Philosophy
From The Observatory
Philosophy
Statements about impact and responsibility rely on underlying assumptions that shape how outcomes are defined and interpreted.
A Scottish artist and theorist argued that the same principles governing musical harmony also determine beauty in architecture, color, geometry, and the human form, revealing how music influenced 19th-century theories of aesthetics and perception.
From seasonal cycles and reincarnation to cosmic destruction and rebirth, ancient Greek and Roman philosophers developed competing theories of how time repeats—and what that repetition means for human life.
Going off the grid isn’t just about solar power and gardens—it’s about slowing down, prioritizing what matters, and creating a life rooted in self-reliance and personal freedom.
Among the Jarawara, snuff is more than a daily ritual—it’s a source of pleasure, power, and connection, shaped by the care and agency of women.
Classics
This article on the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (associated with the movement of German idealism) appeared in the Philosophical Review, Volume 16, pp. 488-505, in 1907.
Ellen Bliss Talbot was a professor of philosophy at Mount Holyoke College from 1898 to 1932. From Wikisource:
“According to Dorothy Rogers and Therese B. Dykeman… ‘[Talbot] had a successful academic career, chairing Mount Holyoke’s philosophy department for thirty-two years and teaching part-time for several years after retirement. She published just three books, all on Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1898, 1899, 1906), in addition to her considerable number of articles in the Philosophical Review, Mind, and the American Journal of Psychology. Her commitment to women’s education at Mount Holyoke was unwavering, helping to ensure that the philosophy curriculum met the expectations of her fellow academicians as philosophy established itself as a profession.’ From ‘Introduction: Women in the American Philosophical Tradition 1800–1930,’ in Hypatia 19:2 (Spring 2004): viii-xxxiv.”
