classics digests, reflections and reviews
[Posted to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Heisenberg’s death.] Form and Potentiality in Nature Modern physics takes a definite stand against the materialism of Democritus and Epicurus, and for Plato and the Pythagoreans. The elementary particles are certainly not eternal and indestructible units of matter. They can actually be transformed into each other. All particles are of the same substance: energy. The resemblance of the modern views to those of […]
Read moreBrother and Sister His twin sister Scholastica, who was consecrated to God from her very childhood, used to come once a year to see him; unto whom the man of God was wont to go with his brethren to a house not far from the gate, within the possession of the Monastery. On one occasion, his sister, entreated him saying: “I beseech you, leave me not this night, that we […]
Read moreThe Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest surviving codes of law, was enacted by the sixth king of Babylon, Hammurabi. Like the Mosaic Law, a large portion of the code deals with property rights and family relations. The prominent feature of the code, however, is its emphasis on individual responsibility, imposing heavy penalties on neglect and sloth, from which even the judges and governors are not exempt. Here are […]
Read moreAs the author of an obscure blog, I sometimes become discouraged by the lack of engagements and dialogues. I learn more by engaging in discussions and debates on the subjects that fascinate me, than by reading and writing about them. For this reason, I envy the most those bloggers who attract a dozen comments following each and every one of their posts. At times like these, I find inspiration in […]
Read moreTruth is Its Own Evidence The word evidence comes from the Latin root meaning “to see”. When we demand evidence of something, we want to “see” it in some sense, although the thing itself may be absent by circumstance, or invisible by nature. The scientific method is evidence-based. It presupposes a correspondence between true abstract theories and natural phenomena. This is why theories in physics must be corroborated by experiments […]
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They say that when he was still a young man he withdrew into a cave and studied there, shaving half of his head to keep himself from going out; also that he slept on a narrow bed in order to get up quickly, and that since he could not pronounce the sound of R he learned to do so by hard work, and since in declaiming for practice he made […]
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In one of his essays, Plutarch accuses Herodotus, another famed historian, of malice. Whether the specific charges are true is open to dispute. However, the general signs of malice he describes is very insightful. Six Signs of Malice First, use of severe words when gentle ones will serve, derogative generalities, rather than specifics regarding the facts. For example, when he might have called Nicias “too much addicted to pious practices,” he […]
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