Re: Anachronisms in LOTR

Raven wrote:
> authority-mandated belief.  And their science fell because they were not
> really democratic; in particular, they had slaves, which led to arrogance
> against manual work - such as experiments - and applause of purely cerebral
> work, as befitted gentlemen, and also because they considered science to be
> the province of an elite of educated nobility, not to be shared with the
> unwashed masses.  I don't know if this analysis holds water.

Greek science failed because the philosophers did not check their 
conclusions by empiricial means. That is why Aristotelean physics is so 
full of errors. Even whith technology avialble in his time, Aristotle 
and his students could have check some of their choice notions, such as 
heavy bodies falling faster than lighter bodies.

Plato never regarded the physical world as real, but a poor imitation of 
the Ideal World. See his Parable of the Cave in -The Republic-.

The Greeks were bright, clever, very glib and too enamored with their 
own cleverness. They believed things because they sounded reasonable. 
Some of the truest things in the world are totally contrary to common 
sense and reason, such as quantum mechanics.

Bob Kolker