Note: Today's guest contributor is Andrew J. Zwerneman, the president and co-founder of Cana Academy and the author of the forthcoming book, History: Forgotten and Remembered, to be released in September, 2020. As a society we are increasingly divided—from each other and from our past. However, because a classical, liberal education is deeply historical, it is well...
Today’s post is from our long-time collaborator, Dr. Matthew Post of the University of Dallas, who offers us some thoughts on Brian Greene and his distinctions between facts and values. In a recent TIME article, Brian Greene, director of Columbia’s center for theoretical physics, asserts that there is no moral order, no purpose to the universe, and...
Note: The following entry is from Dr. Benjamin Storey (Furman University), a scholar and friend. He teaches the history of political philosophy and is Co-Director of the Tocqueville Program at Furman University. He has written for many journals, including Journal of Politics, the Review of Politics, The New Atlantis, and City Journal. He is currently co-authoring a book with Jenna Storey titled “What Four French Thinkers Can Teach Us About Contentment”. Amid its...
Note: The following post is from our guest contributor Derek Anderson, headmaster of Ridgeview Classical in Fort Collins, Colorado. In addition to leading the school, Mr. Anderson studies moral and political philosophy alongside of intellectual history. He is a proponent of the liberal arts curriculum, having taught students history, philosophy, literature and rhetoric. As a teacher and later as a headmaster, I have frequently lamented how schooling in America so often...
I began working in New York City in January 2001, teaching courses in English, literature, poetry, and philosophy of education. It was my second academic position after graduate school, and I was delighted to be joining the faculty of a small liberal arts college in the heart of Manhattan. But, within the year, the entire world was to be shaken by an existential threat...
At the 2019 Symposium, we had the delightful opportunity to visit with Dr. John Briggs (University of California, Riverside), in a conversation about the work of C.S. Lewis. In particular, we discussed An Experiment in Criticism (1961), one of Lewis’ later works that focuses on the nature of reading. The “experiment” that Lewis is describing an experience of reading by which the reader is immersed in the text and...
NOTE: Today’s blog entry is from our guest contributor, Dr. Michael Ivins, whose study of great books and subsequent research surrounding the philosophy of Aristotle have equipped him with a quick eye for the philosophical implications of modern science. Dr. Ivins taught for five years at St. Vincent College (PA) and now teaches at Scottsdale...
NOTE: The following post is from our good colleague, Dr. David Rothman, an accomplished scholar and poet, who continues to produce works of wonder and humor under the inspiration of the Muse. It would be hard to find anyone in education who is unaware of the tremendous structural problems facing the industry, especially private higher ed, in...
As we approach the weekend and continue to reflect on our cultural moment, it seems fitting to reconsider one of America's First Principles: free speech. Rather than provide a disquisition, I'm going to refer to the legal resource website, Justia, with its page on "Freedom of Expression: The Philosophical Basis," where we read the following: "Other...
(NOTE: This entry was composed by Nikhil Jandhyala, an intern with the Institute and an alumnus of Anthem Preparatory Academy.) Mathematics can be a strenuous study for many. A 2018 Pew Research poll shows that students do not pursue mathematics in college due to the difficulty of the subject. Perhaps the difficulty comes from the delivery of the subject: the way math is taught. Jake Tawney, a veteran math teacher and teacher...