timelets

This is an important finding about the Arabic "language obsession" in the 11th century, which is consistent with the approach proposed by Russian philosopher Andrei Smirnov.

Most significant, he [Alexander Key] says, is the fact that these scholars were working "with what appear to be basic structural assumptions about words and meanings that we just never had in the West."

"I'm struck by the many points, particularly around metaphor, where the medieval Arabs and Persians may have just done a better job than we have been managing to do with these same questions," Key said.

Key also found that the early scholars benefited from a holistic perspective. The ancients lacked the modern methodological divide between arts and sciences, and so were able to see language as a cognitive function shared between poetry and logic.

For example, we should think about Putin not as a person, but "putin" as a process.