Humanities Day

"What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" thundered the church father Tertullian at the end of the second century AD, and the answer implied was: nothing. The triumph of Christianity by the time of Constantine created a radical break with many of the beliefs and practices of the classical past. In the Christian world, classical texts were still read, Greek and Latin were still spoken; but the claims to knowledge found in classical philosophy were not only disowned but even (by some zealots) considered a form of temptation held out by the devil. Where Christianity and its insistence on faith represented "the folly of the wise," the writings of the philosophers were, in turn, "the wisdom of fools." Christian thinkers who borrowed from them or tried to reconcile Christianity and Plato had to tread carefully indeed. This lecture explores features of the clash of classical philosophy and the Christian doctrine from late antiquity to the Renaissance and the long-lasting effects of the idea Cre

Various interpretations of Hamlet on film in recent decades give some indication of range of possible interpretations of this famous play. This talk will explore some of these interpretations, popular and otherwise. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research. This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholars to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: News: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: University of Chicago on YouTube: /uchicago *** ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please email digicomm@uchicago.edu.

For several years near the end of the eighteenth century, two talented English writers became neighbors, traveling companions, and most importantly, collaborators in a project to reform the ills of English culture in the age of the French Revolution. Their chosen means? Poetry—ballad poetry. The result was the transformative volume, Lyrical Ballads. We will look at what they thought they were doing, what they wrote, and what changes they effected. We'll pay some attention to William Wordsworth's famous Preface about the woes of contemporary society. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research. This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholars to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: News: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: University of Chicago on YouTube: /uchicago *** ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any te

When language presents more than one meaning, sometimes the rules of the language determine both meanings—but sometimes not. When the rules are of no use, imagination is required to make and to understand these linguistic wonders. This session will introduce the topic and invite extended discussion. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research. This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholars to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: News: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: University of Chicago on YouTube: /uchicago *** ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please email digicomm@uchicago.edu.

On August 14, 2007, Denmark apologized for her part in the ninth-century Viking invasions of Ireland. However, England may also be due for such an apology. This talk will track the Vikings' impact on medieval England, an impact with effects that are still evident today. This talk will introduce, among others, Ragnar Hairy Breeches, who ended his days in a snake pit; his son, Ivar the Boneless, who was reputedly nine feet tall; Eric Bloodaxe, the last Viking king of York; Olaf Tryggvason, who rammed Christianity down unwilling Scandinavian throats; Svein Forkbeard, who absorbed England into a Denmark-centered empire; and the last of the great Vikings, Harald Hardrada. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research. This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholars to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: New

Successful New York City "accent eradication," as it is termed by speech therapists, while sought by many upwardly mobile clients, nevertheless engenders a kind of panic at the thought of being phonetically deracinated, verbally uprooted, and sonically removed from kith and kin. This talk examines the changing landscape of urban and regional accent here through the lens of a recent report in the digital pages of "Da Noo Yawk Toyms" that caused an instant uproar -- in many different accents. Noticeable in particular is an emergent cultural value running counter to long-term trends of stratification of language around a perceived "neutral" standard. It is a kind of American linguistic "AOC" phenomenon, not unlike Europe's oenological sense of "appellation d'origine contrôlée" and the palpable pleasures it gives of knowing one's place. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research

The philosopher Ernst Bloch called the brief story Unverhofftes Wiedersehen (Unexpected Reunion) the "most beautiful story in the world." In fact, since its publication in 1811, this "calendar story" by the Alemmanic writer Johann Peter Hebel, who is hardly known outside the German-speaking world, has come to occupy a crucial place in the lives of generations of readers. Walter Benkamin made it the centerpiece of his essay "The Storyteller" and Martin Heidegger discovered in it the essence of poetry. There is perhaps no better place to explore the depth and the power of narrative than with this five-page tale. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research. This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholars to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: News: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: University of Chicago on