Sep 18, 2013 09:05
10 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term
the apparent anomaly
English
Social Sciences
Linguistics
term
The whole sentence like this:" If Greek city-state culture had been poor and sparsely populated, the apparent anomaly would not be of general interest."
How can understand " the apparent anomaly" here?
How can understand " the apparent anomaly" here?
Responses
+2
44 mins
Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Ireland
Native in English
&
English
Ireland
right word, right place. everytime
Native in: English (Variants: UK, US, Canadian, Irish) 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
55
Selected
the puzzle
it is explained in the preceding paragraph
the Greek city state was densely populated but the citizens were wealthy and healthy yet
"the governments were not based on strict command and control"
http://books.google.ie/books?id=Jge0MlZTKhQC&pg=PA277&lpg=PA...
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Note added at 46 mins (2013-09-18 09:52:06 GMT)
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AND
"economies were not based on continual territorial expansion"
Please paste more context as the extract I'm reading won't paste
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Note added at 50 mins (2013-09-18 09:56:21 GMT)
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The Greek city state is "an historical anomaly the exception that proves the rule" Because it is not built on coercion and expansion (like Rome ort modern European states)
As I say, the preceeding paragraphs explain the anomaly in that the Greek states were different and followed different rules than other city states so that is the "puzzle" or hard -to-explain anomaly
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Note added at 50 mins (2013-09-18 09:56:38 GMT)
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preceding
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Note added at 53 mins (2013-09-18 09:59:09 GMT)
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"we would expect the emergence of expansionist states featuring exploitative systems of patronage, command and control systems..."
but this is not the case here
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Note added at 54 mins (2013-09-18 10:00:34 GMT)
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yes, as David says, you could also say it's a contradiction here as it is not what is expected in a city state
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Note added at 3 hrs (2013-09-18 12:17:19 GMT)
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Charles' "paradox" is another synonym for "contradiction" and "puzzle"
http://thesaurus.com/browse/paradox
and yes, "apparent" = it seems to be (an anomaly) but presumed you knew that already...
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Note added at 2 days4 hrs (2013-09-20 13:38:35 GMT) Post-grading
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glad to have helped
the Greek city state was densely populated but the citizens were wealthy and healthy yet
"the governments were not based on strict command and control"
http://books.google.ie/books?id=Jge0MlZTKhQC&pg=PA277&lpg=PA...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 46 mins (2013-09-18 09:52:06 GMT)
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AND
"economies were not based on continual territorial expansion"
Please paste more context as the extract I'm reading won't paste
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 50 mins (2013-09-18 09:56:21 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
The Greek city state is "an historical anomaly the exception that proves the rule" Because it is not built on coercion and expansion (like Rome ort modern European states)
As I say, the preceeding paragraphs explain the anomaly in that the Greek states were different and followed different rules than other city states so that is the "puzzle" or hard -to-explain anomaly
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 50 mins (2013-09-18 09:56:38 GMT)
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preceding
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Note added at 53 mins (2013-09-18 09:59:09 GMT)
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"we would expect the emergence of expansionist states featuring exploitative systems of patronage, command and control systems..."
but this is not the case here
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 54 mins (2013-09-18 10:00:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
yes, as David says, you could also say it's a contradiction here as it is not what is expected in a city state
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Note added at 3 hrs (2013-09-18 12:17:19 GMT)
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Charles' "paradox" is another synonym for "contradiction" and "puzzle"
http://thesaurus.com/browse/paradox
and yes, "apparent" = it seems to be (an anomaly) but presumed you knew that already...
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Note added at 2 days4 hrs (2013-09-20 13:38:35 GMT) Post-grading
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glad to have helped
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
David Moore (X)
: Good refs...
28 mins
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Many thanks David:-)
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| agree |
Thayenga
: :)
2 hrs
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many thanks Thayenga:-)
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you for help!"
+2
1 hr
the seeming (but not necessarily actual) divergence from the trend
I am greatly indebted to gallagy for finding the source. This question is impossible to answer without reading the context.
The "anomaly" part is straightforward; as I've said in the discussion and any dictionary will confirm, an anomaly is "something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected" (Oxford). The anomaly here is that most early states were "coercive-intensive", expansionist, hierarchical, with an authoritarian and monopolistic power elite, as the author explains in the previous paragraph, but Greek city-states were republican.
But what needs explaining here is "apparent". By the argument just stated, Greece was not an apparent anomaly; it was a real anomaly. So why does he say "apparent"?
If we read on we find the answer. The author argues that from a modern perspective Greek city-states were not actually so exceptional after all. Although they "bucked the trend" in antiquity, there are similar successful city states in late medieval Italy, and in modern times. So he is questioning the premise that the pattern of state-building compared with which ancient Greek states are anomalous is actually the norm:
"When exceptions begin to multiply, the rule must be rethought. If we take the contemporary world of nation-states as normative, the centrally controlled empires of antiquity, with their "expand or collapse" state-building dynamic, may come to seem less overwhelming in the relative analytic importance" (following page).
This idea is central to the book, or at least to this part of the book, because the idea of the modernity of ancient Greek states is what the author is trying to argue.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2013-09-18 11:44:19 GMT)
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So another way of paraphrasing "the apparent analogy might be "the case which seems to be an exception to the rule but turns out not to be so exceptional after all".
The "anomaly" part is straightforward; as I've said in the discussion and any dictionary will confirm, an anomaly is "something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected" (Oxford). The anomaly here is that most early states were "coercive-intensive", expansionist, hierarchical, with an authoritarian and monopolistic power elite, as the author explains in the previous paragraph, but Greek city-states were republican.
But what needs explaining here is "apparent". By the argument just stated, Greece was not an apparent anomaly; it was a real anomaly. So why does he say "apparent"?
If we read on we find the answer. The author argues that from a modern perspective Greek city-states were not actually so exceptional after all. Although they "bucked the trend" in antiquity, there are similar successful city states in late medieval Italy, and in modern times. So he is questioning the premise that the pattern of state-building compared with which ancient Greek states are anomalous is actually the norm:
"When exceptions begin to multiply, the rule must be rethought. If we take the contemporary world of nation-states as normative, the centrally controlled empires of antiquity, with their "expand or collapse" state-building dynamic, may come to seem less overwhelming in the relative analytic importance" (following page).
This idea is central to the book, or at least to this part of the book, because the idea of the modernity of ancient Greek states is what the author is trying to argue.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2013-09-18 11:44:19 GMT)
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So another way of paraphrasing "the apparent analogy might be "the case which seems to be an exception to the rule but turns out not to be so exceptional after all".
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
B D Finch
: Well analysed!
2 hrs
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Thanks very much, B D!
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| agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
4 hrs
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Thank you, Tina!
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Discussion
If one thinks of ''apparent'' as to mean: real, true, visible etc, we have the answer for the translation. The visible/peculiar/odd anomaly
I hope the Asker and others will note, for any future questions, that enough context should be posted for answerers not to have to research the source text in order to give a sensible answer.
The anomaly, then, is the fact they were not coercive-intensive, not the fact that they prospered and lasted. The fact that they did so without being coercive-intensive could be loosely described as a contradiction (an internal inconsistency), but I think it would be better described as a paradox.
yes, contradiction works well here as the results from the given circumstances are not what would be expected