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The Deconstruction of Cynical Thoughtstoppers via Epigrammatic Paradoxes Megathread

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  • The Deconstruction of Cynical Thoughtstoppers via Epigrammatic Paradoxes Megathread

    And now that I've posted a title that no one will click on, let me give an example of what to look for:

    "It may be that no man would be a hero to his valet. But any man would be a valet to his hero."

    I fully expect the first five or six posts to be wall-to-wall Chesterton, but surprise me.

  • #2
    Hegel wrote that no man is a hero to his valet, not because the former is not a hero, but because the latter is a valet: he ascribes it to envy rather than familiarity, and uses it to dismiss criticisms of "world-historical figures." He goes on to discuss Thersites from the Iliad, notable for being hideous, unmanly, and unlikeable and for being the only one among the Greeks willing to argue that this whole Trojan War thing was just a way for Agamemnon and friends to stroke their massive egos and that everyone else should go back home to more important things. Hegel argued that we should see Thersites as motivated by the same envy as the valet: it's not that he's opposed to stroking one's ego, he just wishes it was his ego instead of Agamemnon's.

    Surprising enough for you? Technically not the purpose of this thread, but I already wrote it all out, so I may as well post it.
    Don't call it a comeback. It's a riposte.

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