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Weltseele

English translation: world-soul

13:31 Jun 19, 2006
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Music
German term or phrase: Weltseele
"In sieben Stimmen wird die Erschaffung der Weltseele nach Platons "Timaios" nachgezeichnet, die sich zunehmend kompliziert und an ihrer eigenen Komplexität, zur Maschine geworden, zusammenbricht."

This occurs in a brief description of a piece of avant garde music, written by the composer.
Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 15:04
English translation:world-soul
Explanation:
ganz einfach :-)
Selected response from:

Elke Fehling
Local time: 15:04
Grading comment
Well thank you all. The Greek options were very interesting, and Henry´s exposition particularly meaningful for me as partner of a flute-player of great spirit. I decided in the end, however, to follow Francis´s pointer. The text here was not as stylish as you might think from the classical reference.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4world-soul
Elke Fehling
2 +1pneuma
Henry Schroeder
3nous
gangels (X)
2 -1Soul of World
lux


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
world-soul


Explanation:
ganz einfach :-)


    Reference: http://forum.leo.org/archiv.ende/2005_05/29/20050529092216e_...
    Reference: http://www.phillex.de/weltseel.htm
Elke Fehling
Local time: 15:04
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Well thank you all. The Greek options were very interesting, and Henry´s exposition particularly meaningful for me as partner of a flute-player of great spirit. I decided in the end, however, to follow Francis´s pointer. The text here was not as stylish as you might think from the classical reference.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  HarryHedgehog: aka the poor cousin to "Weltschmerz" (but leave out the hyphen)
39 mins
agree  CathyBermingham: http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/18/nov99/notes.htm
45 mins
agree  Ingeborg Gowans (X)
55 mins
agree  sigmalanguage: Manchmal groß geschrieben wie: World Soul, World-Soul. I usually do not comment on this language pair, but as a philosophy enthusiast, I could not help contributing something.
59 mins
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7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Soul of World


Explanation:
creation of world soul

lux
Local time: 18:34
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Armorel Young: it would have to be "soul of THE world" in English
1 hr
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +1
pneuma


Explanation:
Here is a nice explanation of the philosophical meaning behind "Weltseele".

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:mq1-kDNY7b0J:www.textlo...

My suggestion is one of a few that you could derive from this source. I would like to believe that the need for "world" becomes redundant by using a term like "pneuma", but that may be wishful thinking. According to the reference below, for example, it is synonymous with world-soul, but sounds a good deal more poetic:

Zeno of Citium (335-263 BCE), the founder of Stoicism, was very interested in the nature of the soul. He and his protégé Cleanthes (331-232 BCE) emphasized the active nature of the mind by identifying it as an internal fire or vital heat. It was not until Chrysippus (c. 280-207 BCE) that Stoic psychology reached its mature state. According to Chrysippus, the human soul consists of a breath-like substance called pneuma. Cognitive faculties were identified with the specific activities of the pneuma. In addition to being the substance of the particular souls of living organisms, pneuma was also held to be the organizing principle of the cosmos, that is, the world-soul. The Stoics identified this world-soul with God or Zeus. One source described God as an intelligent, artistic fire that systematically creates the cosmos as it expands; in the same passage God is called a pneuma that pervades the whole cosmos as the human soul pervades the mortal body. In contrast to contemporary physics and cosmology, the Stoics saw the world as a living organism.

Stoic psychology is inseparable from Stoic physics and cosmology. The pneuma of the human soul (pneuma psychikon) is said to be a mixture of air and fire. Some Stoics saw this soul as a literal mixture of fire and air, others associated it with a refined fire (similar to aether) or vital heat. The pneuma permeating the body was held to be a portion of the divine pneuma permeating and directing the cosmos. The human soul is a portion of God within us, both animating us and endowing us with reason and intelligence.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/stoicmind.htm#SH2b

Henry Schroeder
United States
Local time: 09:04
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 36

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  gangels (X)
8 hrs
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
nous


Explanation:
Even though the stoa followed Plato by some hundred years, I think it's quite acceptable. As an alternative, 'nous', the concept of the world as defined by Anaxagoras which continued to cut across classic and hellenic thought would also be appropriate.

gangels (X)
Local time: 07:04
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 13
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