I know lots of people who are pretty sure of themselves who I think should read more.
A dictionary would be a good place to start:
Philistine (Oxford)
Much of what we know about real Philistines - i.e. "Philistine" people as an ethnic group as opposed to a metaphor - comes from texts written by semi-nomadic herding people, artifacts of whom are, in fact, found in physical caves. Who exactly these people were, and the extent to which they were in fact, "real" seems to be uncertain.
However the ancient texts of dubious historical accuracy have in fact, led, via the intermediacy of culture found their way into language.
However I may have erred in considering whether I'm addressing a narrow or a broad viewpoint.
Living in a cave also has a connotative as well denotive meaning.
I would include the more connotative meaning as including people who crawl out every once in a while to declare that the rest of the world is clearly not good enough for him to spend too much time outside of the cave.
Caves have an oft discussed long history in the philosophy of human thought of course, and there are instances, certainly metaphoric, in philosophy evoking those who live in caves and look only at shadows while making pronouncements about reality with a sense of certainty.
The tone is mildly mocking in these famous discourses, appropriately so.
For me, if not for those geniuses announcing with a tone of supercilious Schadenfreude, "I always knew I was right, and I'm sure you want me to tell you I have always been right!" are probably looking at shadows of their own making, but then again, I'm not that smart, since I lazily use connotative language.
I believe, though, that I may hold a higher view of humanity, because, stated admittedly with some dismissive arrogance, I work rather than whine.
In my life I have generated an opinion so as to find that often those who consider themselves above humanity are exhibiting the most human of flaws, intellectual laziness.
One may ask such a person if, with all their declared magnificent exalted perspicaciousness, they have done anything to make the world better.
It's a question I ask myself everyday, and every day I try to answer it.
Oh, and as for Mastadons in the Levant, the issue has been discussed with some level of seriousness: Cultural and Biological Transformations in the Middle Pleistocene Levant: A View from Qesem Cave, Israel
Man the Fat Hunter: The Demise of Homo erectus and the Emergence of a New Hominin Lineage in the Middle Pleistocene (ca. 400 kyr) Levant
Elephant species originated in Africa, rather like the appalling great ape that some people stand above. Thus they had to pass through the Levant.
Often people are nowhere near as sharp as they think they are.
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