Ideas & Culture

Essays on the intellectual currents that influence how we think and work: philosophy, culture, language, and the often-unexamined ideas that structure everyday decisions.

The New Cathedral Door

Does it truly safeguard that which is dangerous and true while restricting that which is dangerous and false, and does it arrive at this determination through a process of deliberation; or, does it merely replace one arbitrary determination for another about that which is dangerous.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 23 May 2021

The Infant Hercules and the Standard Oil serpents

Scribble, Scribble, Scribble

Anyone who has attempted higher degree research, will know that after a while the process becomes more a question of will power than mental acuity.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 17 May 2021

How I Publish — Version 4.0

A few months back I gave a short sketch of how I publish online. But today is back to the future as I return to WordPress.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 12 Aug 2020

Printer working an early Gutenberg letterpress from the 15th century

Art as Background

Turner was something of a privacy advocate. In the 1841 census he rowed a boat into the Thames so he could not be counted as being present at any property

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 2 Aug 2020

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1839, oil on canvas. National Gallery

Emotional Contagion

Emotional Contagion is the phenomenon of feeling what it appears someone else is experiencing. Art abounds with examples of this, where a painting, sculpture or film elicits a sensation in

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 21 Jul 2020

Sculpture of Marsyas by Balthasar Permoser

The Shape Of Things That Are

Though conclusions drawn from data may be offensive, we should be slow to take offence at data. Even if it contradicts our deeply held beliefs.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 17 Jul 2020

Steven Pinker by Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times

Gothic Reprieve

Musing on how the building I passed was the very antithesis of the Gothic, I found myself recalling some of the majestic architecture of the past.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 12 Jul 2020

How I Publish — Version 3.0

Avid readers, and those who accidentally stumbled in searching for something else, will have seen deliberations on whether or not to switch platforms.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 1 Jul 2020

Letterheady

One superb example of the genre is the business letterhead of Nikola Tesla - after whom the car company is named. Stunning share by Letterheady.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 14 Jun 2020

Cold Calling Students

While the line between a Socratic acceptance of the limits of our knowledge and genuine ignorance is blurred, academia's financial rapacity knows no bounds.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 8 Jun 2020

Students enter the „Natio Germanica Bononiae“, the german nation at the university of Bologna, image from the 15th century

Into the Jaws of Death

One of the most memorable photographs of D-Day was taken by Chief Photographer's Mate Robert F. Sargent and aptly titled 'Into the Jaws of Death.'

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 6 Jun 2020

WWII: Europe: France; “Into the Jaws of Death — U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire”, circa 1944-06-06.

A Marvellous Idea for a Blog

I didn't have the time to write you a short blog about historical analogies, so I wrote about something else.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 21 May 2020