An Introduction to the Strategic Introduction

In the Ad Herrenium, the author explains how to come up with an opening (exordium) first. He tells us that an exordium is the first part of a speech and by it the mind of the listener is constituted to listen. How then do we achieve this end? Being ancient, he thinks in terms of [...]

Do Inalienable Rights Exist? Part 2

Aristotelian political theory posits that the role of government is to foster human flourishing. The concept of human flourishing depends on central aspects of Aristotelian metaphysics and ethics. Metaphysically, the decisive thing is the concept of form. Ethically, the decisive thing is virtue. Form may briefly be described as what makes a thing what it [...]

Your theory of writing

People of a more practical bent will sometimes suggest they don’t have a theory. Others argue that theory is a distraction or isn’t important. Those positions (each a caricature in itself) hold a view of theory that arises from a reaction to the overly academic approach we take to writing. The great temptation for any teacher or [...]

Aristotle, Rhetoric, and Freedom

I’ve been arguing for some time through this blog that we cannot be free people if we don’t master the arts of freedom, which were known historically as the liberal arts (not the modern evasion often called “general studies”). To Aristotle, freedom depended on people’s ability to communicate freely and effectively. So he wrote a [...]

The mark of an educated man

“It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits;” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Here is one of the most important principles of thought ever expressed and one that has been universally neglected in our day. We look for [...]

Literary Quiz

Answer below: Thanks to all who participated. The answer is Edgar Allen Poe, who “invented” the short-story in the late 19th century. There were stories that were short before then, but he saw into the heart and soul of the short-story and was able to explain it to others. Since then, it has become one [...]

Loving to learn while I teach

Aristotle began his Metaphysics with the claim that “All men by nature desire to know.” He proceeded to support his argument by pointing out that we keep our eyes open. Much of the time we do so because of the pleasure gained by perceiving what is around us. Schools were established on the notion that [...]