Although his philosophy was never held by more than a small fraction of the Roman people, his work had a major impact on the poets that succeeded him and remained popular for centuries, and went on to influence many eminent scholars.
Lucretius: An Author Profile Read More »
The paradoxes in how gravity, light, and atomic nuclear forces operate have prompted subtle theories about not only nature, but reality as such—bending science back towards its parent discipline of philosophy.
The Great Conversation: Astronomy Read More »
“All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.” — Alexander Woollcott
The Great Conversation: Virtue and Vice Read More »
Like Tennessee Williams’ Tom Wingfield, Aesop gives us “truth cleverly disguised as fiction,” conveying wisdom imaginatively and indirectly.
Aesop: An Author Profile Read More »
The secrets of the past, the present, the future, and the transcendental all appeal to the insatiable human mind. The prophet claims to access them.
The Great Conversation: Prophecy Read More »
God himself is regularly described and depicted in art as the supreme geometer, creating all things in number, weight, and measure.
The Great Conversation: Mathematics Read More »
From Socrates to Descartes, dialectic was principally a technique of the mind to discover truth: Hegel suggested that the world itself is a kind of mind.
The Great Conversation: Dialectic Read More »
It is easy to think of St. Teresa’s ecstasies and visions as alien to our experience — yet her mysticism was shrewd and earthy, not abstract.
Teresa: An Author Profile Read More »
Not every individual lesson takes us through Plato’s whole “divided line,” but each orients us toward the next stage, moving from images to Forms.
How We Learn: The Divided Line in Plato’s “Republic” Read More »
Copernicus did not set out to found modern science. He did not foresee the internal combustion engine or the Hubble Space Telescope. He did not even set out to revolutionize astronomy. He studied the stars because they were interesting.
Copernicus: An Author Profile Read More »
