Category Archives: Learning

Human beings and search for truth

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“The search for truth and its investigation are, above all, peculiar to man.  Therefore, whenever we are free from necessary business and other concerns we are eager to see or to hear or to learn, considering that the discovery of … Continue reading →

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Study as Eating

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“Study is, so to speak, the pabulum of the mind by which the intellect is trained and nourished.  For this reason, just as gastronomes are careful in the choice of what they put in their stomachs, so those who wish … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Leonardo Bruni, reading, Renaissance | Leave a comment

Martin Luther, doctors, lawyers and such…..

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“Where are the preachers, jurists, and physicians to come from, if grammar and other rhetorical arts are not taught? For such teaching is the spring from which they all must flow.” Martin Luther, “A Sermon on Keeping Children in School,” … Continue reading →

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The Duty to Understand History

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

For it is our duty to understand the origins of our own history and its development; and the achievements of Peoples and of Kings.  For the careful study of the past enlarges our foresight in contemporary affairs and affords to … Continue reading →

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All men by nature desire to know

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight.  For not … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Learning, memory | Tagged | Leave a comment

Luther’s Early Call for Reformation of the Universities

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“Moreover, even if the universities were diligent in Holy Scripture, we need not send everybody there as we do now, where their only concern is numbers and where everybody wants a doctor’s degree.  We should send only the most highly … Continue reading →

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Books & Memory

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“For although written records are very valuable indeed for other purposes, they are especially valuable for preserving the memory of the past, as they contain the deeds of mankind, the unhoped-for turns of fortune, the unusual works of nature, and … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Learning, memory, Pietro Paulo Vergerio, Renaissance, teaching | Leave a comment

The Good Student

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“The good student, then, ought to be humble and docile, free alike from vain cares and from sensual indulgences, diligent and zealous to learn willingly from all, to presume never upon his own knowledge, to shun the authors of perverse … Continue reading →

Posted in Hugh of St Victor, Learning, memory | Leave a comment

Teachers and Students

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“Though I have spoken in some detail of the duties of the teacher, I shall for the moment confine my advice to the learners to one solitary admonishment, that they should love their masters [teachers] not less than their studies, and … Continue reading →

Posted in John of Salisbury, Learning, Quintilian, teaching | Leave a comment