This talk today is about the late Roman, early medieval statesman, philosopher and scholar Boethius, and more particularly about his last work, a slim volume of prose and poetry called The Consolation of Philosophy that he wrote in 523 AD. I should say at the outset that I have absolutely no warrant for giving this… Continue reading Boethius & The Consolation of Philosophy
A Social History of Truth
Talk given at Sunday Seminar, United Methodist Church, Denver CO, 26 Sep 2021 I have two things I’d like to talk about today. The main one is a book by historian and sociologist Steven Shapin called A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England [Bookshop.org, WorldCat]. It looks at the early history… Continue reading A Social History of Truth
Inauguration Day!
Yesterday was the official transfer of power from the outgoing Tsai Ing-wen government to the incoming Lai Ching-te government. Last week there were daily flyovers by military helicopters and fighter jets in formation, practicing for Monday’s ceremonies, I think. Here are some videos from the balcony of our apartment: And yesterday it finally happened–the interval… Continue reading Inauguration Day!
The Digestive Biscuit, My Madeleine
In the Carrefour the other day, shopping for groceries, I spied some Digestive biscuits and felt an obscure kind of joy that immediately brought to mind Marcel Proust’s rumination about the madeleine. I’m no Proust, so if you want to read something extraordinary, please click away from this post and read this instead. I promise it is… Continue reading The Digestive Biscuit, My Madeleine
On Catching the Aftershocks
Sorry I haven’t posted in a while! I’ve been working intensively on the book manuscript lately and that’s absorbed most of my writing time and energy. Here’s a post I’ve had lingering in my file but hadn’t quite finished… As I wrote earlier, S and I missed the big earthquake that hit Taiwan on April 3. When… Continue reading On Catching the Aftershocks