Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Post Nubila Phoebus - 01 November 2011

Post Nubila Phoebus


The Latin proverb “post nubila Phoebus” should, in my view, be applied to the internet, imbuing the proverb with a different, contemporary meaning.

In the old proverb, Phoebus, another name for the sun god Apollo, represents the sun (hope), and the clouds represent hardship or trouble; the translation of this proverb is therefore “after the clouds, the sun”/ after trouble, hope. On the other hand, now that, as you know, the cloud is used as a metaphor for the internet, a new proverb can be coined, meaning “after the internet, hope, knowledge or truth”; besides hope, the sun has, since the days of Plato, also represented intellectual illumination.

Whether in student learning, teaching, or any other profession - barring abuse - the access to information that the internet provides represents hope, and the transparency it gives to thoughts and processes is the key to knowledge or truth.


Posted by May Mikati on 01 November 2011, 6:18 PM

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