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BITWASTES_PLATONESQUE

                                             October 29, 2021
Auerbach, it should come as no surprise, is
a confirmed Plato fan, but on top of that
he's remarkably dismissive of Aristotle--        Math geeks like to call
but it's not at all clear that he knows very     themselves "Platonists", and
much about either.                               Computer Science geeks are
                                                 often math-wannabees.
He remarks on how Aristotle ranged widely but
was wrong in about much of what he said,                FOUND_MATH
and proposes that this was a lack of "humility"
on his part-- suggesting he would've done better
with a more restricted field of commentary.

He praises Plato for being "the first" to recognize
the importance of a *practical* criteria for truth
(or something like that), but--

    Seriously?  Plato was "practical"?
    More so than the Sophists?            And Plato displayed "humility"?  He
                                          presented a new design for society
                                          based on the idea that if only guys
                                          like him were in charge everything
                                          would be wonderful.

                                               (Maybe Auerbach is thinking
                                               of the Socrates schtick? Those
                                               constant apologies don't ring
                                               true to my ears: a bunch of
                                               smartass, veiled sneers, with 
    And Aristotle was cataloging what          ritual self-deprecation to    
    was known about nature about a few         keep his butt covered.)
    millennia before Western culture
    embraced scientific investigation.

    Myself, I would cut him some slack
    for getting some things wrong (and
    myself I would want more than a        There's a cartoon of Aristotle
    bland assertion from someone like      that we're taught as school
    Auerbach implying that he got          children, with Galileo at odds
    *everything* wrong...)                 with a church that's trying to
                                           treat Aristotle like some sort
       Concerning logical reasoning,       of extension of holy writ.
       for example, Aristotle was the
       only game in town for a long            Maybe Auerbach never got
       time.                                   over this?

                                                     Aristotle shouldn't be
    Aristotle's "Categories" stikes me as a          tossed out with the
    fascinating foundational work, a style           later-day Aristotelians.
    of thinking that dominates intellectual
    activity to this day.

    Throughout "Bitwise", Auerbach returns
    to a theme of the difficulties inherent
    in *categorizing* human beings and
    human behavior... he might want to
    read some more Aristotle before
    dismissing him completely.




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