Robin BerryNothingness is the Goal: Coming to Terms with DeathI had what I think is called an existential crisis. The fact of your own mortality knocks you off your feet. My life wasn’t in danger…4 min read·Feb 24, 2022----
Robin BerryWhat is Insinuatio: the Roundabout Route to an ArgumentInsinuatio. A big Latin word. You can probably tell it has something to do with “insinuate”. You may be shocked to learn that you’ve…3 min read·Feb 24, 2022----
Robin BerryFor God’s Sake, Read Past Page FiftyAeneas falls for Dido says The Aeneid. Division of labour increases productivity says The Wealth of Nations. Don Quixote tilts at windmills…2 min read·Feb 24, 2022----
Robin BerryThe Perverse Pleasure of DespairJohn Webster, contemporary and sometimes equal of Shakespeare, could paint sickliness of spirit in living colour. In The White Devil, he…2 min read·Feb 24, 2022----
Robin BerryThe Sensible Death of CuriosityThere’s this idea bandied about that we beat the curiosity out of. Children, it’s said, have a naturally healthy attitude towards the…2 min read·Feb 24, 2022----
Robin BerryZhuangzi, Big Birds, and Intellectual HumilityHere’s a common problem: we don’t know what we don’t know, and can’t see from a vantage we haven’t climbed. Someone of intellectual…2 min read·Feb 24, 2022----
Robin BerrySource Your Damn Quotes“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity,” said Napoleon. Or Robert Heinlein. Or Ayn Rand, or David Hume…3 min read·Feb 24, 2022----
Robin BerryChange is DeathIt always seemed to me a cheat that the Tarot for Death is really the Tarot for Change. Death is reduced to a metaphor, a symbol for the…2 min read·Feb 24, 2022----
Robin BerryYou Are Not Smarter Than Plato: The Importance of Intellectual HumilityWhen culture goes over your head, you can react in two ways: humbly or arrogantly.3 min read·Jun 23, 2021----
Robin BerryShakespeare Does Not Agree With YouDon't force your heroes to agree with you3 min read·May 19, 2021----