December 14, 2012 at 11:34 am
Relating to the work of CC202, which inspects Mozart, is an essay arguing that revivals of classic works do not hold back the opera genre from blossoming. Here is an excerpt: Nothing, perhaps, will ever be as good as Shakespeare, but that doesn’t prevent Tony Kushner or David Mamet from writing marvellous plays now. Shostakovich […]
December 7, 2012 at 2:56 pm
Relating to temperance, and the work of John Locke studied in CC203, here is today’s analect: For esteem and reputation being a sort of moral strength, whereby a man is enabled to do, as it were, by an augmented force, that which others, of equal natural parts and natural power, cannot do without it; he […]
By mdimov
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Also posted in Academics, Analects, Great Ideas
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Tagged CC203, harm, importance, Moral, natural, power, strength, temperance, weakness
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December 7, 2012 at 2:45 pm
As a tribute to all sleep-deprived Core students and faculty near the semester’s end, here is today’s analect in celebration of Sleep’s regenerative power: A man in a distant field, no hearthfires near, will hide a fresh brand in his bed of embers to keep a spark alive for the next day; so in the […]
December 5, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Expanding further on the works studied in CC106, here is the next analect from Nick Lane’s Life Ascending: The Great Inventions of Evolution: We may not enjoy the fact much, but we’ve recognized since the early 1920’s that going moderately hungry prolongs life. It’s called calorie restriction. Rats fed a balanced diet, but with about […]
December 5, 2012 at 12:43 pm
From a book that sometimes plays a part in CC106, Jared Diamond’s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, here is today’s analect: The Greenland Norse did succeed in creating a unique form of European society, and in surviving for 450 years as Europe’s most remote outpost. We modern Americans should not be too quick […]
November 29, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Relating to the reading that the students of CC201 have done on Descartes’ work, here is today’s analect: Although in approaching the flame I feel heat, and even though in approaching it a little too closely I feel pain, there is still no reason that can convince me that there is some quality in the […]
November 29, 2012 at 5:10 pm
On November 20th, Professor Greg Fried (Suffolk University, Department of Philosophy), a long-time friend and colleague of the Core, lectured to the students of CC101 about Plato’s Republic. Here we offer an excerpt from his lecture: MORPHEUS: Do you want to know what it is, Neo? The Matrix is everywhere; it’s all around us, even now in […]
By mdimov
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Also posted in Academics, Core Lecturers, Great Ideas, Quotes, Uncategorized
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Tagged Allegory of the Cave, fun, interesting, Matrix, pill, Plato, rabbit hole, Republic, Socrates
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November 28, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Yesterday’s analect from Paradise Lost can be contrasted with today’s choice: By god, I’d rather slave on earth for another man—
some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive—
than rule down here over all the breathless dead. (The Odyssey, 11.556-8)
November 27, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Professor Ricks lectured today on John Milton’s Paradise Lost. From this spawns today’s analect: “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n” (Paradise Lost, Book 1, 258-263).
November 26, 2012 at 3:00 pm
In view of Professor Barfield’s lecture on 11/29 about Malinowski’s notions of exchange and reciprocity, here is today’s analect: Apart from any consideration as to whether the gifts are necessary or even useful, giving for the sake of giving is one of the most important features of Trobriand sociology, and, from its very general and […]
