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By the way, I wanted to note the inherently speculative nature of all of this, and the need to have an underlying theory of the case (or rather, cases). For example, which was more important in Augustan Rome, the works of Cicero, or the Septuagint? In the longer run, the latter, although the former would have been favored as necessary components of a good education at the time. Who was more influential, Metternich or Abraham Lincoln? At the time, Metternich. In the longer run, Lincoln. Who had a more constructive impact, Martin Luther or Ignatius Loyola? If you believe that Protestantism was an advance in human freedom, and well worth the wars of religion that Europe endured, Luther. If you believe that the Catholic synthesis of classical and Christian thought was a high point of intellectual civilization, and that its preservation was necessary, then Ignatius Loyola was the more constructive figure.... |
