Tagged: Homer

4

Ancient Vengeance

It is a main thrust of philosophical Liberalism (and of ancient Stoicism) that human beings have a duty to rise above not only animal but parochial and sectarian passions.  Any attempt to justify revenge must therefore represent a step back toward the jungle from which we escaped all too recently.

4

An Unreconstructed Summer Symposium

It was the Summer of 2008 when I first made my way up to Rockford, Illinois.  It was a slow, languorous summer drive, with plenty of preparatory reading to do, some often crammed in during the final segment of the voyage.  In many ways, this year was no different.  In other ways, the long tentacles of Covid-19 (and its handlers) couldn’t help but be felt by the attendees.  But perhaps the miracle is that we were able to meet at all, while most of the world huddled inside or behind masks, frightened by the government, media, and the new bands...