Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Aphorisms and Observations

  • Marital Fidelity and Masturbation

    He who marries himself and intends to remain faithful to his partner has only one form of sexual expression open to him, namely, masturbation.

  • First in the Mind

    The concupiscence of the flesh is first in the mind.

  • Agenda Fetishism

    You know you're list-obsessive when, having completed a task, you add an entry to your 'to do' list just so you can cross it off. ………………… Agenda is the plural of agendum, something to be done. The infinitive form of the corresponding verb is agere, to do. Age quod agis is a well-known saying which…

  • Political ‘Circularity’

    Democrats know how to circle the wagons, stand together, and refrain from attacking their own. Republicans seem to prefer the circular firing squad.  And the Libertarians? Theirs is the self-indulgent circle jerk of those who will never have power.  

  • Commentary

    At root, commentary is a minding-with, a co-mentation.  It is an attempt to enter into an author's thinking and think along, sympathetically yet critically.  The good commentator is companion before critic, but critic too.  A com-pan-ion, at root, is one with whom one breaks bread.  The companionable commentator thus shares with the author the bread…

  • Young to the Young

    Ancient and tired, this world is yet young to the young. With each generation the process of disillusionment starts over again.

  • A Conservative Disadvantage

    Our appreciation that the political is a limited sphere has left us at a disadvantage over against leftists for whom the political is the only sphere. 

  • A Passion for Philosophy

    If your passion for philosophy serves personal ambition, then your passion is in need of purification. 

  • Our Three-Party System

    The Democrats, the Republicans, and Trump.

  • Obscure and Grateful

    We who are obscure ought to be grateful for it.  It is wonderful to be able to walk down the street and be taken for an ordinary schlep.  A little recognition from a few high-quality individuals is all one needs.  Fame can be a curse.    The unhinged Mark David Chapman, animated by Holden Caulfield's animus against…

  • A Funny World

    It's a funny world in which Donald J. Trump does more to save Christians and Christianity than the current Pope. I suppose you could say that the Lord works in mysterious ways.

  • Anything

    People will say anything, which is why one should not let oneself become upset over (almost) anything anyone says. Do you know the word bushwa? We ought to raise it from its desuetude.

  • Seduction and Rebuff

    This world seduces us with its goods, but then rebuffs us with its evils, as if to say, I am good and beautiful but only because of my source in Goodness and Beauty. So love me, not for myself, idolatrously, but for what I make manifest.  

  • Top Dog

    Being crown of creation, man's wolf is man himself. …………… Is the above sentence grammatical? If it isn't, then it shows that from time to time grammaticality is justifiably sacrificed on the altar of aphoristic elegance.   Related articles Peter Kreeft on the Gender-Neutral Use of 'He'

  • Of Veils and Visibility

    I glance for a brief moment at a trio of women, two facially unveiled, the third thinly veiled. The face of the veiled one attracts my attention. The visibility of her face is helped, not hindered, by its being veiled. I generalize: it is not always and everywhere the case that veils are impediments to…