Humpty Dumpty on the “Liberal” Arts
The “liberal arts” have come to mean the arts that turn students into liberals.
Author: Thomas Fleming
The Politics of Human Nature: Thirty Years Later
Thomas Fleming begins a podcast series in which the main themes of his first book are explored in a more conversational tone. In this 29 minute podcast he and Rex take up the origin of the book and the great fallacy that underlies almost all modern isms and ologies.
Paleoconservatism, Part Six: Three Cheers for Free Markets, Zero for Capitalism
The family is not the only natural social institution that is being undermined by the modern state. Men are by nature competitive, and they created war and games, politics and the marketplace, to satisfy their need to contend for status, wealth and power. One of leftism’s greatest successes has been to adopt the social language of Christianity and to transfer it from enclosed households (which are naturally communal and socialist) to the open fields where men do battle with each other. This is a point I made briefly in The Morality of Everyday Life and which has been expanded...
Political Realism: A Greek Primer
My second law of presidential elections is that the best liar wins (usually). This law goes a long way toward explaining why it took so long for the result of the 2000 election to be declared: Both parties were working round the clock, not only in the lower courts but also in the ultimate TV court of appeal, to spin flax into flannel. In this never-ending period of what everyone seems to be calling a political crisis, no one is willing to talk about the underlying problems which have nothing to do with the electoral college or voting machines but with the basic legitimacy–or rather the lack thereof–of the American regime.
Learning to Appreciate Poetry: A Simple Ode of Horace
I have, as promised, added two sections, the first on the metrical shape of the lines with some small effort to show a parallel effect in English, and, second, on the tightness of syntax and word order that makes the first stanza one complete thought expressed in a complete sentence–something we simply cannot do, at least not very well, in English.
Learn Latin (or Greek) With the Autodidact!
Mr. Autodidact has been missing in action for some time. We celebrate his triumphant return by announcing our plan for two weekly programs on Latin, corresponding roughly to the first and second years of a college Latin course. As many of our readers know, I did a Latin I course on CD’s plus study guide years ago. Back then, we kept the lessons short and Spartan, because of production and shipping costs. This meant that I had to leave out a fair amount of explanation. In addition, because of our very limited technology, the recorded material had to be dry–we...
Poem: “An Interlude” by Charles Algernon Swinburne
This is a poem I loved in the days I regarded myself as a cynical roué and was only a very foolish romantic.
New in the Forum
At last we can agree with Alec Baldwin on something. He recently tweeted: “I don’t think anyone involved in the college fraud cases should go to prison. That includes past cases as well. Community service, fines, yes. But prison time, no. My heart goes out to Felicity, Bill Macy and their family,’ the actor said in a tweet Wednesday.”…………….
Where’s Anterus Smith?
This is not the title of a new game to replace “Where’s Waldo?” but a chance to interrogate Chad Rayson, the August Derleth of the Iron Range. TFF: So, Chad, what happened to Anterus Smith or by whatever name he wishes to be called? CR: So what is this? You’re Aeschylus writing an ode to Zeus? You want to know what the trouble with you classicists is? TFF; Not especially, in fact, definitely no. CR: I’ll tell you anyway. You’re so tied up in some other word, going in quest of Ulysses or sailing with Jason and the...
