Tag: Aristotle
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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September 29, 2023
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s blog.
In an effort to understand Aristotle’s use of the term “Discovery,” I will try to update some of his examples which are now obscure, difficult to track down, and sometimes missing entirely. Discovery is a vital plot element according to Aristotle, but without examples his ideas may be less impactful. Furthermore, discovery can apparently be used with more or less effectiveness,
September 22, 2023
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
For me, Aristotle’s Poetics is less about advice for the writer than it is about defining structures. By that, I mean that Aristotle wants us to understand how to produce good art that expresses an important aspect of human nature. He goes so far as to define individual letters as necessary grammatical units which sustain the larger infrastructure.
October 8, 2021
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
During the 90s, Seinfeld garnered a huge viewership. In an attempt to bring the classics to the present, our recent Quarterly Discussion drew connections between Seinfeld and Aristotle’s Poetics. We also tried to discover keys to the sitcom’s great appeal. Considering the characters’ petty, stubborn behavior, what exactly did viewers identify with?
October 1, 2021
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Aristotle’s Poetics begins with a separation of art forms, such as literature, music, dance, and theater. He calls these imitative forms and says, “the imitation is produced by rhythm, language, or ‘harmony,’ either singly or combined.” The idea of harmony intrigues me, especially with regards to written or dramatic work. In what way(s) might a play attain harmony?
October 13, 2017
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
“The vastness of heavens stretches my imagination… Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?” – Richard Feynman
In 1609, Johannes Kepler published a few surprising details.