Lyceum Digest #10
Everything published on our Substack from February 2- 13, 2026 including thoughts on the power of visual arts, Moby Dick, Machiavelli's Dedicatory Letter, and more.
Welcome to our Friday Digest, a bi-weekly email newsletter designed to showcase everything we have published on the Substack over the past two weeks. Below you will find links to our most recent posts. Happy reading!
Art and Moral Lessons
Great art, like great books, can often be an incredible source of moral lessons. Though the purpose of art is not solely to communicate moral truths, some outstanding works do have this as their primary theme. Considering the work of French neo-classical master Jacques-Louis David, it is easy to comprehend the extraordinary power of visual arts in concretizing a complex chain of moral thought. Click here to read on…Two Paths from Aporia in Plato’s Apology: Philosophy or Justice?
When reading Plato and Aristotle’s philosophy, there are pivotal moments when readers encounter what the Greeks call aporia, the experience of being “at a loss,” “perplexed,” or “puzzled” about something…Aporia’s many meanings teach us something important about Plato and Aristotle’s approach to philosophic inquiry: The experience of aporia indicates to us areas in our lives in which we are intellectually impoverished, and this has practical effects that are akin to living in poverty. Click here to read on…Reintroducing the Introduction to Moby-Dick (Part II)
Melville or Ishmael (it is not clear who is recording the usher’s remarks) tells the reader to be careful when speaking of whales: “While you take in hand to school others, and to teach them by what name a whale-fish is to be called in our tongue, leaving out, through ignorance, the letter H, which almost alone maketh the signification of the word, you deliver that which is not true.” Why does the letter “H” “maketh. . . the word”? Why is one a liar if he does not sound out the “H”? Click here to read on…Aristotle on the Limits of Binding Politics to the Equality of Property
“It is clear, then, that it is not enough for the legislator to make property equal; he must also aim at a mean. Yet even if one were to arrange a moderate level of property for all, it would not help. For one ought to level desires sooner than property; but this is impossible for those not adequately educated by the laws.” Click here to read on…Genesis’ Answer to Homer?
“And it happened as humankind began to multiply over the earth and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were comely, and they took themselves wives howsoever they chose. And the LORD said, “My breath shall not abide in the human forever, for he is but flesh. Let his days be a hundred and twenty years…” The Nephilim were then on the earth, and afterward as well, the sons of God having come to bed with the daughters of man who bore them children: they are the heroes of yore, the men of renown.” Click here to read on…Some Notes on Machiavelli’s Dedicatory Letter to The Prince
The Dedicatory Letter that Machiavelli addresses to Lorenzo de’ Medici at the beginning of The Prince is, well, Machiavellian. It contains noteworthy points, some of which we can remark upon. We can also briefly suggest how it plays an important role in the work as a whole. Click here to read on…