The Beginning of Knowledge

 Reading The Beginning of Knowledge by Hans-Georg Gadamer led to a number of reflections:

First, that though it is most interesting, still it is a bit odd to read essays on the Pre-Socratics when I know no more about them than I do. (Heraclitus mostly through Guy Davenport's translations in Seven Greeks; what I remember Plato and Aristotle saying about him and the others.) I should make the time to read what is available of the Pre-Socratics before I read this book again.

Second, that the notion of quoting Greek in the Latin alphabet is just odd. It offers no advantage to those who know no Greek. It must slightly delay and irritate those who know Greek well, unless they have the Pre-Socratics all but memorized. And those who know a little Greek it simply teases and annoys. I suppose that it saves on production costs.

 Third, that it speaks well for Collin County Community College that Rod Coltman, the translator of The Beginning of Knowledge, teaches or has taught there. The school does not have a faculty list that I could find on its website--considering that it has four campuses and must depend heavily on adjuncts, this does not surprise me. But a "review-my-professor" website shows Mr. Coltman teaching there as recently as 2017. That the reviews tended to be either terrible--all memorization and quotation--or superlative--the sort of course I came here to take--is not surprising either.

Fourth, that any translation leaves one wishing to have the original available for comparison. At least for a translation from any language one knows a little, there is always the desire to make sure that something hasn't been dropped out or oddly phrased.