Literary notes about Diffusion (AI summary)
The term "diffusion" appears in literature with a rich tapestry of meanings that traverse the realms of philosophy, science, sociology, and art. In classical texts, as in Plato’s Timaeus [1], diffusion is invoked to describe the spreading of inherent goodness or purpose, while for authors like Galen [2, 3] it carries a more concrete scientific connotation linked to processes such as filtration and osmosis. In works examining societal and cultural phenomena, Durkheim [4, 5] and sociologists such as Burgess and Park [6, 7, 8] use the term metaphorically to discuss the transmission of religious beliefs, cultural practices, and popular ideologies. Meanwhile, Marco Polo’s narratives [9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15] recount diffusion in the context of language and the spread of ideas across diverse lands, and literary giants like James Joyce [16] and Emerson [17] evoke it to capture the interplay of natural forces or the blending of human experiences. Whether describing the tangible dispersion of physical properties or symbolizing the pervasive influence of culture and knowledge [18, 19, 20], diffusion serves as a versatile metaphor that underscores the interconnectedness of all things.
- Like man, he must have a purpose; and his purpose is the diffusion of that goodness or good which he himself is.
— from Timaeus by Plato - 4 In terms of filtration, diffusion, and osmosis.
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - 28 Since heat and cold tend to cause diffusion and condensation respectively.
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - But still, we must not exaggerate a personality which is hardly reconcilable with this diffusion and ubiquity.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - The fact that the names of the phratries are generally the same in very different tribes could not fail to facilitate this diffusion.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - Gabriel Tarde, for example, has sought to explain, not the genesis, but the transmission and diffusion of these same cultural forms.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - 2. The diffusion of culture, and "when it becomes possible to measure it," the productivity of men of genius.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - Under what conditions does this diffusion take place and why does it take place at all?
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - [Sidenote: How far was there diffusion of his Book in his own day?] 75.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - 2. Superstitions as to Deserts: their wide diffusion.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - The French language had at that time almost as wide, perhaps relatively a wider, diffusion than it has now.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - How far was there diffusion of his Book in his own day? 76.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - We have already spoken of the extensive diffusion of Nestorian Christianity in Asia during the early and Middle Ages.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - Superstitious practice of avoiding to carry out the dead by the house-door; its wide diffusion.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - Wide diffusion of the kind of Palace here described.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - The disparition of three final stars, the diffusion of daybreak, the apparition of a new solar disk. Had he ever been a spectator of those phenomena?
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - We meet as water meets water, or as two currents of air mix, with perfect diffusion and interpenetration of nature.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson - It realizes the necessity of educating the professions and the public by the wide diffusion of information on this subject.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross - I am very fond of Bacon—I mean, the Bacon recommended to you by the “Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge”— Lord Bacon.
— from The King James Version of the Bible - Is the diffusion of truth to be estimated by publications; or publications by the truth, which they diffuse or at least contain?
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
