Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
by Plato
translated by Seth Benardete
This is a very important dialogue. Socrates inquires into the notion of "knowledge". It is very interesting what he allows and disallows.
He offers a delighful argument against the Pythagorean notion that "Man is the measure of all things"
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Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
by Plato
translated by Albert K. Whitaker
I just don't have the mental stamina to handle this sort of thing. I remember this part of my freshman year, and I wasn't helping out much in class...
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Friday, December 14th, 2007
by Sophocles
Translated by David Grene
Definitely my favorite of Sophocles' plays... Probably because of the lack of suicide.
It was similar to Oedipus at Colonus.
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Tuesday, December 4th, 2007
by Sophocles
trans. David Grene
I have a real hard time empathizing with Antigone because I couldn't care less about what happens to the bodies of my loved ones. (Sorry guys, I hope you weren't depending on me to care about that.)
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Saturday, November 17th, 2007
by Sophocles
trans. David Greene
This is the second play in the trilogy, but the last play Sophocles wrote... (he wrote them: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus.)
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Friday, November 16th, 2007
aka: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus Tyrannus
by Sophocles, Translated by David Greene
I still say, you get a terrible prophesy that you believe, don't go halfway to avoid the fate:
Your son is going to kill you and marry your wife? Don't send him away to be killed, kill him.
You are going to ...
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Monday, November 12th, 2007
by Plato
about 1.5 years after starting, I'm through 1/8th (i.e. 1 semester) of my goal of re-reading all the books on the program at St. John's College. I don't actually know it is 1/8th though, because I'm reading the entire books instead of the selections from the program. Summa Theologia ...
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Friday, November 9th, 2007
by Thucydides (Landmark Edition)
I was tempted to read that edition that someone told me was a better translation, but I caved and went for the awesome maps. One of these days I'd like to make a "Landmark Edition" of a bunch of other books, like the Old Testament, Herodotus, just ...
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Thursday, June 7th, 2007
by Plato
I think Dante was influenced by Socrates' description of Tartarus. When Socrates talks about the people who live on the surface of the atmosphere and are to us as we are to someone living at the bottom of the ocean, that sounds a bit like the popular idea of ...
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Friday, May 11th, 2007
by Plato
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Tuesday, May 8th, 2007
by Plato
I would not be surprised to learn that Luther read the Apology. It seems to me that I can hear echoes of Socrates' defense in Luther's writing.
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Sunday, May 6th, 2007
by Plato
I thought this was on the reading list back when I was a freshman, but it wasn't on the list that I got when I set out on this journey. Oh well, I'll still count it :D
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Friday, April 27th, 2007
by Aristophanes
(translated by Alan H. Sommerstein)
This was a rather liberal translation. The play is pretty crappy (pun intended). It was interesting to see that the introduction referred to 4 themes: atheism, scientific inquiry and speculation, rhetoric, and the new morality. Those 4 themes seem to be what each new generation ...
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Tuesday, April 24th, 2007
by Plato
I'm glad that I took lots of notes as a freshman. It was fun seeing them again.
One theme that Socrates introduces in the Republic that is a little frustrating is his elevation of ideas above gods. And this isn't even really what is frustrating. It is when people ...
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Friday, March 2nd, 2007
by Herodotus
Finally made some progress on my "Read back through the SJC books" goal. Like Plutarch, I read the whole thing, not just the selections that we read for seminar. This one was easier to get through.
One thing I noticed the other day is that the Melians were the only ...
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Friday, October 20th, 2006
by Plutarch, translated by Dryden, edited and revised by Arthur Hugh Clough
Finally finished this beast... Not a book for reading when you are sleepy :D
On to Herodotus!
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Sunday, October 23rd, 2005
I just finished Gorgias. Towards the end, Socrates sounds very much like the people Luther was writing against (both Catholics and radical protestants) in his Lectures on Galatians that I just finished.
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Saturday, October 15th, 2005
I just finished the last extant play in the Orestia. It is a pretty interesting play. There is a referece to Mars Hill, which is also mentioned in Acts 17. Apparently it was named such because when the Amazons were mad at Thesesus they came to this spot (near Athens) ...
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Monday, September 5th, 2005
I just finished Libation Bearers by Aeschylus... the second play in the Orestia.
I found it strange that Clytemnestra had such quick avenging spirits while Agamemnon had to wait for Orestes to come back from exile...
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Thursday, September 1st, 2005
Just finished Agamemnon the first play of the Oresteia by Aeschylus. It is interesting how many times I was reminded of Biblical imagery in the play. Also it was interesting to see the contrast of this story to the one Agamemnon (and Homer) gave us in the Odyssey.
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