Oliver Sacks — Imitation is the Source of Originality
Impressive people report how much insight they have found in the works of neurologist Oliver Sacks, as in this article on BrainPickings.org: Sontag’s experience, Sacks argues, reflects the common pattern in the natural cycle of creative evolution — we learn...
Basing Thought on Common Sense
A good, clear explanation of the meaning of common sense, one which stands up to scientific reductions and provides the foundation for bringing science into the service of wisdom. But perhaps someone playing devil’s advocate would preempt us and say: You...
In Education, The End Depends On The Beginning.
Well said, Lion and Ox: ‘But rather than fit man from the very beginning to be useful to himself and to others- (which at first glance appears like a very laudable goal!) genuine Catholic education seeks to dispose each person to be a fitting vessel for Divine...
The Loss of Moral Language
Tsze-lu said, “The ruler of Wei has been waiting for you, in order with you to administer the government. What will you consider the first thing to be done? “The Master replied, “What is necessary is to rectify names.” (Analects of Confucius) At the beginning of his...
Moral Education with “The Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” still stands as one of the most persuasive pieces for the cause of desegregation. Its rhetoric still has power today, with memorable phrases like “justice too long delayed is justice denied” and “Human progress...
Two Ways of Staging the Marriage of Figaro
‘As I once wrote, “Mozart’s (and Da Ponte’s) Così fan tutte and Le Nozze di Figaro sparkle with comic brilliance on the surface, but under the surface is a deep sadness, and an unbearable pain.”’ Worth reading: Two Ways of Staging the Marriage of Figaro...