Monthly Archives: March 2007

The Presidency, Incentives, and Offices

The modern separation of powers did not exist in the Aristotlean schema of government: instead of conceiving of specific institutions that form the government which are certain concepts instantiate – i.e. popular rule (Congress), Constitutional form (judiciary), effective execution (Presidency), Aristotle thought that all citizens should share in working through the everyday problems of law

In Dallas

Just wanted to let you know that yes, my hand still hurts, and yes, things are crazy over at my house over the accident – I should just say that someone’s refusal to accept responsibility when they don’t have the capability of doing something almost killed them, my Mom, and I. But things are good

Car Accident

It is 4:53 am. We got into a car accident on the way to the airport. Everyone is fine, except me – a minor injury, hand is jammed. Not fun before exams. powered by performancing firefox

Alright, Kids – I’m Out of Here

I’ve packed a ton of books to go with me to Texas, and goodness gracious do I not feel prepared. At the same time, I really do wonder what they could ask me that wouldn’t destroy other students. That’s not to brag – I live, breathe, eat, sleep this stuff. The fact that there are

Fun with Getting Last Minute Work Together

I’m scrambling to get as much of Plato’s short dialogue the “Ion” translated before I head back to Texas. I really don’t want to be messing with the Greek too much this next week – I want to be reading and making notes and writing, not scrambling for a computer to use Perseus. If I’m

On Reason, Populism and History

My observations begin with these thoughts by Michael Crichton. His brief history of eugenics is what I want to focus on: he argues that the concepts it used were too vague, supplied by populist notions of what-had-to-be-the-case. From there, the scientists fell in line: populism affects the media, affects the government, and thus affects the

And Next Week…

…I’ll be in Dallas. No one will be on campus, although the library will be open. I’m not quite sure where I’m staying at though, or even how I’ll eat. There are times I really, really hate my life. Right now, doing Greek is a distraction that is welcome. That’s pretty sad. powered by performancing

"Aside," Weakerthans

Aside Weakerthans (song available from theweakerthans.org) Measure me in metered lines, in one decisive stare, the time it takes to get from here to there. My ribs that show through t-shirts and these shoes I got for free; I’m unconsoled I’m lonely I am so much better than I used to be. Terrified of telephones

The Age of Hype

Caught in that sensual music all neglectMonuments of unaging intellect.- Yeats And I could say “every age was an age of hype,” for I could identify the passion of the many as the driving force of history – the sort of analysis, which occurs fairly often today, that pinpoints the widespread use of an invention

On Polemarchus: Commentary on the Republic of Plato, 331d-336a (part 4)

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 Notes on 332d-333c Socrates’ questions about medicine and cooking – where each art gives “benefits” that are both “owed and fitting” – lead Polemarchus to assert, perhaps more exuberantly than he did before, that justice must be an art which gives “benefits and harms