Sublime

The best way to judge a program is to look at the person directing it. I once taught briefly at the University of California at Irvine, a small program that was run at the time by the wonderful writer Geoffrey Wolff. He controlled everything magnificently. He did a meticulous job choosing both the faculty and the students, oversaw a financial aid p

In his book Philosophy For Life, Jules Evans sets out four steps of the Socratic tradition: that is, the type of enquiry that grew from the time of Socrates, the first philosopher to bring the field away from early metaphysical discussions and take it to the people. Socrates was also the first to offer the advice ‘know thyself’, and said that the c

What Murdoch took from this “admirable Platonist” was the conviction that seeing well is tantamount to doing well. Discerning the Good—the way the world truly is—whittles down our range of choices to just one.

“I’ve been taking all these philosophy courses, and we talk about what’s true, what’s important, what’s good. Well, how do you teach people to be good?” And, she added, “What’s the point of knowing good if you don’t keep trying to become a good person?”

La technique apprise à l'École normale supérieure pour disserter brillamment sur tout, rien et n'importe quoi, en éblouissant l'auditeur toujours assimilé à un examinateur du jury d'agrégation, a fourvoyé la philosophie que Camus aborde dans une autre configuration : celle du salut individuel et personnel via Jean Grenier, son professeur au lycée.

a boy of genius must also be educated by an educator of genius.