Anthony Wrote:
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> Rick Baudé Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm kind of at a loss here Anthony. So what
> are
> > researchers supposed to do? Just sit around
> and
> > twiddle their thumbs until new information
> comes
> > in?
>
> I certainly don't think I implied that.

Okay I'll withdraw that comment.
>
>
> > Or wouldn't a more dynamic approach be to
> > study the PT's, see which verses and themes
> recur
> > over and over as Katherine has pointed out.
> See
> > how the language changes in the PT's and
> compare
> > it with what little we do know of
> pre-dynastic
> > myths. I don't see the problem after all
> linguists
> > can reconstruct ancient languages based on
> > linguistically sound principles why couldn't
> the
> > same be done on the PT's?
>
> But we're not talking about reconstructing a
> language. What we're discussing is the
> reconstruction of thoughts, ideas and beliefs held
> by the people who used the language. They are not
> the same.

I don't see why not? We reconstruct building, pots, we restore huge hunks of text, based on what we know about other texts (Allen does it in the PT's uses MK texts to restore missing sections of the PT's. Don't know he does it.)
>
>
> > Just takes a little
> > imagination and perserverance and the answer
> will
> > slowly reveal itself.
>
>
> But not if we are using erroneously attributed
> thoughts, beliefs and ideas as a foundation for
> our imaginitive endeavor. This is about carefully
> understanding and properly labeling the concepts
> we are trying to "push back" into the past. Too
> many things get labeled as "fact", when in
> actuality, they are nothing but plausible
> speculations based on interpretations of later
> texts. I wish things could be color-coded when
> they are printed. Black is for things we know to
> be fact. Blue is for things that have been proven
> theoretically. Red is for speculations that
> cannot and should not be used as foundations for
> any further theorizing.
>
> That would make the field of study so much more
> productive. We wouldn't have to worry about going
> back and rechecking every little tidbit of
> information we find to see if indeed it is
> actually known, or if somebody just wrote it down
> 120 years ago and it has slowly migrated from red
> to blue without anybody noticing...

It would be nice if scholarship was that simple but it isn't. How about this quote "The skys two REEDFLOATS that he might cross on them to the Akhet...the skys two REEDFLOATS..." Allen's PT's page 125 verse 320. Notice we're not even up to boats yet but floats!But it certainly suggests that these verses are much older than the others. Of course boats come into play in other verses.


>
> "Men are apt to mistake the strength of their
> feeling for the strength of their argument. The
> heated mind resents the chill touch and relentless
> scrutiny of logic."" -- William E. Gladstone
>
>
>