Humanities Notes Humanities Seminar Notes - this draft dated 24 May 2021 - more recent drafts will be found online Contents 1 2007 11 1.1 October . 11 1.1.1 Thucydides (2007-10-01 12:29) ........................ 11 1.1.2 Aristotle’s Politics (2007-10-16 14:36) ..................... 11 1.2 November . 12 1.2.1 Polybius (2007-11-03 09:23) .......................... 12 1.2.2 Cicero and Natural Rights (2007-11-05 14:30) . 12 1.2.3 Pliny and Trajan (2007-11-20 16:30) ...................... 12 1.2.4 Variety is the Spice of Life! (2007-11-21 14:27) . 12 1.2.5 Marcus - or Not (2007-11-25 06:18) ...................... 13 1.2.6 Semitic? (2007-11-26 20:29) .......................... 13 1.2.7 The Empire’s Last Chance (2007-11-26 20:45) . 14 1.3 December . 15 1.3.1 The Effect of the Crusades on European Civilization (2007-12-04 12:21) 15 1.3.2 The Plague (2007-12-04 14:25) ......................... 15 2 2008 17 2.1 January . 17 2.1.1 The Greatest Goth (2008-01-06 19:39) .................... 17 2.1.2 Just Justinian (2008-01-06 19:59) ........................ 17 2.2 February . 18 2.2.1 How Faith Contributes to Society (2008-02-05 09:46) . 18 2.3 March . 18 2.3.1 Adam Smith - Then and Now (2008-03-03 20:04) . 18 2.3.2 William Blake and the Doors (2008-03-27 08:50) . 19 2.3.3 It Must Be True - I Saw It On The History Channel! (2008-03-27 09:33) . 20 2.3.4 Isaac Newton and Jesus? (2008-03-28 11:14) . 21 2.3.5 Rousseau’s Civil Religion (2008-03-28 14:32) . 22 2.4 April . 22 2.4.1 Reacting to the Industrial Revolution (2008-04-03 20:13) . 22 2.4.2 Adam Smith and William Blake (2008-04-03 20:26) . 23 2.4.3 A Radical Interpretaion of Martin Luther (2008-04-14 11:06) . 23 2.4.4 Was Martin Luther Anti-Semitic? (2008-04-22 17:56) . 24 2.5 May . 25 2.5.1 An Example of How a Simple Question Becomes Complex (2008-05-30 10:45) ................................ 25 2.6 July . 26 2.6.1 What Type of Liberalism? (2008-07-06 20:40) . 26 2.6.2 The War Between Athens and Sparta (2008-07-31 16:40) . 27 ©2021 humanities-notes.blogspot.com 3 BlogBook CONTENTS 2.7 September ......................................... 28 2.7.1 Gin and Tonic with Lime (2008-09-04 13:38) . 28 2.7.2 What Was Hammurabi Thinking? (2008-09-18 13:35) . 28 2.8 October ........................................... 29 2.8.1 Which Darius? (2008-10-07 08:11) ....................... 29 2.8.2 Whom Can You Trust? (2008-10-13 12:32) . 30 2.9 November ......................................... 30 2.9.1 Tribal, But Not Simplistic (2008-11-04 07:55) . 30 2.9.2 Moses and Martin Luther King, Jr. (2008-11-04 08:02) . 31 2.9.3 We Were Really Good, Weren’t We? (2008-11-04 08:06) . 31 2.9.4 Moses vs. Hammurabi (2008-11-04 08:13) . 32 2.9.5 Like a Hot Potato! (2008-11-18 07:59) .................... 32 2.10December .......................................... 34 2.10.1 Muhammad the Raider (2008-12-04 14:01) . 34 2.10.2 The Battle of Badr (2008-12-04 14:46) .................... 34 2.10.3 The Net Effect of Government (2008-12-23 09:03) . 35 2.10.4 Too Simple (2008-12-23 09:31) ......................... 36 2.10.5 Did He, or Didn’t He? (2008-12-29 16:04) . 36 3 2009 39 3.1 January ........................................... 39 3.1.1 The Jewish Lutheran and the Atheistic Nazi (2009-01-02 09:27) . 39 3.1.2 CSI: Chaucer (2009-01-13 07:41) ........................ 40 3.1.3 An Outsider Looks at Westen Civilization (2009-01-20 09:57) . 40 3.1.4 What Puzzled Pliny (2009-01-22 11:26) .................... 44 3.1.5 The Invasion of Spain (2009-01-24 12:01) . 44 3.1.6 Population and Economy (2009-01-26 15:44) . 45 3.2 February .......................................... 46 3.2.1 Rousseau’s Religion (2009-02-07 19:38) ................... 46 3.2.2 No Hating Allowed! (2009-02-28 18:02) .................... 46 3.3 March ............................................ 47 3.3.1 The Complex Mr. Newton (2009-03-04 22:02) . 47 3.3.2 Father Copernicus, the Roman Catholic Priest (2009-03-11 12:03) . 48 3.3.3 Delacroix’s Paintings (2009-03-14 11:16) ................... 48 3.3.4 Islamic Armies Attack Italy (2009-03-23 07:55) . 49 3.3.5 Study That Language! (2009-03-26 09:29) . 50 3.4 April ............................................. 50 3.4.1 No Time for Shakespeare? (2009-04-21 07:27) . 50 3.5 May ............................................. 51 3.5.1 February 12, 1809 (2009-05-07 08:51) .................... 51 3.5.2 Crime and Punishment - and Nietzsche? (2009-05-07 09:09) . 51 3.5.3 J.M. Keynes and Your Wallet (2009-05-18 06:23) . 52 3.5.4 Economics, Religion, and Nationalism (2009-05-27 10:42) . 53 3.5.5 Random Reformation Thoughts (2009-05-27 16:27) . 53 3.6 July .............................................. 55 3.6.1 Do Historians Make Good Politicians? (2009-07-10 16:56) . 55 3.7 August ............................................ 56 3.7.1 Metternich Changes Things! (2009-08-14 16:41) . 56 3.7.2 The Revolutionary Mr. Burke (2009-08-15 18:55) . 57 3.7.3 Legitimacy and Balance (2009-08-15 19:25) . 59 4 ©2021 humanities-notes.blogspot.com CONTENTS BlogBook 3.7.4 Play-By-Play at the Congress (2009-08-16 06:07) . 61 3.8 September ......................................... 64 3.8.1 On Being Human (2009-09-12 12:10) ..................... 64 3.8.2 Dating Hammurabi? (2009-09-17 06:49) ................... 64 3.8.3 The BBC Discovers "Grim secrets of Pharaoh’s city" (2009-09-30 07:17) 65 3.9 October ........................................... 66 3.9.1 Will Obama Meet with the Dalai Lama? (2009-10-06 19:00) . 66 3.9.2 JFK Quotes Thucydides (2009-10-08 14:13) . 67 3.9.3 Politics and Human Nature (2009-10-16 07:47) . 67 3.10December .......................................... 68 3.10.1 Ancient Wisdom in Tomorrow’s Newspaper (2009-12-25 10:13) . 68 3.10.2 The Quick Trip from Freedom to Slavery (2009-12-25 10:35) . 69 3.10.3 The Hun and the Pope (2009-12-26 10:34) . 70 3.10.4 Diplomatic Complexities at Vienna (2009-12-27 09:26) . 73 4 2010 77 4.1 January ........................................... 77 4.1.1 Peace Corps Memories (2010-01-31 18:26) . 77 4.2 February .......................................... 77 4.2.1 Lessons from Haiti’s Earthquake (2010-02-02 15:01) . 77 4.2.2 Important Distinction (2010-02-18 12:32) . 78 4.2.3 Who is Tamerlane, and Why Should we Care? (2010-02-19 07:49) . 79 4.2.4 Intolerance (2010-02-19 08:40) ........................ 79 4.2.5 Two Concepts of Society (2010-02-24 15:08) . 81 4.3 March ............................................ 81 4.3.1 Voltaire’s Warning (2010-03-02 08:47) .................... 81 4.3.2 The Senate Begins (2010-03-04 10:19) .................... 83 4.3.3 Re-Thinking the Anglican Reformation (2010-03-10 12:37) . 84 4.3.4 Arguments about Atheism in France (2010-03-12 12:36) . 85 4.3.5 The Invisible Hand (2010-03-23 05:57) .................... 86 4.3.6 Blake and History (2010-03-23 08:48) ..................... 87 4.4 April ............................................. 88 4.4.1 The Uses of History (2010-04-13 11:26) .................... 88 4.4.2 Locke’s Rational Foundation (2010-04-23 07:07) . 89 4.5 May ............................................. 91 4.5.1 Are We Evil? (2010-05-05 07:46) ........................ 91 4.5.2 The American Dream - Still Alive? (2010-05-17 16:52) . 92 4.5.3 Reformation Recap (2010-05-20 07:57) .................... 93 4.6 June ............................................. 97 4.6.1 A Turning Point (2010-06-01 13:10) ...................... 97 4.6.2 Getting Valuable Things from the Past (2010-06-01 13:18) . 97 4.6.3 Rome Gets Stupid (2010-06-11 14:24) .................... 98 4.6.4 Schools During the Industrial Revolution (2010-06-14 08:18) . 98 4.6.5 Social Behavior in the Plague (2010-06-14 08:58) . 98 4.6.6 Women Move Forward Through History (2010-06-14 13:22) . 99 4.7 August ............................................ 100 4.7.1 The History of Hygiene (2010-08-08 09:38) . 100 4.7.2 Bossuet (2010-08-23 06:21) . 101 4.7.3 Religion in France during the French Revolution (2010-08-23 06:35) . 101 4.8 September ......................................... 103 ©2021 humanities-notes.blogspot.com 5 BlogBook CONTENTS 4.8.1 The Turning Point (2010-09-09 07:11) . 103 4.8.2 Afghanistan’s History (2010-09-17 10:32) . 103 4.8.3 Augustine in Context (2010-09-21 09:27) . 105 4.9 October ........................................... 106 4.9.1 Augustine - the Basics (2010-10-06 12:32) . 106 4.9.2 Fueling the Growth of Christianity (2010-10-06 12:44) . 107 4.9.3 Playing Defense (2010-10-11 10:41) . 107 4.9.4 Augustine and the Search for Truth (2010-10-11 10:44) . 108 4.9.5 Coming to America (2010-10-14 07:26) .