Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius was born in AD 121, died 180. He was Roman Emperor from 161-180. His main interest was Stoic philosophy. James Moore and Michael Silverthorne in their edition of…
Applicants Summer Programme
During the spring of 2020 and in response to coronavirus restrictions we created the the Applicants Summer Programme. While unable to meet prospective students face-to-face for our Experience Days, the programme offered us a way of giving you a sense of the course content and experience. The programme really worked, so this year we will be rereleasing it over the summer weeks and months.
The programme introduces you to some of the people and ideas that underpin our Liberal Arts Degrees. While we don’t cover specific content of the degree we draw on its themes to produce bespoke pieces that we think will speak particularly to applicants.
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Take a look at last year’s Experience Day Brochure here. And if you can’t wait for the first piece from the programme, this reading list offers a good introduction to some of the themes and ideas we’ll encounter.
Summer Reading
The approach to learning in modern Liberal Arts holds that all students can succeed beyond their own expectations. In our integrated curriculum no text is off-limits as being too difficult. If it has been written, then with the help of good teaching students can read it and understand it. The motivation to read such texts comes from the questions that students bring to them. Students ask their questions about the world, and then ask a multitude of writers and thinkers to reveal their answers. Students should not learn passively. Rather, they actively challenge the writers to answer their questions. In return, students think about those answers, discuss them with others and new questions arise which are then taken back to the writers. Learning is just this; a conversation between what one understands, what one does not understand, and the people who might be able to help. And if there are always more questions… this is to lead a life committed to learning.
The Plague by Albert Camus
Translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert Albert Camus’ La Peste or The Plague, written in 1947 is a fictional account of the sudden arrival and spread of bubonic plague…
Stride toward freedom
Liberal Arts has a long history in the USA. In recent years it has been exercising self-critique on the colour of its canonical literature, and some of the prevailing values…
Buddhism Contra-Philosophy?
As Dominique Side puts it, perhaps one of the ‘most striking things about Buddhism is the way that the Buddha began teaching by talking about everyday reality rather than the…
What is Life?
Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) was an American biologist and writer who is mostly known for developing the theory of “endosymbiosis” in the 1970s, which had a great impact on our understanding…
Philosophy and the Liberal Arts
Philosophy and the Liberal Arts is the title of a page from a book called the Hortus deliciarum (Garden of delights). It was written by a remarkable woman known as…
Baudelaire and The Philosophy of Toys
Can you remember what it was like to play as a child? Perhaps you had a favourite doll, toy car or set of figures that were ever present companions on…
Seneca On the Shortness of Life
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – AD 65) was a Roman Stoic philosopher and stateman. As with Marcus Aurelius, Seneca saw Stoicism as a philosophy that would help one cope…
Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, first published 50 years ago, is a classic of African American literature. Exploring the consequences of pervasive racism in 1940’s America, it is a profound,…