Tag Archives: Aristotle

Complex Pleasures

Posted on January 20, 2013 by

Talking last night with friends about ‘pleasure’, we recognised it’s a complex beast. One of our party admitted she was happy with her life but generally not happy as she lived it. How could this be? I listened again to … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Children, Life, Philosophy, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Relevant Complexity 5) Age

Posted on July 7, 2012 by

Talking to someone at work, she said she’d been surprised that a very experienced chap in his late 50s had come on a training course. We concluded that age shouldn’t matter in deciding who gets training. I know plenty of … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Ethics, Life, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Flights of Fancy

Posted on May 19, 2012 by

I found myself in a back room at the British Museum this week, looking at pen and ink drawings. I took a couple of photos of simple but stunning sketches by Picasso and Rembrandt. As a child, I remember being … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Art | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Art and Artists

Posted on April 11, 2012 by

I’ve started E.H. Gombrich’s ‘The Story of Art’ which was recommended by one friend and came up in conversation with another today. Gombrich says there is really no ‘Art’, only artists and what they create. A lot of what what … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Art, Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lost in Translation

Posted on March 18, 2012 by

As I read and write more, I come to enjoy the turns of phrase of past times. I’m not arguing for Chaucer in the original – life’s too short. But the thundering prose of the King James Bible or a … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Art, Life, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Barge Hauler

Posted on February 11, 2012 by

Work, Think, Eat, Drink, Wake, Walk, Type, Talk, Work, Work, Work. As Aristotle once said: “all paid work absorbs and degrades the mind.” I have been working my n#ts off this week – heavy lifting from start to end – … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Life, Odysseus, Poetry, Work | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Relevant Complexity 2) Hobbies

Posted on January 21, 2012 by

Until last year I absolutely didn’t get ‘hobbies’. Now I am persuaded hobbies maketh the man. The big mistake in life, I reckon – observing overwork, depression and recession hitting even the most high powered of my friends – is … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Life, Work | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Note to Self

Posted on December 17, 2011 by

I came upon a terse description of ‘identity’ this week in a longer piece by neuroscientist Terrence W. Deacon of USC Berkeley: An intrinsic tendency to maintain a distinctive integrity against the ravages of increasing entropy as well as disturbances … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Death, Life, Psychology, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Digital Art

Posted on November 20, 2011 by

As I’ve written before, the job of the poet is to say something transcendent and universal about the human condition – in no fewer or more words than are needed. It’s the liberating, inclusive and motivating definition of poetry from … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Art, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Of Angels

Posted on November 5, 2011 by

Smarting from the accusation I seldom read the source, I’m wading through Aquinas at present. Corblimey he’s obsessed with some things well beyond my interest. But that’s because I’m reading him for his ethics, and he’s writing a science book … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Death, Ethics, Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment