classics digests, reflections and reviews
Descartes’ Wax: Why the Mind is Distinct From the Body Descartes was meditating in his chair by the fire with a piece of wax in his hand. He had formed a notion that wax was something with a fixed shape, size, color and smell, when the wax began melting due to the heat, and changed into an indistinct mass. It became obvious that his previous notion was erroneous (not only […]
Read moreRule I. All sciences are nothing but human wisdom, which always remains one and same, and is no more altered by the different subjects it is applied to, than is the light of the sun by the variety of the objects it illuminates. All sciences are interconnected and interdependent, therefore it is not necessary for the mind to be confined within any limits. Before delving into some particular science, we […]
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Nietzsche as Monkey King With a philosopher nothing at all is impersonal. As an armchair Platonist, I had a personal aversion to Nietzsche, whose whole purpose in life seemed to be to overthrow Platonism. After reading “Beyond Good and Evil”, however, my attitude changed from aversion to pity, that is, pity in the Nietzschean sense. To illustrate my view of Nietzsche and his relation to Plato, let me introduce a […]
Read moreShe is the boundary of his being Kierkegaard met Regine Olsen in Copenhagen in 1837, and, by all appearances, there was a deep attraction between the two. They were engaged in 1840, but Kierkegaard immediately broke off the engagement the following year. Regina married her old tutor in 1847, and the couple left Copenhagen for the Danish West Indies in March 1855. Kierkegaard died in November that same year, having […]
Read morePlato writes that the beautiful things in this world are images of the absolute and everlasting Beauty that can be seen only with the eye of the mind. Things in this world change constantly and have no substance, but they are beautiful because they participate in Beauty. In the same vein, justice is made manifest in this world by people participating in or enacting Justice. Sometimes it’s almost as if a […]
Read moreA Baseball Metaphor For those who don’t know much about baseball, here are three things that might help you understand the metaphor I’m about to relate. First, it’s “a game of inches”, because the difference between success and failure, safe and out, home-run and foul ball is literally inches apart. Second, there is no time constraint in baseball, unlike some other major team sports. In theory, a baseball game could […]
Read moreAfter giving a fascinating and instructive account of the noble lives of the founders, lawgivers, statesmen, orators, famous generals and virtuous women of ancient Greece and Rome, Plutarch concludes his work with a story of such a wretched end of life, that all lives seem noble in comparison. The Wretch in a Boat A Persian king thus put to death one of his subjects: Taking two boats framed exactly to […]
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