Reading the Merriam Webster Dictionary Backwards
September 2, 2014 Tuesday "zeitgeist"
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email: ishmaelish36@blogspot.com
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zeitgeist: [German: zeit time, geist spirit] pronounced \zite geye st\ (long i in both syllables)
world view, literally the "spirit of the times"
A story about these words from my past… At Princeton, I was a Freshman in 1970 and I walked into the office of Professor Walter Kaufmann, who was Chairman of the Philosophy Department. In all my naiveté, I announced that I wanted to study Heidegger with him. I had read Heidegger's book Being and Time (Sein und Zeit, pronounced \zine und zite\) and I was intrigued.
He asked me if I spoke German. I said no. He said, "You can't." He then asked me what other languages I spoke. I said French. He said, "You will study Sartre's Being and Nothingness."
That was that.
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