Magnum opus

There are various ways to understand and explain reality depending on the ontological and epistemological positions of each author. The opus magnum of Niccolo Machiavelli could be a perfect example to illustrate these positions. In this sense, and as David Marsh and Paul Furlong (2002) argue, “ontological questions are prior because they deal with the very nature of being; literally an ontology is a theory of being”. In an attempt to identify an ontological position in The Prince and in any…

Douglas E. Richards' WIRED is a a fast-paced conspiracy thriller with strong science fiction elements. This is a story about David Desh, a former Special Forces soldier who decided to bow out after one of his missions went spectacularly wrong. He is brought back to the fold for one last job - to find Kira Miller, a gifted engineer who's rumored to be working with terrorists with the intention of releasing a highly toxic virus on the world. However, as Desh starts uncovering the mysteries behind…

During the late 18th century a movement started up known as Romanticism. This movement “emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional”(Britannia). Romanticism was a major contrast from the Neoclassical era before it. Romanticism also led the way to future counterculture movements we see throughout history as the rejection of the normal first started by the Romantics. We see Romanticism at work in poetry such as William…

Which was accompanied by a myriad of masterpieces that first flourished during the 14th century (quattrocento) and by the 15th century (cinquecento), experienced the pinnacle of artistic achievement that blurred the lines of what constitutes a magnum opus and is…

The Enlightenment Period has gifted the opportunity for many philosophers to voice their beliefs and concerns on various subjects. Varying from philosophers to physiocrats, the Enlightenment Period was a time of innovation and brilliance, providing us numerous foundations to examine and critique. With that said, one very successful figure of the Enlightenment Period, Thomas Hobbes, was an English man who unlike most people, deeply concerned for a better future with fewer political issues and…

Bonaparte felt that he was a genius and was inclined to “better society” through his wisdom and extreme ideas. The main character of Crime and Punishment, Rodion Raskalnikov, relates himself to this leader. Moreover, Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote his magnum opus, Crime and Punishment, to dismiss a radical view of society held by the novel’s protagonist. He is trying to say that it is impossible to justify a harsh crime such as a murder because the inevitable punishment of a guilty conscience will…

release, returned to Vienna as a journalist. He immigrated to Britain in 1933, where he lived hand-to-mouth as a tutor. In 1940, during a lecture tour in the US, Polanyi decided to accept an offer by Bennington College. It was then that he wrote his magnum opus - The Great Transformation (1944). Polanyi's central thesis is well known among sociologists and economic historians: namely, that capitalism is a historical anomaly because while previous economic arrangments were "embedded" in social…

Of late, the Virgin Mary has become somewhat fashionable in academic circles. This prominence reflects her long-lasting cultural impact as an international spiritual and historic figure. Miri Rubin's recent magnum opus Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary provides a much needed global examination of the cultural significance of the Virgin Mary over the longue duree. On a more localised level, Bridget Heal's The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Early Modern Germany and the book under review here…

of anything like The Return ever being made again are slim. The Return is an anomaly to what is considered television or even film — it’s unique in that it is the apex of everything that Lynch has been working towards his entire career. It’s his magnum opus. The Return recalls the surreal, almost absurd aura of "Eraserhead," the sense of middle-class suburbia of "Blue Velvet," the flashing images of twisting roads and nightmarish dream sequences synonymous with "Mulholland Drive" and "Lost…

The gritty story of the troubled narrator, the destructive Tyler Durden, and their Fight Club is a story known for grim and shockingly realistic themes. Fight Club was Palahniuk’s first novel, as well as his magnum opus. Fight Club is Palahniuk’s most known and work, and is generally regarded as his best. Fight Club follows an unnamed narrator, his close friend Tyler Durden, and his girlfriend Marla Singer. The narrator meets Tyler under mysterious circumstances, as the narrator is unable to…