Tag Archives: Aristotle

young copernicus: the heavens can wait

The Copernican revolution. Displacing man from the center of the universe… …But other things preoccupied him as well. In 1497 his uncle had succeeded in obtaining his election as canon of Frauenberg Cathedral, one of the chapter of ecclesiastics who, … Continue reading

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beginning with the happy ending

The essence of comedy is the triumph of “la forza di natura,” nature over intellect. And the happies tale of all is the odyssey that ends with…Laughter in the house… …Homer’s Iliad concludes with a funeral, the initial event in … Continue reading

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“something sweet about life”

An argument in favor of reviving common sense…. Someone once mentioned to Dr. Samuel Johnson a certain person who claimed to see no distinction between virtue and vice. To which Johnson replied: “If he does really think that there is … Continue reading

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magneto and titanium men

Now Alexander was in Corinth to take command of the League of Greek States which after conquering them, his father Philip had created as a disguise for the New Macedonian Order. He was welcomed and honored and flattered. He was … Continue reading

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diogenes: a dog’s life

Diogenes. And so he lived. Like a dog some said, because he cared nothing for privacy and other human conventions, and because he showed his teeth and barked at those whom he disliked. Now he was lying in the sunlight, … Continue reading

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between empathy and illusion

…Brecht began to contrive an elaborate complex of stage techniques to produce the celebrated alienation effect, which was designed to stir audiences without exhausting them. He employed many varieties of the play within a play convention to keep the narration … Continue reading

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common non-sensical: count your spoons

Common sense is usually said to be sturdy, but in fact it has been faring badly ever since the scientific revolution began. It is plain, common sense declared in those days, that the sun revolves around the earth. Wrong said … Continue reading

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desert getaway

The Thebaid, a fourteenth-century painting attributed to Gherardo Starnina depicts the Egyptian desert around Thebes as teeming with anchorites. The body of Saint Paul, the first Christian hermit and a contemporary of Saint Anthony , is shown in repose at … Continue reading

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the un-hero: theme & subject

It was a “monstrous plan.” The birth of the confessional form of writing.  It was to essay something quite new: It was to look into the heart and write with, as it were, his life’s blood. A shared carnival of … Continue reading

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king for a day: take a pass on the cake

All the king’s men and women. Indeterminancy and inevitability, fortuity and fate.Sacred geometry and secret recipes. The chance of being king. Or is it chance? The chance of being king is charged with multiple and contradictory associations among of which … Continue reading

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