Category: Syntopicon
We’re excited that you’ve joined the conversation! At HMU, we want to continue the great authors’ conversations in a contemporary context, and this blog will help us do that. We look back to Aristotle and the early philosophers who used reason and discourse to gain wisdom and now we endeavor to do the same every day.
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October 27, 2023 Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post. Viola Cordova was one of the first Native American women to earn a degree in philosophy. Born in 1937, she grew up in Taos, New Mexico. Embracing both her own past and her curiosity of the world, she discarded notions that philosophy should …
August 26, 2022 Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post. From Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek: “I wonder whether what I see and seem to understand about nature is merely one of the accidents of freedom, repeated by chance before my eyes, or whether it has any counterpart in the worlds beyond …
July 23, 2021 Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post. Harrison Middleton University’s July Quarterly Discussion revolved around ideas of justice. We focused on two pieces of literature, one excerpt from Thucydides and the other a letter written by Simón Bolívar. Both pieces introduce ideas of justice which deserve a second look in …
June 11, 2021 Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post. When looking through the Syntopicon under “F,” I find Family, Fate, and Form. Yet, the more I think about it, I want to find Forgiveness. Merriam-Webster defines “forgive” as: to cease to feel resentment against; to give up resentment or requital; to grant …
March 13, 2020 Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post. According to Virginia Woolf, reading is virtuous. The endeavor – performed well – enhances one’s being. It pleases her to see books on shelves in coffee houses, children’s rooms, and kitchens. In The Common Reader, Woolf celebrates the fact that reading, having evolved …
January 31, 2020 Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post. “Genome engineered plants and animals are happening right now. And this puts in front of all of us a huge responsibility to consider carefully both the unintended consequences as well as the intended impacts of a scientific breakthrough.” – Jennifer Duodna, TED Talk …
January 11, 2019 Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post. “Let’s listen with our eyes and not just our ears. That would be the ideal.” –Christine Sun Kim Early exposure to language seems to be the key in all languages. The key to what? Success in that language, or with language in general? …
January 4, 2019 Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post. Some members in my family celebrate New Year’s Eve with lutefisk or sauerkraut. Some people celebrate with both. I, however, draw the line at lutefisk. I just cannot stomach it. What seems to me to be a petty difference of taste really bothers …
October 5, 2018 Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post. Spoiler alert: if you are midway through The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, maybe you should bookmark this post because I am going to talk about her character development throughout the first season. If you are not yet familiar with this show, The Marvelous Mrs. …
July 27, 2018 Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post. Food is often thought of in terms of comfort, enjoyment, family gatherings, and parties. We have barbecues in summer and stews in winter. Messy finger foods accompany sporting events and polite finger foods accompany baby showers. These things are linked by their participation …
