tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post731740598482418507..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: CategoriesAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-82812627290577863442022-06-12T10:19:47.151-04:002022-06-12T10:19:47.151-04:00Things have fuzzy edges. Definitions and boundari...Things have fuzzy edges. Definitions and boundaries alter with the circumstances and purpose of the category. We can waste an awful lot of time arguing on which side of a too-bright line some edge phenomenon belongs. On the other hand, my dog is not a wolf, even though there is no moment in history when wolves abruptly became dogs, and dogs still share many important attributes with wolves. A tree has a branch that's not its trunk, but we can't normally draw a single undisputed line marking the boundary at the joint.Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-66542195384440607792022-06-08T17:20:27.071-04:002022-06-08T17:20:27.071-04:00"You don't have a measurement if you don&..."You don't have a measurement if you don't have the error estimate."jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-16231286882885115882022-06-08T15:55:48.088-04:002022-06-08T15:55:48.088-04:00I would date the "High" Middle Ages from...I would date the "High" Middle Ages from ~1100 until ~1450, and the Renaissance later (and variously, depending on where physically we're talking about). The defining factor of the High Middle Ages was the partnership between church and state in defining Christendom, and a literary tradition that focused particularly on Arthurian literature. By 1450 Malory is summarizing and bringing to a close what was by then long an international tradition of poetry and prose, running to millions of words in French alone, but also in German, English, and other tongues.<br /><br />Wikipedia chooses 1000-1300, based on other criteria. Maybe that's your point: the category is a creature, and another creator might make it differently just as well.Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.com