Question " How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? " (alternatively "How many angels can stand at the point pin?"/I>) is a reductio ad absurdum of the medieval scholastic in general, and its angelology in particular, as represented by such figures as Duns Scotus and Thomas Aquinas. It was first recorded in the 17th century, in the context of Protestant apologetics. The question is also linked to the fall of Constantinople, with images of scholars arguing over minor matters while the Turks surround the city. In modern usage, it has been used as a metaphor for wasting time arguing with topics that have no practical value, or questions whose answers have no intellectual consequences, while more urgent problems accumulate.
Video How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
Origin
Aquinas's Summa Theologica , written c. 1270, including discussion of some questions about angels such as, "Can some angels be in the same place?" But the idea that such a question has a prominent place in medieval science has been debated, and it has not been proven that this particular question has ever been debated. One theory is that this is early modern fabrication, as used to discredit the scholastic philosophy at the time still plays an important role in university education. James Franklin has raised the scientific issue, and mentions that there is a 17th century reference in William Chillingworth Protestant Religion (1637), where he accused the unnamed scholastic of arguing "whether Millions of Angels may not be in agreement with Needle points? "This is earlier than the reference to 1678 The True Intellectual System of the Universe by Ralph Cudworth. HS Lang, author of Aristotle's Physics and Medieval Varieties (1992), says (p.Ã, 284):
The question of how many angels can dance at the point of needle, or the head of a pin, is often associated with 'late medieval writers'... In fact, the question was never found in this form...
Peter Harrison (2016) has suggested that the first reference to angel dancing at the point of needle occurs in expository works by the English divine William Sclater (1575-1626). In an exposition with the note of the first Epistle to Thessalonians (1619), Sclater claims that scholastic philosophers are preoccupied with questions that are of no use as to whether angels "occupy a place, in one place at a time, and how many might sit on the point of needle, and six hundred such unnecessary points. "Harrison proposes that the reason why a British writer first introduced the" point of need "into the criticism of medieval angelology is that it makes a clever word at "unnecessary point".
A letter written for The Times in 1975 identifies a close parallel in the 14th century mystical text, Swester Katrei :
[D] oktors declare that in heaven a thousand angels can stand on the tip of a needle. Now rede me the meaning of this.
Another possibility is that this is a parody or self-sustaining parody, or a training topic in the debate.
In Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, the puzzle of scientific debate is useless with regard to similar questions about whether angels have no sex or sex. Spokesman JosÃÆ'Â © Antonio RamÃÆ'rez LÃÆ'³pez (1908-1987) says of the Byzantine imperial story: "Everyone knows the silly and sometimes bloody talk in the Empire about the sex of angels, about how much can be equal to the time in the pin head ".
Maps How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
Modern Reference
Dorothy L. Sayers argues that the question is "just a debate exercise" and that the answer "is usually decided right" is expressed as, "Angels are pure intelligence, not material, but limited, so they have a location in space, but not extensions." Sayers compares the question with the question of how many people's minds are concentrated on certain pins at the same time. He concludes that many infinite angels can be found at the head of the pin, as they do not occupy space there:
The practical lesson to be drawn from the argument is not to use words like "there" in a loose and unscientific way, without specifying whether you intend to "be there" or "occupy space there."
In the humoristic magazine Annals of Improbable Research, Anders Sandberg has presented calculations based on theoretical information of physics and quantum gravity, setting the upper limit of 8.6766ÃÆ'â € "10 49 angels. Comparing medieval superstition and modern science, George Bernard Shaw wrote in the introduction to the Saint Joan drama that "Medieval medieval scholars who do not pretend to solve how many angels can dance at the point of needle cut the very figure poor as far as romantic self-confidence in addition to the modern physicist who has achieved a billionth millimeter of every movement and position in the electron dance. "
In the novel satirical Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, the angel Aziraphale is said to be the only angel who can dance on the head of a pin, as he studied gavotte in the 19th century. Also, at Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett, Granny Weatherwax says the answer is 16 if it is an ordinary house pin.
In James O'Barr's comic book The Crow by James O'Barr, the main character asked this question to one of his victims before killing them, replying to himself, "Depending on the tone".
See also
- The argument theory
- Balloon debate
- Discourse
- Pedantry
Note
References
Further reading
- Franklin, J., "Heads of Pins" at: Australian Mathematical Society Gazette , vol. 20, n. 4, 1993.
- Harrison, Peter. "Angels on Pinheads and Needles' Points", Notes and Questions , 63 (2016), 45-47.
- Howard, Philip (1983), Words Fail Me , a summary of correspondence in The Times on this issue
- Kennedy, D. J., "Thomism", in Catholic Encyclopedia
- Koetsier, T & amp; Bergmans, L. (eds.), Mathematics and Divine: a historical study , Ch. 14 by Edith Sylla (review)
External links
- "Do medieval scholars argue about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" - article on The Straight Dope.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments