Arts & Humanities

Plato’s tripartite theory of the soul

Plato divided the soul into three parts: the logistikon (reason), the thymoeides (spirit, which houses anger, as well as other emotions), and the epithymetikon (appetite or desire, which houses the desire for physical pleasures) -- wikipedia

benevolent dictatorship

Request: Doc said that Singapore, the highest calibrating country at that time, is a product of benevolent dictatorship. Generically, is it a viable form of government?

The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand

Priority request. "The novel's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an intransigent young architect who battles against conventional standards and refuses to compromise with an architectural establishment unwilling to accept innovation" -- wikipedia

Inanna, Sumerian goddess

Priority request. "the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine law, and political power" -- wikipedia

brutalist architecture (style)

Priority request: A significant feature in former communist countries, some buildings are considered "exciting" works of arts. Seems like people with no heart would want to build and live in such things. "I am sure a computer is very happy there" as Doc would say.

The School of Life (website)

Priority request. “We derive our ideas from psychology, psychotherapy, philosophy, art and culture. As our name – The School of Life – suggests, we are here to teach people how life can be lived and what can make it truly worthwhile, effective and fulfilling.“

Maya Angelo

respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide -- wikipedia

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

it is not clear which of two events should be considered the cause and which should be considered the effect... to express the difficulty of sequencing actions where each seems to depend on others being done first -- wikipedia

The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs

a critique of 1950s urban planning policy, which it holds responsible for the decline of many city neighborhoods in the United States. -- wikipedia. Request: This is one of the most well-known texts about cities and how they work

architecture

the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art -- wikipedia

Valhalla

Request: Doc has calibrated during a video lecture that there exists a realm that can be called Valhalla – a warrior's heaven. Is it really a heaven?

The Assembly of Women, by Aristophenes

"The women of Athens concoct a daring scheme: penetrate the male-dominated Assembly disguised as men and vote themselves into power, after which they will overturn the old laws and inaugurate a new society where all are equal and where property and sex, too! is shared" -- amazon

learning foreign languages

By request

satire

the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues -- Oxford Languages

six degrees of separation

the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other -- wikipedia. Priority request.