Curious Word: Misologist
Today's curious word is misologist.
I stumbled across this gem in Allan Bloom's translation of The Republic. As far as I can discern, a misologist is one who despises speech or reason. Generally, the term is used to describe someone who prefers victory in an argument to actually having a reasonable debate.
Thus, one might say that a scientist who relies upon his "feelings" about the age of a certain fossil might be a "misologist geologist."
1 comment:
Hey Billy, its Maria.
Very funny, I just ran across that word today in Plato's Phaedo (see 89d). He uses it in the context of a concern raised by his friends on his deathbed when they are discussing the soul, warning his friends that they must not become "misologues" as other men become misanthropes, and that the two arise in the same way.
I think he is using it there as sort of a skepticism of reason and seeing reason as dangerous and unreliable... so another example might be the disenchanted philosophy major who thinks one can make a reasonable argument for everything, and is thus sick of arguing over what the just/good are. Read the passage-- the way in which he compares it to misanthropy makes me think he might mean it slightly differently (or in an additional way) to the way you described it.
Sorry to be nerdy, its just that I came across that word and was fascinated by it, and it was funny to see you talking about it too.
Hope you had fun this weekend!
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