Dunno why the app reduced the image quality… Will repost soon.

A series of seminars on Aristotle’s biology coming soon to Venice and online!

This just got published, with my piece on physics in the Pseudo-Aristotelian “De mundo”. Thanks @gweltazg.bsky.social for the invitation and excellent editorial work. Always a pleasure!

Sign the Petition We protest the dismantling of the Hungarian Research Network (HUN-REN)

Please sign this petition in support of the humanities in Hungary. The petition protests the dismantling of the Hungarian Research Network (HUN-REN). chng.it/RcfcqWfhSZ via @Change

There is an interesting conference next week in Venice, on historiographies of the Renaissance in Central and Eastern Europe. I'll be talking about Croatian historiography of Renaissance philosophers that come from the eastern shores of the Adriatic.

Renaissance Aristotelianism in Southeast Europe In this volume, leading scholars explore aspects of Renaissance Aristotelianism in the overlooked region of Southeast Europe. Uncovering forgotten texts, neglec…

Here's a link to the catalogue:
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/renaissan...

Last week I received printed copies of the volume I co-edited with my colleague Martino for Bloomsbury. It's the first book on Renaissance Aristotelianism on the eastern shores of the Adriatic. I have a chapter on the cosmology of Antonius Medus (1547?-1603), an amateur-philosopher from Dubrovnik.

Trump is right that “Europeans do not take American cars”. We do not buy American cars because they are too large, too wasteful, and not particularly reliable.

International Aristotelian Conference

aristotelianconference2025.com

Ok, I’ll ask the organizers to fix that. When I hear more, I’ll post. Hope you will spread the word, Victor.

Is this any better?
Will try later.

Here is an early announcement of a big Aristotelian conference in Lisbon in early July. The call for papers is still open, I understand.

Just came across the notion of extinction debt: the expected and calculable delay in species extinctions due to land perturbations (deforestation, mass agriculture etc.). @xriskology.bsky.social

We went fishing yesterday evening. Apart from three squids, I caught this conjunction of the Moon, Venus and (I think) Musk’s Starlink satellites.

Banksy

I’m wonderstruck by your strength and composure, Helen. And I so wish you heath and relief from grief.

Just came across this file of the German SS archive, noting that in 1942, in the region of Bilogora (Central Croatia), a large number of Jews fought under the command of “dr. Gregorić from Zagreb”. My late grandfather.

But what great thinker ever understood himself correctly?

—Werner Jaeger, “Aristotle: Fundamentals of the History of his Development”, p. 155

I see, of course, that is a real risk. But the alternative of denying mercy to those who are in agony and without hope of improvement, of keeping people in a vegetative state indefinitely, or of ignoring fully informed and repeated requests to exit life in dignified way does not seem very appealing.

I think that having an option to die at the time of one’s choosing and in a dignified way, which may require assistance of others, increases autonomy throughout one’s life, even if that option is never exercised.

I wasn’t goong to debate what would happen if magic wands existed. I’m trying to tease out whether you oppose euthanasia for practical or other reasons.

Ok, but suppose there was a magic wand to make the bill foolproof. Would you oppose it nevertheless? Your talk of “sanctity of life” suggests you would.

The attribute that allows wave superposition? The attribute that enables quantum entanglement?

Suppose the bill is written wisely, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to euthanize people against their will and better judgment. Would you still oppose it?

Okay, so here is a doxographic entry from Aetius, V.13: "The doctors say that infertility occurs in women (...) from lack of nourishment (πὰρ' ἀτροφίαν)..." Unfortunately, the doctors are not named.
If you come across a similar statement, please post it here.
#AncientPhilosophy #Classics

Looking forward to this title!

Rigjtly so!

Spinoza’s monument in Amsterdam. I took this photo ten years ago, on 29 November 2024.

Today is Spinoza’s 392th birthday. Here’s an apposite quote from his anonymously published Tractatus Theologico-Politicus from 1670: “Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice.”

Something I wish more native English speakers were aware of, especially in the review / editing process