Does that mean just the printed medium, or does it refer to the information on the printed medium? The three works generally attributed to Justin Martyr come to us from a document written in the 14th Century. That 14th Century document contains the writings of someone who wrote in the Second Century CE. The 14th Century document is a primary source of information from the Second Century.But my problem here is that this is not the definition of a primary source. A primary source is defined as something from the time period being studied.
Perhaps this scenario might clear this up: If a 90 year old man in 2020 wrote a letter to his grandson about life in the 1950s, would that be a primary source about life in the 1950s? What if his grandson then copied out that letter in 2090 and passed it on to his own grandson? Would that copied letter in 2090 still be a primary source about life in the 1950s? I'd say yes, the letter written in 2090 is a primary source about life in the 1950s.
Yes, there are questions around integrity of textual transmissions and translations. But they are separate issues to the point I'm making above about the definition of "primary source".
Statistics: Posted by GakuseiDon — Mon Dec 23, 2024 2:14 am