The Future of Media in an Age of Disruption
In this conversation, we explored how the digital revolution has transformed our media landscape and examined its implications for democracy.
Longevity Hubs: A Conversation with Joseph Coughlin and Luke Yoquinto
In this discussion, we explored how the aging population’s ongoing personal and professional ambitions and quest for self-actualization influence economic growth and enhance community well-being.
From Tragedy to Apocalypse in American Literature: A Book Discussion with Lin Atnip
Lin Atnip talks about her book 'From Tragedy to Apocalypse in American Literature: Reading to Make Sense of Our Endings' in a conversation with Dean Seth Green.
“Herodotus Philobarbaros”
This lecture examined Herodotus’ depiction of the customs, folk tales, and religious practices of such cultures as Libya, Syria, Phoenicia, and Persia in order to see what ideas and values from these cultures Herodotus wanted to convey both to his immediate Greek audience and to us.
Why Great Books Matter: A Conversation with Roosevelt Montás and Noah Chafets
Watch our conversation with Roosevelt Montás and Noah Chafets exploring the transformative power of Great Books and the enduring value of liberal education.
The Power and Potential of Our Lives: A Conversation with Daniel J. Levitin
Watch our conversation with Daniel J. Levitin, an award-winning neuroscientist whose research explores why health span matters and how to approach aging with purpose and joy. We explored insights from Levitin’s ground-breaking research and his many New York Times best-selling books, including Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives.
No One Wants Bad Things: Desire in Plato’s Meno
As Meno tries one last time to answer the question of what virtue is, Socrates guides him through an argument for the startling conclusion that no one desires bad things.
Lessons for Retiring Well: A Conversation with Christine Benz
What are the keys to a successful retirement? Watch our conversation with Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar as we discuss her new book, “How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement.” In this conversation we also examined the non-financial lessons outlined in her book, including…...
The Song of Roland Across Time
How does the way we read a text change across time? This lecture explores the many ways in which the canonical medieval poem The Song of Roland has been circulated, read, used, and understood in a variety of contexts across the centuries, up to the present day.
Goethe’s Hope
“What may I hope?” Immanuel Kant famously considered this question, alongside “What can I know?” and “What should I do?”, to be one of the three fundamental questions of philosophy. In this First Friday Lecture, Simon Friedland will consider how Germany’s greatest poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), reformulated and responded to the Kantian question…...
Introduction to the Rigveda and Upanishads
The new Alumni Sequence, Asian Classical Traditions, begins in Autumn Quarter. In this First Friday Lecture, Kendall Sharp will introduce some of the texts to be read in the new sequence, the Rigveda and the Upanishads, by addressing two fundamental questions about them. Who were the authors of the Rigveda and Upanishads, and what was…...
Writing from Occupied France
What was it like to live through the occupation of France in the early 1940s?