On the Biblical, Geometrical, Political Mind: A Panel in Honor of Bob Sacks
Description
Audio recording of a tutor panel given by tutors Seth Appelbaum, Phil LeCuyer, April Olsen and Ken Wolfe on March 10, 2023 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: "Robert Sacks, a long-time tutor and one of the College’s most original and esteemed thinkers, was mentored by and became a colleague of Jacob Klein and Leo Strauss—two of the intellectual giants who helped establish the College’s stature and the Program of study we all share. Please join us for a panel discussion to mark both Mr. Sacks’s recent ninety-first birthday and the publication of his book Three Wells: Essays and Lectures on the Biblical, Political, Geometrical Mind. Panelists Seth Applebaum, April Olsen, Phil LeCuyer and Ken Wolfe will discuss essays from this book, as well as other topics in Mr. Sacks’ thinking over many years."
Audio recording of a tutor panel discussion with Seth Appelbaum, Janet Dougherty, Jacques Duvoisin, Topi Heikkerö, and Nicholas Starr held on March 30, 2018 as part of the Dean's Lecture and Concert Series. Moderated by Raoni Padui.
Audio recording of a conversation with Seth Appelbaum and David McDonald on July 7, 2020, hosted by Edward Walpin as part of the Graduate Institute Summer Lecture Series. The Graduate Institute provided this description of the event: "The idea of a 'common good' had largely faded as a theme of our public discourse until the Age of COVID-19. The notion of a shared good seems fairly uncontroversial when it shows up as a presupposition of public health policy. Beyond the realm of public health, and even in our fragmented and adversarial era, most activists and factions will sooner or later claim that they are working in service of the common good and not simply against their opponents. Does this resurgence of the 'common good' in our rhetoric herald an emerging consensus about the goal of politics, or is it a narrow, technical claim made in reaction to a specific emergency situation? How has the common good been understood throughout its long lineage, and what is at stake in the idea now? Join St. John’s tutors Seth Appelbaum and David McDonald for a live conversation on the question of what it might mean to have an ethical aim beyond that of the individual."
]]>https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/7348 Dr. Arnade describes his lecture: "What costs do current political and economic forces impose on the worst off among us? We often hear of a divide between 'elites' and 'ordinary people,' but in what does this divide consist? Who are the leaders, and what guides their thinking? Who is left behind, and how do they describe their circumstances? Do ambition and achievement also leave behind certain forms of meaning and dignity? How are the current states of inequality created and preserved, and how are they harmful? How can and should voices from 'the back row' affect us?"
Dr. Arnade left his career on Wall Street in 2008 and spent several years traveling in order to interview, photograph, and listen to poor communities around the US. He now works as a writer and photographer covering addiction and poverty in America. He is also the author of Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America.
The lecture is introduced by Joe Macfarland.]]>2023-11-27T20:05:52+00:00
Title
Poverty in America
Description
Video recording of a lecture delivered by Chris Arnade, Ph.D. on October 30, 2020, as part of the Formal Lecture Series.
Dr. Arnade describes his lecture: "What costs do current political and economic forces impose on the worst off among us? We often hear of a divide between 'elites' and 'ordinary people,' but in what does this divide consist? Who are the leaders, and what guides their thinking? Who is left behind, and how do they describe their circumstances? Do ambition and achievement also leave behind certain forms of meaning and dignity? How are the current states of inequality created and preserved, and how are they harmful? How can and should voices from 'the back row' affect us?"
Dr. Arnade left his career on Wall Street in 2008 and spent several years traveling in order to interview, photograph, and listen to poor communities around the US. He now works as a writer and photographer covering addiction and poverty in America. He is also the author of Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America.
A signed permission form has been received stating, "I hereby grant St. John's College permission to: Make an audiovisual recording of my lecture, and retain copies for circulation and archival preservation in the St. John's College Greenfield Library. Make an audiovisual recording of my lecture available online. Make a typescript copy of my lecture available for circulation and archival preservation in the St. John's College Greenfield Library. Make a copy of my typescript available online."
Paper delivered on October 18, 2014 by David Arndt at What is Liberal Education For? : a conference at St. John's College on the 50th Anniversary of the Santa Fe campus.
Audio recording of a lecture given by tutor Lin Atnip on September 29, 2023 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: “After one has abandoned a belief in god, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life’s redemption.” — So writes Wallace Stevens, a giant of American modernist poetry, in one of his aphoristic “adagia.” In this lecture we will attempt to understand what he meant, or might have meant, in this odd and perhaps disturbing formulation. What is the role of poetry in our contemporary world, at turns banal and catastrophe-ridden? We will seek our answer through consideration of some of Stevens’ other prose writings and, of course, his poetry -- and maybe, if successful, find a little redemption."