Browsing Tag

Josef Pieper

Educational Philosophy, Home Education, Mother's Education
Mom the Teacher: The Inside Matters Most

I ‘ve been reading through Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s For the Children’s Sake lately. Our local CM mother’s group (we call it the CM Primer) is reading portions of both Macaulay, as well as Miss Mason’s own sixth volume, as we work our way through the 20 principles. This has been great fun so far. I really like Macaulay. I haven’t read much outside material (other than blogs, of course) on Charlotte Mason. I began with, and have always preferred, the original works Continue Reading…
June 8, 2012
Leisure: The Basis of Culture {Part 2, Chapter 1}

The reason why the philosopher can be compared to the poet is that both are concerned with wonder. -St. Thomas Aquinas Thus begins the first chapter of the second half of Leisure: The Basis of Culture, aptly titled The Philosophical Act. From scanning this portion, I’d say that the key idea throughout is going to be that the philosophical act {philosophizing?} is the ultimate act of leisure, which is why the two parts are joined together. They are one thought: Continue Reading…
November 12, 2009
Leisure: The Basis of Culture {Chapter 5}

I liked this last section of the first essay. In it, Pieper comes full circle, bringing us back to some of his original questions. He begins by asking whether the realm of leisure can be saved by an appeal to humanism, which is, he says, an appeal to a humanum. His conclusion, to those of us who Believe, is probably not all that surprising: No, it cannot. Man, isolated from God and religion, is not sufficient to rescue the realm Continue Reading…
October 20, 2009
Leisure: The Basis of Culture {Chapter 4}

I think that this time around I’m going to try to write an in-depth outline to help myself visualize some of Pieper’s arguments. I, once again, read both translations, and let me just says that Malsbary is inferior to Dru. If you have the book on a wishlist out there, you might want to specify your translator. We begin with a reminder. Leisure, it must be remembered, is not a Sunday afternoon idyll, but the preserve of freedom, of education Continue Reading…
October 13, 2009