Plato

The "Wisdom" of Pearson's Pineapple Passage

Alan Singer | Posted 05.10.2012

Alan Singer

If Pearson and Merryl Tisch were teachers being evaluated based on lesson of the pineapple, hare, and owl, they would both be rated "Unsatisfactory."

The #Occupy Coloring Book

Posted 01.07.2012

How are we to comprehend a movement with no single leader, a wide range of demands and 2,464 Occupy "communities" in different cities and towns across...

Vetoing Democracy: In Athens or Washington, Elites Still Call the Shots

Richard (RJ) Eskow | Posted 01.04.2012

Richard (RJ) Eskow

Plato's aversion to democracy is shared by a lot of powerful people these days. But politicians, especially those whose party derives its name from the democratic principle, would be better off remembering another Greek philosopher: Aristotle.

Does Harvard Want Bold Thinkers or Good Little Boys and Girls?

Greg Lukianoff | Posted 11.07.2011

Greg Lukianoff

Harvard has missed something that I fear much of our society has lost sight of: Even if by some weird and lucky coincidence we happened to be right about every belief we cherish, we nevertheless tend not to understand why we hold those values until they are challenged.

Interview With a Philosopher: Lou Marinoff -- Part Two

Tom Morris | Posted 09.21.2011

Tom Morris

In a free and open society, such as ours, citizens are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Unfortunately, that leaves room for a lot of future criminals and blossoming psychopaths to cross the line without prior intervention or restraint.

Interview With a Philosopher: Lou Marinoff -- Part One

Tom Morris | Posted 09.19.2011

Tom Morris

As Plato and Aristotle knew, many of the world's problems are caused or fueled by doxa, half-baked opinions and false beliefs that, for one reason or another, have remained unexamined.

Dominique Strauss Kahn, the Missing Cell Phone, Women and the Timing

Vivian Norris | Posted 08.30.2011

Vivian Norris

Dominique Strauss-Kahn's Achilles' heel is sex, he said so himself. And it is not by chance that the financial Achilles' heel in Europe is also the cultural birthplace of much of what the West stands for: Greece.

The New Center Of Nation's Population

AP/The Huffington Post | Posted 05.25.2011

WASHINGTON -- Hispanics accounted for more than half of the U.S. population increase over the last decade, exceeding estimates in most states as they ...

Better Book Titles For Greek Classics: What 'The Odyssey' SHOULD Have Been Titled

Dan Wilbur | Posted 05.25.2011

Dan Wilbur

Whether you dabbled in Euripides during college, or spend hours each day reciting Homer in the original Greek, these new titles will trim the fat and reveal whole stories in a single image!

The Need to Build a New Model

Kingsley Dennis, Ph.D. | Posted 05.25.2011

Kingsley Dennis, Ph.D.

Humanity is now at a critical crossroads. Another energetic spurt is required for us not to enter a post-industrial period of decline -- much like what occurred after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Music and Joy

Tom Morris | Posted 11.17.2011

Tom Morris

What lifts you up during difficult times? Is there something in your life that can reliably center you? And even more, do you have anything readily av...

Reading In Public

The Huffington Post | Posted 05.25.2011

It's been too long since we've shared with you the pulse of the people. It's a little segment we like to call Reading In Public! Here's how it works:...

Axing Art$ And Humanitie$

Iris Erlingsdottir | Posted 05.25.2011

Iris Erlingsdottir

"My most heartfelt wish is to be allowed to read Nordic studies at the university, because it is my unwavering belief that doing so will cultivate my ...

Reading Plato With Columbia Students

Megan Doherty | Posted 05.25.2011

Megan Doherty

I faced my first Core Curriculum class at Columbia last week armed with the names of my 20 students and a heavily annotated copy of Plato's Republic.

Plato Message UNCODED: British Scholar Claims To Have Unlocked Code

aolnews.com | Posted 05.25.2011

LONDON (June 30) -- A scholar unlocks a code buried within ancient Greek texts to discover secret messages left by a long-dead philosopher. This isn't...

Our Blackberries, I-Phones, Droids And Souls

Tom Morris | Posted 11.17.2011

Tom Morris

Is that screen and keyboard often in your hand the greatest personal and professional tool ever, or is it the devil's device, insidiously sucking the time out of your life and the life out of your soul?

"WORK OF ART" RECAP: Plato, Private Sexual Acts, and Terence Koh

ARTINFO | Posted 05.25.2011

ARTINFO

This week, the judges of Bravo's Work of Art: The Next Great Artist tried to prove that opposites attract, by having the remaining members of the weary gang pair up.

Kids in Deep Conversation

Tom Morris | Posted 11.17.2011

Tom Morris

The New York Times recently reported on a school where 8 year olds are being taught philosophy. That doesn't mean they're being grounded in the though...

An Academic Outpost of Heaven

Tom Morris | Posted 05.25.2011

Tom Morris

There's a particular alternate reality experience that I highly recommend. It happens to take place at an academic outpost of heaven. Forty five minu...

What is Philosophy? It's Not About Beards and Togas

Tom Morris | Posted 11.17.2011

Tom Morris

This week, The New York Times launched a new online commentary called "The Stone," where academic philosophers, professors at our colleges and univers...

Google Isn't (Necessarily) Making Us Stupid

Michael Sigman | Posted 05.25.2011

Michael Sigman

My own meditation practice -- which facilitates clarity and focus -- has benefited incalculably from Buddhist and other spiritual websites, blogs, lectures, readings, videos and guided meditations.

Plato's Bankrupt Republic

Neil K. Shenai | Posted 05.25.2011

Neil K. Shenai

The EU is doing what it does best, deliberating about a future course of action. They would be wise to heed some earlier lessons from the American financial crisis that became apparent with hindsight.

7 Books We Lost to History That Would Have Changed the World

cracked.com | Jacopo della Quercia | Posted 05.25.2011

The vast majority of the knowledge humans have assembled over the centuries, has been lost. The world's geniuses either kept their revelations to them...

Searching for the "Soul" of Government

Alex Pattakos | Posted 11.17.2011

Alex Pattakos

Our nation, as well as so many others around the globe, suffers not so much from a "crisis of competence" but a "crisis of spirit."

Abortion, Health Care and the Soul

Stephen Gyllenhaal | Posted 05.25.2011

Stephen Gyllenhaal

How many of us would give up much of anything in an attempt to save our souls? I mean this seriously -- really -- how much would we be willing to sacrifice?