There should be - probably there is - an anthropological study of Western philosophy as a highly rarefied form of dirt avoidance. Plato with his "pure and unadulterated" access to truth; Descartes' clear and distinct ideas; Kant's purity of reason. I'm thinking of a history of philosophy that reads Plato through the lens of Robert Parker's Miasma, and modern philosophy through Purity and Danger.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, August 25, 2005 at 01:46 PM
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