowing it simultaneously?" Absolutely!
2. "Playing language learning tapes of a language you may not even understand in the background / under your pillow at night, hoping to get habituated to the sounds of it over time?" Not at all.
I love old books
Thanks for commenting.
(I have not seen the video yet so apologies if I repeat things you mention). As someone who has studied medieval philosophy as the regular part of the theoretical philosophy curriculum of my university, I came to understand just how intellectually stringent and academically rigorous the medieval philosophers were (I say this as an atheist, which is important since I notice a lot of fan-fair for medieval philosophy comes from believing Catholics, and I do not want my appreciation to be confused with some kind of faith-inspired appreciation). While there is truth to the generally held belief that their subject matter was more narrow than in comparison to antiquity and the renaissance, with medieval philosophy being more focused on trying to make theology and faith intellectually respectable, it is still by no means hyper dogmatic, scholastic dialectics was more objective than the majority of what comes out of the more politically charged fields of modern universities. Medieval philosophy was however very good at fine-sharpening already established philosophy. Scholastic logic is no joke. In modern theoretical philosophy, a great deal of medieval methods are still used, sometimes principles we think are new are upon closer inspection found in the medieval philosophy.
If there is one idea which in some ways symbolises the rigour but also the unknown contribution of medieval theoretical philosophy: Occam's razor. This principle which is considered one of the most important foundations of theoretical philosophy and by extension science is well known, but few know that its postulator, William of Occam (ca. 1287 - 1347) was in fact a medieval philosopher. Now, Occam was not the only philosopher who postulated this, many medieval philosophers postulated similar stances before him, a few ancient philosophers as well (most notably Aristotle). And it is true that the most common formulation of the idea attributed to Occam is not actually his (which has led to the myth that Occam never actually postulated his own razor, which is a myth). But the point is, Occam's razor is named after one of many philosophers of the medieval period because this principle - regarded as a highly modern and scientific one - was one of the most commonly accepted and adhered to cornerstones of medieval philosophy.
Thank you so much for writing such a detailed and thoughtful comment even before watching the video. I hope you will add another after doing so! I do talk about philosophy in general, Occam's Razon in particular, in it. Finally, thank you for pointing out that the incredible mental achievements of the likes of Thomas Aquinas can be appreciated even without sharing his faith.
@@ProfASAr Thank you! Having watched the video now, it is interesting how many of your explanations for why the middle ages are so underappreciated are similar to ones I have personally arrived it.
I find similar discrepancies when it comes to how the society of the middle ages is compared to antiquity. Especially when it comes to what I call the "citizen fallacy", in which the rights and status of the inhabitants of a society are judged nowadays only if they were citizens (or a rough analogue of citizenship) of a society. This means for example that the relative lack of slaves during the High Middle Ages (sometimes outright the banning of it in certain countries) meant that the bottom of society were now included as actual members of it, which means in the context of the fallacy that the same people who heavily criticise serfdom in the middle ages do nowhere nearly as heavily criticise the institution of slavery during antiquity. The fallacy thereby implying that slaves being seen as sort of outside of society, their complete lack of rights do therefore not reflect society, while serfs were certainly a part of society, therefore their relative lack of rights do reflect their society. This distinction is of course arbitrary, and therefore completely misses the point that the people in antiquity with the least rights were seen as property with NO rights, where as the people in the middle ages with the least rights were seen as human beings with at a minimum basic rights. Of course, slavery was a bit more complex since it also involved captured people, which changes they dynamic a bit, but let's leave that aside for the moment.
A particularly telling example of this: "citizen fallacy": it has often been said (all though this is thankfully no longer as common) that ancient Sparta was an example of a strikingly egalitarian society. Why? Because most of the CITIZENS were relatively equal. What this of course completely misses is that Spartan society was being held up by a class of slave-farmers which were quite brutalised, with little to no rights, and the citizenry was in fact a warrior aristocracy. In the same breath, the middle ages is held up as an oppressively hierarchical society (which it certainly was by MODERN standards), to a large degree due to the institution of serfdom. Completely missing that the lowest of society in the middle ages had rights, and could, and did in fact sometimes, sue their feudal masters in courts of law, and sometimes even won (I can mention an example where an English serf sued their feudal lord for assault and won, and received a fairly huge payment as compensation). Compare this to ancient Sparta where the lowest in society were ritually declared war upon by their masters annually.
It seems to me that often when the middle ages are judged, it is done so by modern standards (perhaps this also partially comes from that many of our modern institutions have their origins in the middle ages?), which obviously makes much of the middle ages seem backward in comparison. But when antiquity is judged, it is done so with full historical context in mind, which makes its achievements stand out in a whole other light.
I’m glad you’re teaching and sharing your experience and knowledge. Thank you for the video
You are most welcome. Thank you for letting me know that you appreciate this kind of content.
When responding to criticism over what was left out, I once read, Mortimer Adler said that much of what was passed over was because they meticulously went through, using index cards, cataloguing how many of the topics in the Syntopicon that each work touched on, and only admitted ones over a certain threshold (such as those that touched on 50 or 75, I can't remember, unique topics in the Syntopicon). Furthermore, they wanted to make sure that the work built upon the previous works. If there wasn't enough cohesion with the rest of the set, or if there weren't enough of the Syntopicon topics touched upon, then the work was left out. Perhaps this may go some way to justify leaving out some of these works. I don't know because I'm not familiar with the literature of the time. Nevertheless, it might not be because of some prejudice against the literature or time.
Any thoughts you have on this would be greatly appreciated. You know far more about the subject than I.
Also, I'm a Protestant, but I really lament the anti-Catholic sentiment in Protestantism. It has done a lot of harm, even if it may have been justified at times (maybe at times such as those when Protestants were being burned at the stake).
Thank you for the detailed comment. Of course Adler and team were systematic about the way they went about this, but also admitted that some books were on there only because someone had a particular penchant for them (e.g., Sterne).
@@ProfASAr Wow! I wish that people would overlook such biases, as you do.
I do want to say, I'm loving seeing what works you would add to the collection. They've got me wanting to read them. I can't read any language other than English yet, however. This is something I need to rectify, but I just don't seem to have the drive. I am starting to feel the urge to bring one of my languages up to a good level. I made it about half way through Assimil German before I just got bored of doing one thing too long, not because it was difficult. Aside from pronunciation, I seem to have some facility for language learning.
I've studied maybe six or eight languages to some degree (Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, a tiny bit of Chinese and Korean, and I've looked at, and learned the abjad and some hieroglyphs of, Arabic and Egyptian respectively), but I just never stick with them long enough. Latin, German, and Japanese are the languages I know best, but I still don't know much at all in them. In Latin, I did about half of the first volume of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata and some of Wheelock's. I already mentioned my German. In Japanese, I know how to write maybe 800-900 kanji, and the kana, but only know about that amount of vocabulary. All of this to set up the following question. If you were to suggest which language would be most fruitful to learn well out of all these, so that I could pick one that would serve me well, which language would you choose? My main interests are in theology and philosophy, if that helps.
@@Real_LiamOBryan I was going to edit my reply but see that you have already responded to it. What I was going to add was that the system you described the team using sounds objective, but the result is an imbalanced account of the Great Conversation through the millennia, so it ought to have been supplemented or patched somehow. But the task of selecting 50 volumes from all the candidates is a thankless one, and if they had done it to my satisfaction, someone else would be criticizing them for something else. As I said in the previous video, the presence of the Syntopicon makes this a valuable collection work with, whatever its chronological shortcomings.
As to your studies - I would love to help, but I need more details and a RUclips comment section is not the right place for this. My new website will launch later this month and will have a Q&A feature where people can write me with the kind of detail I need to provide a meaningful answer, and I can provide that answer in a public way that will benefit multiple people as it will remain as a reference that will be cross indexed thematically (kind of like the Synotpicon, now that we are on that topic). So, may I invite you to write me a detailed letter about you, your goals, your background, etc., and send it to my website now? I will have an answer posted for you there in the near future.
Thanks for the effort. It would have been helpful to see the books or have the list put in the show notes.
"Effort?" That rather makes it sound like it was all in vain. I hope that is not what you are implying as I do hope you learned something. Please treat it as a lecture, take notes, and ask questions about anything you are really curious or uncertain about.
@@ProfASAr I did not mean to imply it was in vain. I found the references to medieval Latin literature beyond Scholasticism useful and the French references interesting. It is unfortunate that you infer something less than laudatory when I thank you for putting forth effort and lead with a reply based on that specious inference. Good things require effort. That's not a comment on efficacy.
@@mac389ify Sorry for the misunderstanding, but please look at your original wording again and understand that "Thanks for the effort" followed by "it would have been..." can come across as "Nice try, but..." Since that is not what you meant, thank you for appreciating that yes, it does take a lot of effort, and time, to make these videos - not so much to conceptualize them, but to shoot them under the right circumstances, edit them, etc.
Why won't you develop a language learning CD?
Thank you for the suggestion and the interest. What kind of content would you like to see in such a CD?
@@ProfASAr just like Living Language is done. You can really do it being a popular polyglot.
I think rather than a CD (what is a cd?), I could see the professor really excelling at directing the production of a series of books with audio similar to lingua Latina psi for other languages
We traditional Catholics tend to see the Middle Ages as something of a golden age (though I do admit that that is an oversimplification). While to-day we may have vastly superior technology, I do not believe that this is necessarily a good thing in all areas (every post industrial technology has had a extremely negative social impact that is ignored), nor is technological 'progress' (another idea of which I am extremely critical, to say the least) a good means by which to judge the value of a civilisation. On the contrary, a civilisation is to be judged on its philosophy, morality, appreciation for beauty, and adherence to the truth. In summary, it must fulfil the purpose for which it was created. Based on that criterion, it is my considered opinion that we are the people in a dark age, spiralling into a collapse.
I tend to concur with all that you wrote. Thanks for contributing.
"On the contrary, a civilization is to be judged on its philosophy, morality, appreciation for beauty, and adherence to the truth."
And all of that, is relative. Obviously a Catholic will romanticize a time period where Catholicism was the status quo and demonize a period when thought evolved past it,
@@donthasselthehoff5753 It is not relative. We can discuss what the truth is, but denying that morality, philosophy, and truth are objective will get us nowhere. In fact, you have just made an objective statement; you contradict yourself and create a paradox in doing so. There is no neutral position, and you do not occupy it. You state the obvious by saying that a Catholic will approve of a society run according to Catholic principles; that is no different to saying the same thing about any other person. All you convey is that you disagree with Catholicism, but you only make that statement, nothing else.
With that comment, you also show the hypocrisy of Liberalism and secularism. People who adhere to those ideas wish to give the impression that they have no religion, and regard all religions as equal. But their neutrality is a lie; these people do not have no religion, for it is impossible to have no religion, in a sense. Their religion is the religion of Liberalism and secularism, which they raise above all other religions. We are only tolerated so long as we do not infringe on the principles of Liberalism.