Talk:Philistinism

message: US presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, abd Donald Trump (all Republicans) have been described as "Philistines," even though these presidents may not know what the word "philistine" means.  So a philistine may be a philistine and not actually know it, or anything about the "philistine philosophy."  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hopeglory000 (talk • contribs) 12:21, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

message: This article strongly needs citations.
Babubebo 00:04, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Citations needed

message: I've added a link to Dumbing down in the See Also section since I thought that the use of the currently fashionable expression 'Dumbing down' reflects what might arguably be contemporary form of philistinism Godfinger 19:09, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Dumbing Down : The New Philistinism

message: This hatnoted section (the required sources are in the main article as usual: let's avoid flagging for citations as an expression of pique) is just sufficient to distinguishe archaeological (not "historical" whatever that might mean here) Philistines from cultural  "Philistinism". Not more than that. This is not a suitable place to assert various theories of origins, linguistic connections etc..--Wetman (talk) 18:49, 25 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: "Historical Philistines"

message: This really isn't appropriate NPOV speech, it isn't a quote, and the usage of the phrase 'enlightened liberal' is confusing in terms of contemporary vs. historical usage of the terms. 87.113.179.86 (talk) 22:18, 24 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: 'From his example, 'Philistine' passed into the enlightened liberal's armament of cultural scorn.'

message: I do not think that word means what you think it means. -- 70.109.46.5 (talk) 23:33, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: "The eponymous philistine"

message: A man who died in 1977 could not have given lectures in 1981 or 1982.  The following passage is impossible and inconsistent:
"    In the Lectures on Russian Literature (1981), in the essay ‘Philistines and Philistinism’ Nabokov describes the philistine...
    In the Lectures on Literature (1982), in speaking of the novel Madame Bovary (1856), about the bourgeois wife of a country doctor, the writer Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) said that ..."
71.109.150.164 (talk) 00:54, 25 May 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dispute: Dates of Nabokov lectures/death 

message: So there are no views on why they chose the word "Philistine"? I'd always assumed that it was of biblical origin, as so many terms of those times were. Surely they didn't just choose a word at random. It seems like an important piece of information to leave out. I'd assume they chose "Philistine" specifically BECAUSE it had certain connotations. It would be nice if the article addressed this. The reason for the choice of the term used is as essential as the actual definition is. They didn't just pick up a dictionary, point to a word at random and say "okay, THIS is the word we'll use to describe uncultered anti-intellectuals; one word is as good as another!". There must at least be theories on this. .45Colt 22:33, 16 January 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, the theories go no further than that German students described the non-academic population as Philistines, possibly because they thought themselves to be in the position of the people of Israel (which is: of a superior mission, but quite possibly fighting a losing battle at the moment, though with sure hope to conquer in the end). Confusingly, among corporated students, the term "Philistine" is considered something of a title of honor now, which the students acquire when leaving their "active" time and settling down in civic life.--2001:A61:260C:C01:6D0E:DC8B:D1CC:4A3E (talk) 11:52, 21 June 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Origin 

message: This article opens with words to the effect "our modern usage comes from Arnold's adaption into English of the German word…" 
The German word usage dates to the late 1600's (or 17's)
Arnold wrote in the later 1800's.
The article next states philistine was in common usage in England by 1820.
It seems to me that 1820 is before Arnold?
Should the origin of usage be adjusted? Iwasking (talk) 18:20, 11 April 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: *1689 for the German Jena university story. Iwasking (talk) 18:21, 11 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Started with Arnold?