Category Archives: education

The First Reason Why Philosophy Is The Best And Noblest Music

Posted on April 7, 2013 by marklangley

The first reason why philosophy is the best and noblest music is taken from what music shares with all the fine arts but has in a preeminent degree. All the fine arts are works of reason. (I prefer to say that … Continue reading →

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“The noblest and best music”

Posted on April 6, 2013 by marklangley

In light of the prior post we really can’t avoid asking the question “for what reasons did Socrates say that philosophy is the noblest and best of music?” As readers of the Phaedo are aware Socrates was alluding to the … Continue reading →

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The Hidden Harmony Is Better Than The Apparent Harmony.

Posted on April 4, 2013 by marklangley

One of Plato’s teachers was Cratylus who in turn was a disciple of Heraclitus who was the author of the title of this post: “The hidden harmony is better than the apparent harmony.” Not surprisingly the central character in Plato’s … Continue reading →

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Finisque ab Origine Pendet

Posted on March 12, 2013 by marklangley

Incidentally, I haven’t read much of the Roman poet Manlius who “flourished” in the first century AD. But his famous line “Finisque ab origine pendet” from the fourth book of his Astronomicon appears to have been adopted by Phillips Exeter Academy as … Continue reading →

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Anaxagoras on Liberal Education

Posted on March 10, 2013 by marklangley

“Other things have a part of everything, but mind is unlimited and self-ruling and is mixed with nothing, but is itself alone by itself….” Anaxagoras, the great pre-Socratic philosopher who, Aristotle says, was like a sober man among drunkards was the … Continue reading →

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Thou Shalt Pursue a Liberal Education

Posted on February 28, 2013 by marklangley

Where did the Lord command man to pursue a liberal education? Or maybe we might ask, what commandment do people break when they refuse to pursue a liberal education? “That’s ridiculous!” you say, “everyone is free to choose the kind of … Continue reading →

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Wisdom is Liberal

Posted on December 30, 2012 by marklangley

Well I hate to say it, but the second (or third) characteristic of wisdom is that it is liberal. But of course we don’t mean ‘liberal’ as in ‘Teddy Kennedy liberal.’ We mean liberal as opposed to servile or what … Continue reading →

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A Case for Classical Education

Posted on September 8, 2012 by marklangley

Here is a great little article in First Things about the plight of Catholic diocesan schools in America, and how independent Catholic schools which focus on providing a classical Catholic education are providing the viable path for Catholic education. The … Continue reading →

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The Curse of Liberal Education… Continued

Posted on August 18, 2012 by marklangley

As much as I have always loved liberal education, even I will admit that it does have a fairly obvious downside. I call this downside “the curse of liberal education.” What is this curse? Quite simply, liberal education arouses the … Continue reading →

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Intellectual Virtues

Posted on August 3, 2012 by marklangley

  It is in knowledge as it is in swimming, – he who ostentatiously sports and flounders on the surface makes more noise and splashing, and attracts more attention than the industrious pearl diver, who plunges in search of treasures … Continue reading →

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