Re: Organon 6 - 31
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 11:33 pm
Hi Rosemary,
Lois Hoffer has been doing a word for word translation of the Organon for a couple of years. Here is her post on Aph. 31 footnote:
--------
"Wed Jan 23, 2002
Aphorism 31: footnote
Hello all,
By the way...has anyone noticed something odd about footnotes in recent
aphs? It seems there's a bit of confusion in various editions of the
6th as to where exactly various footnotes belong! Decker gives a
footnote as being part of Aph 29. The Boericke edition puts this
footnote, as belonging to Aph 30 instead! This he most likely got from
Dudgeon, who also says that the same footnote (which was part of Aph 29
in the 5th and was only slightly changed) became part of the 30th
Aphorism in the 6th edition. I tend to take the German, as prepared by
Josef Schmidt from the original manuscript, as being the most accurate
of all in this kind of situation, and he gives the footnote as part of
Aph 29, and gives no footnote for Aph 30. Just on the basis of the text,
it makes more sense that a footnote concerning the duration of action of
a medicine go under Aph 29, than 30... In the interests of accuracy,
though, I thought I ought to point it out.
Anyway...here's the interlinear of the footnote to Aphorism 31. Enjoy!
Lois
----------
Wenn ich Krankheit
When I Disease
eine Stimmung oder Verstimmung des menschlichen Befindens nenne,
a Tuning or Mistuning/Detuning of-the human Condition call,
so bin ich weit entfernt,
so am I widely distant,
[Note: literally "weit entfernt" means "widely/far remote/distant/far",
but the two words most often used together to express the English
equivalent of "far from", "a mile away", "a far cry", etc.]
dadurch einen hyperphysischen Aufschluß
thereby/by-this a hyperphysical Explanation/Information/Data
über die innere Natur der Krankheiten überhaupt,
concerning/over/about the inner Nature of-(the) Diseases generally,
oder eines einzelnen Krankheitsfalles insbesondere
or of-a single Disease-case in-particular
geben zu wollen.
to-give to want.
Es soll mit diesem Ausdrucke nur angedeutet werden,
It/One should with this Expression/Phrase only hinted/suggested be,
was die Krankheiten erwiesenermaßen
what the Diseases as-has-been-proved/shown/demonstrated
nicht sind, und nicht sein können,
not are, and not be can,
nicht mechanische oder chemische Veränderungen
not mechanical oder chemical Alterations/Changes
der materiellen Körpersubstanz und
of-the material Body-substance and
nicht von einem materiellen Krankheits-Stoffe abhängig
not by/from/on a material Disease-stuff dependent
- sondern bloß geistartige, dynamische Verstimmung des Lebens.
- but only/solely [a] spirit-like, dynamic Mistuning of-the Life.
----------------
Additional Note:
In order to track down the exact meaning of a word as important as
"geistartig", I'd like to give you some background on various words and
their meanings. Using the Langenscheidts German-English dictionary, you
will find:
geistlich: spiritual, religious, sacred, clerical, ecclesiatical
geistig: spiritual, immaterial, intellectual/mental,
spirituous/alcoholic
Geist: spirit, mind, wit, intellect, thought, genius, morale
Art: manner, way, mode, style, method, procedure; nature, kind,
character "auf dieser Art" = "of this nature or kind".
artig: as an adjective in its own right, not as a suffix, it means
"well-behaved, good, polite, civil, courteous, nice", thus:
Artigkeit = Good behavior (manners), civility, politeness, courtesy,
etc.
These last two seem to refer to one's BEHAVIOR in particular. However,
as a suffix, -artig has other meanings, related more to the noun "Art".
I've searched through the Organon in german, to find all the ways that
Hahnemann uses this "-artig". I've found that the words involving
"-artig" come in two main categories. First, there are those words which
relate to concrete things, and where "-artig" truly means "-like" in
English, such as, for example:
rotlaufartig = erysipelas-like
frieselartig = miliary-fever-like
wechselfieberartig = intermittent-fever-like or malaria-like
ruhrartig = dysentery-like
blumenkohl-artig = cauliflower-like (referring to a growth)
pechartig = pitch-like (referring to a color)
staubartig = dust-like
ahnungartig = hunch-like
then there are those instances where "-artig" seems very much to have
the meaning of "Art" as "kind, type", such as:
gleich = same;
gleichartig = of the same kind, homogenous, similar, analogous
eigen = own, of one's own, particular, special;
eigenartig = peculiar, characteristic, individual
verschieden = different, distinct;
verschiedenartig = of a different kind, dissimilar, heterogenous
anders = otherwise, different(ly);
andersartig = of a different kind, different
On the other hand, there are cases in which something more abstract is
referred to. In some of these cases, the form with "-artig" do not
appear in teh modern dictionaries and in truth, there seems to be little
difference in meaning between the adjective and adjective+artig.
Perhaps it's an old usage that's fallen out of favor over time? However,
thinking of "Art" and the adjective itself, "artig", maybe adding
"-artig" was a way of expressing that something had this TYPE of
*behavior*, acted in this way, etc. Examples of this type are:
böse = evil, wicked, bad;
bösartig = evil-like? evil-acting? (H. uses only the noun
"Bösartigkeit", to describe the quality of a disease)
fremd = strange, unknown, unfamiliar;
fremdartig = foreign, exotic, alien
übel = vile, loathsome, evil, nasty;
übelartig = nasty? evil-acting?
instinkt = instinct;
instinktartig = instintive (the German dictionary gives this word as
a synonym to both "instintiv" and instinktmäßig)
gut= good;
gutartig = good-natured, harmless
Thus, one way or the other, it seems clear that in Hahnemann's usage,
"geist-artig" meant either "something that is of spirit-like or
mind-like character or nature" or "something that has that manner, mode
or style of acting". It is also possible that it is simply an older
word for "geistig", so we can substitute "immaterial" for it. If
Hahnemann had meant "spiritual" instead, he'd have certainly used
"geistlich", which he did not, and he wouldn't have added this footnote
in order to emphasize that he does NOT mean anything hyper-physical or
beyond the physical.
Whenever he uses the word, he often adds "dynamic" t refine his
meaning, and his best attempt at explaining that word, I think, is in
the footnote to Aph 11. Since he talks there about things such as
magnetic and gravitational fields (both of which are ALSO invisible, and
immaterial, but certainly not spiritual!), rather than about anything
"psychic" in the ESP sort of way, I agree 100% with what Michael Dean
wrote in the Nov issue of HIP: "Hahnemann often compared his medicines
with magnets or electricity, never with angels".
Author: Lois Hoffer
Her group is a Yahoo group: Hahnamanics
If you search the archives of the group there is discussion on this footnote.
Leilanae
Lois Hoffer has been doing a word for word translation of the Organon for a couple of years. Here is her post on Aph. 31 footnote:
--------
"Wed Jan 23, 2002
Aphorism 31: footnote
Hello all,
By the way...has anyone noticed something odd about footnotes in recent
aphs? It seems there's a bit of confusion in various editions of the
6th as to where exactly various footnotes belong! Decker gives a
footnote as being part of Aph 29. The Boericke edition puts this
footnote, as belonging to Aph 30 instead! This he most likely got from
Dudgeon, who also says that the same footnote (which was part of Aph 29
in the 5th and was only slightly changed) became part of the 30th
Aphorism in the 6th edition. I tend to take the German, as prepared by
Josef Schmidt from the original manuscript, as being the most accurate
of all in this kind of situation, and he gives the footnote as part of
Aph 29, and gives no footnote for Aph 30. Just on the basis of the text,
it makes more sense that a footnote concerning the duration of action of
a medicine go under Aph 29, than 30... In the interests of accuracy,
though, I thought I ought to point it out.
Anyway...here's the interlinear of the footnote to Aphorism 31. Enjoy!
Lois
----------
Wenn ich Krankheit
When I Disease
eine Stimmung oder Verstimmung des menschlichen Befindens nenne,
a Tuning or Mistuning/Detuning of-the human Condition call,
so bin ich weit entfernt,
so am I widely distant,
[Note: literally "weit entfernt" means "widely/far remote/distant/far",
but the two words most often used together to express the English
equivalent of "far from", "a mile away", "a far cry", etc.]
dadurch einen hyperphysischen Aufschluß
thereby/by-this a hyperphysical Explanation/Information/Data
über die innere Natur der Krankheiten überhaupt,
concerning/over/about the inner Nature of-(the) Diseases generally,
oder eines einzelnen Krankheitsfalles insbesondere
or of-a single Disease-case in-particular
geben zu wollen.
to-give to want.
Es soll mit diesem Ausdrucke nur angedeutet werden,
It/One should with this Expression/Phrase only hinted/suggested be,
was die Krankheiten erwiesenermaßen
what the Diseases as-has-been-proved/shown/demonstrated
nicht sind, und nicht sein können,
not are, and not be can,
nicht mechanische oder chemische Veränderungen
not mechanical oder chemical Alterations/Changes
der materiellen Körpersubstanz und
of-the material Body-substance and
nicht von einem materiellen Krankheits-Stoffe abhängig
not by/from/on a material Disease-stuff dependent
- sondern bloß geistartige, dynamische Verstimmung des Lebens.
- but only/solely [a] spirit-like, dynamic Mistuning of-the Life.
----------------
Additional Note:
In order to track down the exact meaning of a word as important as
"geistartig", I'd like to give you some background on various words and
their meanings. Using the Langenscheidts German-English dictionary, you
will find:
geistlich: spiritual, religious, sacred, clerical, ecclesiatical
geistig: spiritual, immaterial, intellectual/mental,
spirituous/alcoholic
Geist: spirit, mind, wit, intellect, thought, genius, morale
Art: manner, way, mode, style, method, procedure; nature, kind,
character "auf dieser Art" = "of this nature or kind".
artig: as an adjective in its own right, not as a suffix, it means
"well-behaved, good, polite, civil, courteous, nice", thus:
Artigkeit = Good behavior (manners), civility, politeness, courtesy,
etc.
These last two seem to refer to one's BEHAVIOR in particular. However,
as a suffix, -artig has other meanings, related more to the noun "Art".
I've searched through the Organon in german, to find all the ways that
Hahnemann uses this "-artig". I've found that the words involving
"-artig" come in two main categories. First, there are those words which
relate to concrete things, and where "-artig" truly means "-like" in
English, such as, for example:
rotlaufartig = erysipelas-like
frieselartig = miliary-fever-like
wechselfieberartig = intermittent-fever-like or malaria-like
ruhrartig = dysentery-like
blumenkohl-artig = cauliflower-like (referring to a growth)
pechartig = pitch-like (referring to a color)
staubartig = dust-like
ahnungartig = hunch-like
then there are those instances where "-artig" seems very much to have
the meaning of "Art" as "kind, type", such as:
gleich = same;
gleichartig = of the same kind, homogenous, similar, analogous
eigen = own, of one's own, particular, special;
eigenartig = peculiar, characteristic, individual
verschieden = different, distinct;
verschiedenartig = of a different kind, dissimilar, heterogenous
anders = otherwise, different(ly);
andersartig = of a different kind, different
On the other hand, there are cases in which something more abstract is
referred to. In some of these cases, the form with "-artig" do not
appear in teh modern dictionaries and in truth, there seems to be little
difference in meaning between the adjective and adjective+artig.
Perhaps it's an old usage that's fallen out of favor over time? However,
thinking of "Art" and the adjective itself, "artig", maybe adding
"-artig" was a way of expressing that something had this TYPE of
*behavior*, acted in this way, etc. Examples of this type are:
böse = evil, wicked, bad;
bösartig = evil-like? evil-acting? (H. uses only the noun
"Bösartigkeit", to describe the quality of a disease)
fremd = strange, unknown, unfamiliar;
fremdartig = foreign, exotic, alien
übel = vile, loathsome, evil, nasty;
übelartig = nasty? evil-acting?
instinkt = instinct;
instinktartig = instintive (the German dictionary gives this word as
a synonym to both "instintiv" and instinktmäßig)
gut= good;
gutartig = good-natured, harmless
Thus, one way or the other, it seems clear that in Hahnemann's usage,
"geist-artig" meant either "something that is of spirit-like or
mind-like character or nature" or "something that has that manner, mode
or style of acting". It is also possible that it is simply an older
word for "geistig", so we can substitute "immaterial" for it. If
Hahnemann had meant "spiritual" instead, he'd have certainly used
"geistlich", which he did not, and he wouldn't have added this footnote
in order to emphasize that he does NOT mean anything hyper-physical or
beyond the physical.
Whenever he uses the word, he often adds "dynamic" t refine his
meaning, and his best attempt at explaining that word, I think, is in
the footnote to Aph 11. Since he talks there about things such as
magnetic and gravitational fields (both of which are ALSO invisible, and
immaterial, but certainly not spiritual!), rather than about anything
"psychic" in the ESP sort of way, I agree 100% with what Michael Dean
wrote in the Nov issue of HIP: "Hahnemann often compared his medicines
with magnets or electricity, never with angels".
Author: Lois Hoffer
Her group is a Yahoo group: Hahnamanics
If you search the archives of the group there is discussion on this footnote.
Leilanae