Christopher Long

Collaborative Research in the Humanities

by Christopher Long June 16, 2012
Collaborative Research in the Humanities

Let me begin with a kind of provocation: however critical we humanists are of the ideals of authorial authority and genius, our practices of scholarship and the ways they gain legitimacy in the academy continue, even in this digital age, to be rooted in those outmoded 19th century ideals. Edgar Allan Poe gives voice to [...]

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On Vessels Filled and Fires Kindled

by Christopher Long May 16, 2012
On Vessels Filled and Fires Kindled

“The mind,” Plutarch is said to have said, “is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”  This pithy formulation seems to have been distilled at some point from Plutarch’s lecture, entitled On Listening to Lectures, in which, as the Loeb translation has it, he writes: For the mind does not require [...]

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On Swans, Death and Philosophy

by Christopher Long March 23, 2012
On Swans, Death and Philosophy

There is a poignant moment about half way through the Phaedo, that eloquent dialogue depicting the death of Socrates, when Socrates likens himself to swans who sing most beautifully when they realize they must die. Socrates considers their’s a song of joy, for they anticipate joining the god, Apollo, whose servants they are. But most [...]

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Contributor Q & A: Christopher Long

by Christopher Long February 18, 2012
Contributor Q & A: Christopher Long

As editor of Wonders & Marvels, I have the pleasure of introducing our monthly regular contributors. On the docket today is Christopher P. Long… Holly Tucker: We have historians, literary scholars, and novelists among our regular contributors at Wonders & Marvels. Thanks to you, we can now add “philosopher” to the list. Could you tell [...]

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Beginning in Wonder

by Christopher Long December 17, 2011
Beginning in Wonder

By Christopher Long (W&M Regular Contributor) I endeavor to practice philosophy, and philosophy begins in wonder. Aristotle puts it well toward the beginning of the Metaphysics: For it is through wondering that human-beings both now and at first began to philosophize, wondering first about the strange things close at hand, and then little by little [...]

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