Winter: A Time for Noble Joy

Winter: A Time for Noble Joy

What does it take to form virtue—or to ‘educate’ in the most important sense? This perennial question concerns all of us, at all stages of life. Aristotle offers a simple but surprising principle that should focus us on what we’re doing at home in these winter days....
Aristotle on the Divine in Us

Aristotle on the Divine in Us

The great Greek maxim “Know thyself” surely has two distinct but related aspects. Both are very challenging and call for intentional, regular reflection. The first is to know what it is to be human; the second is to know myself as an individual. For the first the key...
That I Might Be Seen

That I Might Be Seen

The hard conversation with a loved one comes to an impasse. A welter of feelings resolves into one overriding pain: I don’t feel seen. In the end the greatest suffering is to be, or feel, alone. And to feel unseen is the very heart of loneliness. Josef Pieper...
Philosopher Parents, Not Kings

Philosopher Parents, Not Kings

The term ‘philosopher kings’ sticks in the head of students of ancient philosophy. In Plato’s Republic Socrates memorably asserts that “until philosophers take control of a city, there’ll be no respite from evil for either city or citizens…” Plato’s assertion here has...
Nature: What It Takes for Us to Notice

Nature: What It Takes for Us to Notice

“Of things that exist, some exist by nature, some from other causes.” Aristotle, Physics Why is it that we tend to appreciate less and less that which we see often? Herein is surely one of the great banes and challenges of human life. We grow used to things. There is...

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