The Great Conversation: Desire
The Great Conversation: Desire By Matt McKeown There are few ideas more deceitfully simple than desire. Desire is a more complicated subject than it may appear at first …
The Great Conversation: Beauty
The Great Conversation: Beauty By Matt McKeown The definition of beauty—indeed, whether it can be defined at all—is a remarkably difficult problem in the history of thought. Goodness, …
Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed
Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed By Matt McKeown Maimonides shaped all subsequent schools of Judaism, and even the development of Medieval Christianity. The twelfth century was a great …
The Great Conversation: Fate
The Great Conversation: Fate By Matt McKeown Fate is an idea as old as the written word. The will of Jove, the Viking Norns, the cycle of samsāra …
Plutarch: The Purpose of History
Plutarch:The Purpose of History By Matt McKeown History is a standard subject in every curriculum. But why do we study it? Plutarch is not exactly a household name …
Charlotte Brontë: Voice From the Deep
“Jane Eyre” is a classic novel of the Romantic movement, but its moral backbone is what makes its protagonist and her story compelling.
The Great Conversation: Poetry
Poetry is one of the oldest arts, yet many people today know little of it; approaching it through pleasure instead of intellect may be the key.
Beowulf: Elegy of the North
“Beowulf” combines a Christianized worldview with the melancholy themes of the Norse Ragnarok, and in so doing achieves a solitary poetic quality.
Euripides: The Zenith of Tragedy
The plays of Euripides confront us with sophisticated moral problems and subtle characterization that advance even on Æschylus and Sophocles.
The Great Conversation: Monarchy
Kings and emperors remain staples of our art and media, but the history and philosophy of monarchy is more complex than we often realize.
