The comic genius of Aristophanes, in which “Socrates” the sacrilegious philosopher explains to the not-too-bright Strepsiades where rain and thunder come from. Potty humor ensues. Socrates: That is because these are the only goddesses; all the rest are pure myth. Strepsiades: But by the Earth! is our father, Zeus, the Olympian, not a god? Socrates: Zeus! […]
The Clouds and “Socrates” Read More »
“Clearness and vividness in writing often turn on mere specificity. To say that Major André was hanged is clear and definite; to say that he as killed is less definite, because you do not know in what way he was killed; to say that he died is still more indefinite because you do not even
Blanshard on the writing styles of Kant, Hegel, and others Read More »
[Re-pinning for this season’s festivities.] We all know the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge. Or do we? Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol has generated an astonishing variety of interpretations, and as with most rich tales the interpretations often tell us as much about the interpreter as the original story. The legend of Robin Hood is a
Ebenezer Scrooge as Aristotelian Hero Read More »
“But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt, And by thir vices brought to servitude, Then to love Bondage more then Liberty, Bondage with ease then strenuous liberty”. John Milton, Samson Agonistes (1671), lines 268-71
“But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt … Read More »
“Weary of liberty, he suffered himself to be saddled and bridled, and was ridden to death for his pains.” Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther.
The Fable of the Horse Read More »
Rounds one and two, I hope, of a good discussion of Rand’s philosophical fiction. Sarah Skwire: “Ayn Rand, John Steinbeck, and Fiction with a ‘Message’: The Problems with Didactic Fiction.” Onkar Ghate: “Is Ayn Rand a Writer of Didactic Fiction?” One interesting sub-issue to me arises from the fact that many readers do experience Rand’s
Skwire versus Ghate on Rand’s fiction Read More »
[Re-pinning for this season’s festivities.] We all know the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge. Or do we? Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol has generated an astonishing variety of interpretations, and as with most rich tales the interpretations often tell us as much about the interpreter as the original story. The legend of Robin Hood is a
Will the real Scrooge please stand up? Read More »
How I Write by Bertrand Russell I cannot pretend to know how writing ought to be done, or what a wise critic would advise me to do with a view to improving my own writing. The most that I can do is to relate some things about my own attempts. Until I was twenty-one, I
Bertrand Russell’s “How I Write” — text Read More »