Greetings, members, I have decided to revisit the great classics of the Western Canon and am reading through Aristotle's Metaphysics. I would like to offer the following quote for members' meditation: 'And these things, the most universal, are on the whole the hardest for men to know; for they are farthest from the senses. And the most exact of the sciences are those which deal most with first principles; for those which involve fewer principles are more exact than those which involve additional principles.' — Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book 1, Chapter 2 Aristotle's proposition bears heavily on the dissertation process at two points: (i) when clarifying the conceptual and phenomenological architecture of your study and (ii) downstream during the interpretation of your data. If we follow Aristotle, then the dissertation ought to involve the essential and aspire to not only address the local implication of the problem space (or warrant) established in your proposal, but to order your findings towards the greater erudition of your field of study. Just some food for thought.

Having internet trouble so I will start a Skool Live call for today's 11 AM session so I can join on my mobile.

Dear Members, Since we are in the 'summer doldrums', we will offer Office Hours on the weekends. Saturdays during non-colloquium weeks and Sundays on colloquium weeks. For this week, office hour will be Saturday at 11:00 AM Eastern. Don't forget that all members may schedule twice monthly individual sessions using the link in the pinned comment at the top of the Community messaging interface. -Ryan

Dear Members, I thought I share but a modicum of progress on the upcoming new cursus lecture videos. Admittedly, I had to give myself a crash course in video editing, but I've nearly perfect the title cards and music. Have a look and let me know what you think. -R

Greetings Members, I trust the spring 2025 semester is wrapping (or has wrapped) up well for everyone. I encourage everyone to schedule one-on-one with me to check in and make a plan for progress over the summer. In the meantime, I hope to see some of you in office hour this evening. -Ryan