About

Larvatus Prodeo is an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. Larvatus Prodeo was founded by Mark Bahnisch, but as his PhD commitments mounted he called for guest posters to pick up the slack — and enjoyed it so much he asked them all to stay on as permanent bloggers. The title of the blog is inspired by Rene Descartes:

Maritain explains: “In the juvenilia of Descartes we find the phrase Larvatus prodeo. ‘Like an actor wearing a mask, I come forward, masked, on the stage of the world.’ [...] It will be for the masked philosopher to unmask the sciences and to make their continuity and their unity appear with their beauty” (The Dream of Descartes, 41, 92 n.25). The phrase also refers to the precautions Descartes took not to offend the authorities with his new philosophical systems.

The quote is sourced from a site annotating William Gaddis’ The Recognitions authored by Steven Moore.

Our header images

We would like to thank various people for allowing us to use their images in the Larvatus Prodeo header.

Thanks, folks.