Quotes from thinkers, old and new, about how the humanities relate to our lives.
Culture compared to civilization
Culture as a feature of progress; civilization as its form.
Contending with the loss of autonomy in the Age of AI
Recovering autonomy and escaping the existential vacuum.
Dante, Petersburg, and the pages of memory
Poetry and recollection in Petersburg / Leningrad.
On sun, ocean, and our hidden nature
The sun shines upon the depths: what is illuminated may also be hidden, especially to ourselves.
Stories and histories of science
Our scientific knowledge relies on narratives, which shift over time.
Promoting one’s image
The modern fascination with "image," particularly that of ourselves.
On science and ethics: conveying and exploding knowledge
Can you write a book on ethics, using words of science, that would explode all other books?
Painting, nature, and science
Why painting is more truth-seeking than philosophy and physics
Memory and memorial
What lasts is not just what we make.
Classical literacy and modern scholarship
Classical literacy and modern scholarship: how knowledge of Latin and Greek might deepen our current understanding of things, according to a German physicist; but the effort faces widespread difficulties: "No one learns Latin and Greek anymore, and [...]