Kilt Wearing Can Promote Mental Health

[Carlo]

When I was in graduate school I found that I could speak French much better after a few glasses of red wine.

I have heard that many times and I can tell you that there are two easy reasons I have witnessed. Normally it's one or the other.
1. You don't feel as anxious about using a foreign language as without the wine (kiltwearing might help with that too). Your French is as good or bad as before, but you might take away something from the conversation.
2. You had one glass to many and you THINK you speak French better than normal. Your French is as good or probably even worse than normal.

I don't drink so I have to wear a kilt to improve my language skills

When talking about greek philosophers I'm not sure if by men they meant men or humans but from the little I know I think it is quite possible that they meant men. Unfortunately I've crashed my TARDIS and without her my greek can't even be helped by permanent kilt-wearing.

[Grizzled Ian]

Do we know if Epictetus/Arrian wrote in regard to andras or anthropon? viros or hominem? The second usage can be translated "people/humans/humankind" without feeling that PC is involved, can't it? The first usage benefits from late C20-ese. At least, that's how I remember it, in a class in the Muniment Room with the professor of Latin, or (shames me to recall) nodding off in the front row of a 9am lecture with the professor of Greek that all my class-mates ducked.

[adempsey10]

Do we know if Epictetus/Arrian wrote in regard to andras or anthropon? viros or hominem? The second usage can be translated "people/humans/humankind" without feeling that PC is involved, can't it? The first usage benefits from late C20-ese. At least, that's how I remember it, in a class in the Muniment Room with the professor of Latin, or (shames me to recall) nodding off in the front row of a 9am lecture with the professor of Greek that all my class-mates ducked.

Anthropos is definitely a collective term, even though it is a masculine word. It is often used diminutively to refer to slaves. In an abstract sense, it is used to refer to mankind. When referring to a specific individual, it usually means that person was a slave/servant or nurse maid. Homo (hominem) usually refers to all mankind. Viros technically means hero but is usually attributed to the male gender. Anir (andras) is sometime used for both sexes but mostly for just men.

[adempsey10]

It was 17th-19th century translators who translated all four terms as man/men (the height of patriarchal society). The tradition persists to some degree nowadays. Even our English word man comes from old high German meaning human. Wirman (vir + man) was for males and woman for females. Man on its own was at one time used only to refer to all people.

[Carlo]

Anthropos is definitely a collective term, even though it is a masculine word. It is often used diminutively to refer to slaves. In an abstract sense, it is used to refer to mankind. When referring to a specific individual, it usually means that person was a slave/servant or nurse maid. Homo (hominem) usually refers to all mankind. Viros technically means hero but is usually attributed to the male gender. Anir (andras) is sometime used for both sexes but mostly for just men.

I think that some people might disagree with anthropos being used for specific females (check here)

[adempsey10]

I think that some people might disagree with anthropos being used for specific females (check here)

This article speaks specifically to biblical Greek which is much different than Classical Greek. I should have noted that I was speaking of Classical Greek only. 5th and 4th centuries BCE (the language of Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Xenophon. Etc). Koine and biblical Greek have different variations in usage of grammar and syntax. There are specific examples of the usage I spoke of in the Speeches of Lysias, particularly 'On the Murder of Eratosthenes', written in the 4th century BCE

[adempsey10]

I should have said that anthropos used abstractly refers to all mankind but when speaking of an individual it means 'a male human' but can ALSO be used, in some situations, to refer to slaves, old women and nurse maids.

[O'Searcaigh]

I should have said that anthropos used abstractly refers to all mankind but when speaking of an individual it means 'a male human' but can ALSO be used, in some situations, to refer to slaves, old women and nurse maids.

Alas, yes and thank you. The issue, I would think, is not what specific word (whether in ancient Greek, Latin, contemporary English .. or whatever) was "used" but rather whether an attitude of inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness was/is intended. In this case, there is clear evidence of an attitude of inclusiveness as presupposed by "author's" over-all philosophical world view. The inherent ambiguity of a term by itself cannot be used to argue either for or against just one of its ambiguous meanings (hence "fallacies of ambiguity" in logic); their intended meanings can only be determined in context and through further clarification/explanation. We even today frequently "misuse" terms (unable to express intended meaning because of restrictions of accepted grammar -- e.g., using "they" (a plural pronoun) to avoid having to be constrained by the "grammatically correct" "he" or "she" (singular pronouns) in order to imply inclusiveness. Sometimes, as in the case just illustrated, the "rules of grammar" of a language itself can constrain the ability to express clearly one's intentions -- i.e., communicate clearly. This is especially the case with issues of "gender" which different languages can represent through grammatical constraints very differently. "Errors of language are not just errors of grammar, they do harm to the soul." (Socrates).

[O'Searcaigh]

I have heard that many times and I can tell you that there are two easy reasons I have witnessed. Normally it's one or the other.
1. You don't feel as anxious about using a foreign language as without the wine (kiltwearing might help with that too). Your French is as good or bad as before, but you might take away something from the conversation.
2. You had one glass to many and you THINK you speak French better than normal. Your French is as good or probably even worse than normal.

I don't drink so I have to wear a kilt to improve my language skills

When talking about greek philosophers I'm not sure if by men they meant men or humans but from the little I know I think it is quite possible that they meant men. Unfortunately I've crashed my TARDIS and without her my greek can't even be helped by permanent kilt-wearing.

Alas, you are no doubt correct. I should have said made speaking French "easier" for me rather than "better" and no doubt even then only because of the release of my inhibitions in trying to mimic French pronunciations which came difficult to my Saxon trained ears. I'm sure it did nothing for my vocabulary or grammar, let alone typical French dialogue. That was well over 40 years ago now and no doubt also suffers from "false memory" issues as well. I do remember, however, how much free-er it felt. Not unlike wearing the kilt!

Re: gender inclusion and ancient Greek philosophers -- I would have to try to find a faithful rendering in the original ancient Greek text to know what exact word Epictetus used or even if it were written in Greek originally rather than perhaps Latin -- he was a Roman "slave" and the book is reputed to have been very popular among the Roman Legions. Plato, however, made it very clear (out of the mouth of Socrates) that one's gender was not a relevant issue except in reproduction and considered males and females in all other respects to be the same and equal, all other thing being equal. As followers of this "Socratic view," the Stoics (including Epictetus) tended to adopt this inclusive notion of "human kind" irrespective of gender, race, etc. So ???? Also, Epictetus did not actually "write" the book himself anyway. The collection of his teachings/sayings which constitute the Enchiridion was (somewhat like Socrates and Plato) copied and handed down by one of his students, Arrian, it is reputed.