Other articles


  1. Platonic Poltinus

    Next up on the list is a brutal seven-volume slog through Plotinus' six Enneads. Plotinus was a 3rd-century AD Greek-speaking Neoplatonist philosopher. He also marks the end of the pre-Christian philosophers in the Great Books list. In many ways, his school of philosophy and his place in time allow him …

    read more
  2. The ABCs of Stoicism

    While it's not technically on the GBWW list, Seneca's Letters fits right in with Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. Seneca is a hard man to describe. He was a first century moral philosopher, a playwright, and a billionaire (by Roman standards). He had dealings, good and bad, with multiple Roman emperors …

    read more
  3. That Other Western Civilization

    Backtracking a little after Meditations, I bit the bullet and read Lucretius' De Rerum Natura.This title is and can be translated a number of different ways, owing to the broadness of the Latin word res. The most literal translation would probably be "About the nature of things". However, in …

    read more
  4. Our Empire, Ourselves

    Well, for various reasons, I have been reading a lot of other stuff not on the list. I took a stab at Lucretius in Latin but it was a slog. I will attempt it with a better edition and better self-preparation. Aquinas is also still waiting for me to forget …

    read more

social