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Scientific Hubris: Why Science Can’t Answer All the Big Questions

Big Think has printed another of a class of essays written by scientists, common these days, announcing in triumphant tones all the things that science can do outside its particular and limited domain. Almost without exception, these essays, which implicitly aspire to philosophical eloquence, fly too close to the sun. The only difference being that, while Icarus …

By Martin Cothran October 8, 2018 Classical Education No Comments

Plant Blindness: Why Scientists Who Know Nature Are Becoming an Endangered Species

“The U.S. is running short of people who can tell the forest from the trees.” So says a recent Wall Street Journal article that is at least partly indicative of the fate of science education in the U.S. in recent years. It tells of the growing problem of “plant blindness,” the term used among botanists …

By Martin Cothran September 5, 2018 Science No Comments

3 Classical Terms

I have given many speeches and written many articles on the subject of what classical education is. One of the things I have realized in doing so is that, among the many impediments to understanding what classical education is, there is the simple problem of the lack of clarity in the words we use to …

By Martin Cothran July 18, 2018 Classical Education, Late Summer 2018 1 Comment

The Lord of the Rings and the Five Dimensions of a Story

Every story, long or short, has five dimensions. They are usually called its 1) plot, 2) characters, 3) setting, 4) style, and 5) theme. We could call them respectively, the story’s 1) work, 2) workers, 3) world, 4) words, and 5) wisdom. “Philosophy” means “the love of wisdom.” So a story’s philosophy is one of …

By Peter Kreeft July 18, 2018 Late Summer 2018, Literature No Comments

There is a Special Providence

“The time is out of joint,” utters Prince Hamlet to his close friend Horatio after encountering the Ghost of his recently deceased father, King Hamlet, on the battlements of Elsinore. Hailing from a purgatorial realm, the Majesty of Buried Denmark has come to inform Hamlet of the true nature of his death—that he was murdered …

By David M. Wright July 18, 2018 Late Summer 2018, Literature No Comments

The Easiest Way to Strengthen Your Child

The highest end of true education is capable, compassionate service to others. When our children struggle with learning, or face challenges such as medical conditions, we can devote extraordinary amounts of time and effort to help them. We cancel plans and sacrifice money so they can receive therapies and see specialists. We change diets, find …

By Cheryl Swope July 18, 2018 Late Summer 2018, Special Needs No Comments

The Before Exercises: Composition as Training in Virtue

“O my people, hear my teaching, listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from old—what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us.” Psalm 78: 1-2 The aim and objective of classical education is to instill in students wisdom …

By Abigail Johnson July 18, 2018 Classical Education No Comments

Science’s Useful Fallacy

The expression “the science is settled” has been invoked as a way to end numerous discussions of scientific importance. On issues involving evolution, dietary science, or exercise physiology, it is not uncommon for one side to claim that the research has settled the issue. But, however much evidence there may be for any particular scientific …

By Martin Cothran July 17, 2018 Classical Education No Comments

The Language That Rose from the Dead

“A language must die to be immortal.” When it comes to expressing the eternal and immutable truths of the Christian faith, the only good language is a dead language. Chesterton once made a disarming retort to the customary detraction of Latin as a dead language. He simply remarked that to say this is not a detraction …

By Father Scott Randall Paine July 16, 2018 Latin No Comments

Letter from the Editor: Late Summer 2018

I was talking with a homeschool mother recently and she told me that she had visited Britain. She was particularly impressed with Hadrian’s Wall, which was built during the Roman occupation of the island. Hadrian’s Wall is made of stone and runs some 84 miles, from Wallsend on the River Tyne to Bowness-on-Solway in the …

By Martin Cothran July 16, 2018 Late Summer 2018, Letter from the Editor No Comments