Readings for Humanities Classes Assorted Postings river-rat-humanities.blogspot.com BlogBook This is a work in progress. This copy is dated May 17, 2021. More recent versions will be found online. 2 ©2021 river-rat-humanities.blogspot.com Contents 1 2005 15 1.1 April ............................................. 15 1.1.1 The Death of Pope John Paul II (2005-04-04 10:12) . 15 1.1.2 What Does It Mean To Be Human? (2005-04-06 08:32) . 15 1.1.3 Hobbes, Kant, and Wittgenstein (2005-04-06 12:02) . 16 1.1.4 Perfect? (2005-04-12 06:38) .......................... 16 1.1.5 What is the Purpose? (2005-04-12 10:20) . 16 1.1.6 Locke’s Legal Impact (2005-04-13 14:24) ................... 17 1.1.7 Who Really Won the Cold War? (2005-04-21 18:58) . 17 1.1.8 Reacting to the Industrial Revolution (2005-04-27 13:43) . 18 1.2 May ............................................. 19 1.2.1 J.S. Mill, Liberalism, and Nationalism (2005-05-02 14:52) . 19 1.2.2 Two Teams Butt Heads (2005-05-02 17:22) . 19 1.2.3 Nietzsche (2005-05-23 18:27) ......................... 20 1.2.4 Confusing Words (2005-05-24 12:01) ..................... 21 1.3 June ............................................. 21 1.3.1 Think Before You Speak - Or Write! (2005-06-01 12:06) . 21 1.3.2 The Black Death (2005-06-01 14:07) ..................... 22 1.3.3 King Arthur (2005-06-01 15:51) ........................ 22 1.4 July .............................................. 23 1.4.1 Do you have a pocket full of art? (2005-07-13 17:38) . 23 1.4.2 European Judaism (2005-07-13 17:41) .................... 24 1.5 August ............................................ 26 1.5.1 Grendel’s Mom: Messiah vs. Monster? (2005-08-11 17:28) . 26 1.5.2 Humanistic Reflections (2005-08-11 17:36) . 26 1.6 October ........................................... 27 1.6.1 Bach’s Newest CD! (2005-10-04 11:16) .................... 27 1.6.2 The Mystery of Saladin (2005-10-05 16:05) . 27 1.6.3 Merely an "Excerpt"? (2005-10-26 16:31) . 28 1.7 November ......................................... 29 1.7.1 What do Professors at Duke University say about Humanities? (2005-11-17 20:03) ................................ 29 1.7.2 So What is a Palimpsest? (2005-11-17 20:06) . 29 1.7.3 Gothic? (2005-11-17 20:08) ........................... 29 1.7.4 Everybody’s a Hypocrite! (2005-11-21 17:17) . 30 1.8 December .......................................... 31 1.8.1 Is Marcus Aurelius Important? (2005-12-05 12:15) . 31 1.8.2 The Punic Wars (2005-12-08 11:07) ...................... 31 1.8.3 Cuturally Schizophrenic (2005-12-08 12:49) . 32 ©2021 river-rat-humanities.blogspot.com 3 BlogBook CONTENTS 1.8.4 Julius Caesar - Hero or Jerk? (2005-12-16 18:45) . 32 1.8.5 Constantine (2005-12-21 15:34) ........................ 33 1.8.6 An Emperor By Any Other Name (2005-12-22 12:19) . 33 1.8.7 Renaissance Conflict! (2005-12-23 12:24) . 34 2 2006 35 2.1 January ........................................... 35 2.1.1 Archeology and History (2006-01-01 20:10) . 35 2.1.2 Who Killed Jesus? (2006-01-09 18:36) ..................... 36 2.1.3 Pax Romana - NOT! (2006-01-25 13:29) .................... 36 2.2 February .......................................... 37 2.2.1 Truth and the Man (2006-02-06 18:41) .................... 37 2.2.2 Stereotyping Tolerance? (2006-02-08 17:07) . 37 2.2.3 What are You Worth? (2006-02-14 12:05) ................... 38 2.2.4 Louis XIV (2006-02-14 12:20) .......................... 38 2.3 March ............................................ 39 2.3.1 Goethe, Faust, and Religion (2006-03-17 14:12) . 39 2.3.2 J.S. Bach in Michigan? (2006-03-17 17:05) . 39 2.3.3 Newton vs. Leibniz (2006-03-17 17:10) .................... 40 2.3.4 Pretzels, Bagels, and Culture (2006-03-20 08:59) . 41 2.3.5 The Massacre at Chios (2006-03-24 09:02) . 43 2.4 April ............................................. 44 2.4.1 Procter and Gamble and Racism and Class Warfare (2006-04-24 07:55) 44 2.5 May ............................................. 45 2.5.1 Edmund Burke and Richard Nixon (2006-05-24 08:10) . 45 2.6 June ............................................. 46 2.6.1 Avoiding Fascism (2006-06-01 10:35) ..................... 46 2.6.2 Who Are You? (2006-06-08 06:42) ....................... 47 2.6.3 Arguing about Darwinism (2006-06-08 08:09) . 47 2.6.4 The Other Van Gogh (2006-06-13 13:17) ................... 48 2.6.5 Playing Victim (2006-06-14 08:18) ....................... 48 2.6.6 Judging the Quality of a Speech (2006-06-15 07:14) . 50 2.6.7 Categorizing Worldviews (2006-06-15 07:39) . 50 2.6.8 Jewish Women - Makers of History (2006-06-15 07:46) . 50 2.6.9 The Queen and the Philosopher (2006-06-19 08:28) . 51 2.7 July .............................................. 52 2.7.1 The Most Superlative (2006-07-11 10:37) . 52 2.7.2 The Home of Modern Science (2006-07-11 16:01) . 52 2.7.3 Jus Primae Noctis (2006-07-13 10:34) ..................... 53 2.7.4 Evaluating a Pope (2006-07-14 06:13) .................... 54 2.7.5 Patterns in History (2006-07-20 14:05) .................... 55 2.7.6 Definitions are Everything! (2006-07-23 07:25) . 55 2.7.7 Going Native (2006-07-25 15:20) ....................... 56 2.8 August ............................................ 57 2.8.1 Tristan and Isolde (2006-08-07 06:03) ..................... 57 2.8.2 Peace in the Middle East? (2006-08-07 06:11) . 57 2.8.3 A Short Snooze for a Short Emperor: Napoleon’s Naps (2006-08-12 20:52) 58 2.8.4 The Backwards Revolution (2006-08-21 19:43) . 59 2.8.5 Statistics, Statistics! (2006-08-27 06:08) ................... 60 2.8.6 The REAL Martin Luther King (2006-08-27 06:32) . 61 4 ©2021 river-rat-humanities.blogspot.com CONTENTS BlogBook 2.8.7 The Many Sides of John Locke (2006-08-28 12:11) . 62 2.9 September ......................................... 62 2.9.1 Which Sargon? (2006-09-10 05:28) ...................... 62 2.9.2 Surprise! (2006-09-22 07:07) .......................... 63 2.9.3 The Gospel of Whom? (2006-09-27 08:10) . 64 2.9.4 The Gospel of Whom? (2006-09-27 08:10) . 65 2.10October ........................................... 66 2.10.1 Sampling Errors (2006-10-17 14:47) ...................... 66 2.10.2 War in Ireland (2006-10-17 15:04) ....................... 67 2.10.3 Anti-War Protest? (2006-10-18 15:01) ..................... 67 2.11November ......................................... 68 2.11.1 The Origins of an American Political Party (2006-11-11 12:31) . 68 2.11.2 Women Enter American Politics (2006-11-11 13:22) . 69 2.11.3 Movies and History (2006-11-11 13:33) .................... 69 2.11.4 Roman Civil War (2006-11-15 09:31) ..................... 70 2.11.5 Progress with Stem Cells? (2006-11-18 07:02) . 70 2.12December .......................................... 71 2.12.1 A 4,000-Mile Journey to Nowwhere - The Harrowing Journey of Exile under Stalin (2006-12-01 12:49) ............................ 71 2.12.2 What Does Wikipedia Have to Say about the Renaissance? (2006-12-07 15:55) ................................ 72 2.12.3 Persia or Iran? (2006-12-08 10:45) ....................... 73 3 2007 75 3.1 January ........................................... 75 3.1.1 Getting Married in Somalia? (2007-01-10 07:56) . 75 3.1.2 God at the U of M Hospital (2007-01-21 15:58) . 75 3.2 February .......................................... 76 3.2.1 Dhimmi (2007-02-06 10:01) ........................... 76 3.2.2 Culture and Creativity (2007-02-06 10:07) . 76 3.2.3 Which Cultures Wage War Against Women? (2007-02-20 10:33) . 77 3.2.4 Boyle’s Ideal Gas Law and Newton’s Gravity (2007-02-20 15:30) . 78 3.2.5 Private Sector Charity Trumps Government Aid (2007-02-22 08:57) . 79 3.3 April ............................................. 80 3.3.1 Mill or Blake - Natural or Revealed? (2007-04-19 09:43) . 80 3.4 May ............................................. 81 3.4.1 Analyzing Augustine (2007-05-07 12:28) ................... 81 3.4.2 What is Luther Really Doing? (2007-05-11 09:36) . 82 3.4.3 The Congress of Vienna - Again (2007-05-11 09:44) . 83 3.4.4 The Other "September 11th" (2007-05-30 14:10) . 83 3.5 June ............................................. 84 3.5.1 Population and Economics (2007-06-02 12:26) . 84 3.5.2 Creating Fear (2007-06-13 08:01) ....................... 84 3.5.3 New Ways to Oppress (2007-06-13 08:09) . 85 3.5.4 Sir Salman? (2007-06-23 14:23) ........................ 85 3.5.5 Samuel Adams: Beer, Jesus, and Revolution (2007-06-25 10:59) . 86 3.6 August ............................................ 87 3.6.1 Junk Science? (2007-08-25 18:02) ....................... 87 3.6.2 History or Propaganda? (2007-08-29 06:15) . 88 3.6.3 Mephibosheth - Friend or Foe? (2007-08-30 06:18) . 88 ©2021 river-rat-humanities.blogspot.com 5 BlogBook CONTENTS 3.7 September ......................................... 89 3.7.1 Steps to Fascism? (2007-09-11 10:51) .................... 89 3.7.2 Muhammed on a Personal Basis (2007-09-11 15:23) . 90 3.7.3 Paul or Saul? (2007-09-11 15:45) ....................... 91 3.7.4 The Compton Effect (2007-09-11 16:18) ..................