jhuffman comments on Utopian hope versus reality - Less Wrong

23 Post author: Mitchell_Porter 11 January 2012 12:55PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (53)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: [deleted] 12 January 2012 03:18:57PM 0 points [-]

Depends on who the European nobleman is. A noble-blooded merchant from Venice in the 14th century would have a different perspective to a Frankish Knight of the 8th century.

Comment author: jhuffman 12 January 2012 03:24:02PM 1 point [-]

The set of average european noblemen from 500 years ago does not include 8th century anyones. Yes, I am aware that different people hold different opinions. You asked a very speculative question about what an average member might think. So, thats all I have to say about it.

Comment author: [deleted] 12 January 2012 03:32:55PM *  2 points [-]

Overall I think the nobility in Europe 500 years ago was probably closer to martial values than mercantile values. The difference between these two is what I tried to illustrate, with the example.

BTW A 14th century Italian also isn't someone who lived around 500 years ago either. The example wasn't directly about our 15th/16th century nobleman. Even more the average nobleman, was I think a knight, since they where the lowest and pretty common nobility.