In a message dated 12/27/00 9:56:55 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> I wonder what content, in the Middle Ages, would have given rise to the
> medieval equivalent of the chilli pepper? And indeed: what was the
> medieval equivalent of the chilli pepper?
Atheism. I think it very odd that we seem to have no avowed atheists at the
time, or at least none so far as I know. It's very common for people to
wonder, often in adolescence, whether or not they believe in the existence of
God. In the middle ages, and even well into the Renaissance, people didn't
seem to ask or debate these kinds of questions openly. Leonardo da Vinci is
really striking. In his notebooks, he asks himself endless questions about
everything--why a candle flickers, why some rocks seem to be striated, so
many questions. But never the question of whether God exists, though one
might expect him to be interested in the question whether his answer was yes
or no.
My guess is that Leonardo wasn't a believer, but didn't want to put this in
writing (three chili peppers). I'm assuming that had he been a believer, he'd
have set forth his rationale for believing.
pat
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