20 Mar
2018
20 Mar
'18
10:40 p.m.
On Tuesday, March 20, 2018, A. P. Garcia <a.phillip.garcia(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Mar 20, 2018 2:58 PM, "Tim Bradshaw" <tfb(a)tfeb.org> wrote:
This seems like an unduly complicated theory. Maxwell had a good
19th-century Scottish gentleman's education (he knew great chunks of
Paradise Lost by heart as a child) and he would have been far more familiar
with classical literature than most scientists are today as a result.
Chances are he knew what daemons were in mythology because he'd read
either the Greek originals or Latin translations at school & university.
Given that, he could also have read about them in Plato's Republic when he
discusses the myth of Er at the end of the work.
Exactly. Plato also writes extensively on it in his other works, e.g.
Cratylus. He is using the term 'daimones' and it could be best described
as the guardian angel of the Christians. So there is a big difference
between evil demons (devils) of Christianity and the daimon of Socrates and
Plato.
--Andy