As we continue to weigh the incoming medical data on COVID-19, there remain a variety of other factors that require our consideration, not the least of which is the economic fallout of the stay-at-home quarantine. Attending to the public health, broadly understood, involves recognizing the interactions between a number of factors. At times, this seems...
For a variety of reasons, I have recently returned to C.S. Lewis’s essay “Learning In War-Time” as well as Josef Pieper’s book, Leisure, the Basis of Culture. Both have given me great satisfaction, over the years, and they seem particularly salient to our current (confined) situation. So, I was pleasantly surprised to run across an essay...
Heading into the weekend, a little “Philosophy for Friday” may help set the table with some leisurely food for thought...
David Rothman is one of those colleagues whose friendship in pursuit of the Good is a genuine grace. With his characteristic wit, verve, and style (all of a piece for a man dedicated to the arts), Rothman is an incredibly cultured man, who wears his learning lightly, even delightfully. Today I’m reposting an interview with David...
Typically, Americans are all thinking about the Tax Man today (or Uncle Sam, if you prefer a friendlier face), but COVID-19 has granted us a stay of three months, extending the IRS filing deadline to July 15. “Death and taxes,” goes the phrase, often attributed to Ben Franklin in this aphoristic construction: “In this world nothing...
At last month’s Symposium, our minds were turned toward the craft and art of history--which, to our delight, has a lively element of story-telling at its center. In particular, Dr. Frederick Turner (University of Texas, Dallas) spent time with us, exploring the role and essence of historic epics. While their mythological nature seems distant from historical reality,...
Recently re-reading Leon Kass, I was struck by the profoundly humane quality of his reasoning. As a trained physician, medical researcher, and ethicist, Kass has been involved with a number of deeply insightful projects (e.g., President’s Council on Bioethics) that promote a truly liberal understanding of the human experience, and I would argue that he...
Today we’re reviewing the first of several video conversations that took place at the National Classical Education Symposium, this past March in Phoenix. This particular conversation was with Dr. Gregory McBrayer, who directs the core curriculum at Ashland University (OH). Greg outlines the essential characteristics of a liberal education: from perennial questions to great books, and...
Rob Jackson Director, Institute for Classical Education If you find yourself with more time to observe the natural world--taking walks and hikes at sufficient social distance--you might also be interested in some careful observations surrounding the 19th century’s most famous naturalist, Charles Darwin. From David Quammen’s NYRB review of three new books on Darwin, we discover that botany...
Rob Jackson Director, Institute for Classical Education One month ago, we gathered in Phoenix for the 2nd annual National Classical Education Symposium, where we explored “The Historian’s Craft and the Art of Teaching History.” One of our informants, Dr. Wilfred McClay, was delighted by the conversation we hosted and the colleagues we invited. McClay’s new book, Land...