I searched him on the Internet before starting to read this book but I did not find much of useful info about him such as his religion and background and all that. I started off reading anyways. First thing that stopped me to think was the part ''But among the greatest civilizations.....it is possible to imagine only the Greeks feeling free enough, being confident enough in their ability to control their own lives, to on a long journey for the sole purpose of aesthetic enjoyment'' I wondered what supportive statement he would bring and kept on reading with some uncomfortable feeling. If this is a book about his view on history, I do not really have to be concerned with this because then he can simply argue his own understanding in that area. But considering the fact that he is going to be talking about other things on the basis of historical factor, he need provide reasonable evidence that the base certainly is correct and accurate. There are some more parts I felt the same way. Otherwise he describes his point pretty clearly. He put emphasis on the word 'individual' as Greek's distinctive attribute whereas on 'harmony' he does as Chinese's. It's a widespread idea and, no matter if I agree with it or not, did not surprise me much. He also take note on Greeks categorizing objects. Unfortunately I am not really sure what he means with it so if time allows I will go bac
k there and, hopefully, get better comprehension of it.
list of words used for comparison (just so that i can look at this later)
Greek-China
- individual, agency-harmony, collective agency
- attendance at plays and poetry-visit with friends and family
- happiness is a free exercise of distinctive talent-is the satisfaction of a plain country life within a harmonious social network
- battles, athletic contents, bacchanalian parties in vases- family activities , rural pleasures on porcelains
- polyphonic music-monophonic music.....etc
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