Philosophy between the lines
by Arthur M. Melzer · first published 2014
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Dense but thorough historical account of esoteric writing in philosophy, arguing pre-modern thinkers often wrote between the lines; recommended for readers wanting a deep treatment of how texts were meant to be read.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Philosophical esotericism--the practice of communicating one's unorthodox thoughts 'between the lines'--was a common practice until the end of the eighteenth century. The famous Encyclopédie of Diderot, for instance, not only discusses this practice in over twenty different articles, but admits to employing it itself. The history of Western thought contains hundreds of such statements by major philosophers testifying to the use of esoteric writing in their own work or others'. Despite this long and well-documented history, however, esotericism is often dismissed today as a rare occurrence. Bu
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…produce great new works, but it can't be done easily. It's so much easier to simply loot the past without thinking. One of the books I like that considers similar thoughts at various points is Melzer's Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Philosophy. [0] [0] http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo186...
on “Donald Trump is the president-elect of the U.S.” ↗In the Melzer Philosophy Between the Lines book mentioned in the article, the author does a pretty throrough job of making the case that pre-modern philosophical writing defaulted to esoteric style, while in the modern era we default to exoteric.…
on “Straussian Reading (2017)” ↗…Good content, advertised occasionally 2. Heavy moderation 3. Esoteric writing The first two are pretty simple. The third one is theoretical, based on the book I've been reading lately: Arthur Melzer - Philosophy Between the Lines. It's a dense and exhaustive but compelling history of esoteric writing in philosophy and its sudden disappearance in modern times. Writing esoterically acts as another, explicitly elitist filter because…
on “Ask HN: How to develop and maintain online community of very high quality?” ↗This is a great companion to Arthur Melzer's "Philosophy Between the Lines". It has the subtext of answering how to convey an idea without also creating dangerously fanatical thought about that idea.
on “Reason as memetic immune disorder” ↗…as a face value validation. Even some very direct statements tend to be read preferentially. Whether this is problematic or not depends somewhat on your view of the world. I recommend Arthur Melzer, Philosophy Between the Lines for a much more thorough historical treatment of the subject. By his reckoning it goes back to the ancient Greeks, at least.
on “Goldman Sachs Ensnarled in Vast 1MDB Fraud Scandal” ↗…towards development of elite thinking, rather than trying to sway the masses(who will continually look for easy beliefs to latch onto). For more on the topic of esoteric writing I suggest Arthur Melzer's "Philosophy Between the Lines".
on “Ask HN: How to combat propaganda?” ↗…time, where the true lessons were taught esoterically, by devising puzzle-like texts with intentional tricks and flaws. (This is the Leo Strauss thesis, which is explained very well by Arthur Melzer in "Philosophy Between the Lines".) To uncover the knowledge you have to demonstrate the critical thinking necessary to undermine its surface. It's something I should probably try writing fiction about. It could be a long trend or…
on “The Overlords Finally Showed Up” ↗This is actually the kind of view that Leo Strauss and his followers would support. I often recommend Arthur Melzer's Philosophy Between the Lines for an exhaustive argument of this viewpoint, which is: * All the early philosophers used esoteric writing. * This can be shown by viewing works like The Republic not as factual explanation of knowledge,…
on “Can Songs Replace Philosophy?” ↗…the dots themselves has an extremely long history. https://econjwatch.org/articles/a-beginner-s-guide-to-esoter... > This article is a republication, by permission, of a chapter of the author’s book Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing (University of Chicago Press, 2014). The piece provides a beginner’s guide to techniques and devices used in esoteric writing. Among the techniques and devices described…
on “Hillbillies Need No Elegy” ↗