The Wes Cecil Podcast

New Series! Reading The Bhagavad Gita - Ep. 1

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 10:00:00 GMT

In 2 weeks we will begin a new series exploring the Bhagavad Gita as a means of orienting oneself within the vast and fascinating literature and thought of classical Hindu thought. An extraordinary and central text that works on a number of important levels within the larger epic of the Mahabharata while also representing an inflection point in the development of Hindu thought.

I wanted to share this intro with you in advance so you can have time to acquire a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. The Penguin edition is the version I will be using.

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Addendum on "Beauty": Piet Oudolf and Georgia O’Keeffe

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:00:00 GMT

A reflection on the power of biography to inspire and help guide us in our pursuit of beauty. These two examples are, at least for me, immensely helpful in shaking off the cultural assumptions and outlooks that try to shape our goals and, hence, decision making.

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Values: Ep. 3 - Beauty

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:00:00 GMT

With Health, Beauty has historically been considered an intrinsic value. However, our contemporary society does not just undervalue beauty, it actively works to prevent beauty from being perceived either as a value or, even more insidiously, as an active evil. By taking a moment and reflecting on our own perception of beauty and looking to cultivate in our environment we can use a sense of personal values to fundamentally transform our experience of the world.

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Is the US a Democracy?

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Not a rhetorical ploy, but an actual question. The strange form of American ‘Democracy’ today raises the very real idea that at some point a lack of competition in elections, the duopoly of the hold on power and the control exerted over the process of elections by un-elected officials produces a system that is functionally no longer really a democracy. Further, and I forgot to mention this in the lecture, the current structure ensures that the most senior and powerful members of both parties are not, functionally, forced to face an actual election.

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Values: Ep. 2 - Health

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Often discussed as an ‘implicit’ good, health is nonetheless a relatively low priority in many modern societies. We have both a poor understanding of what constitutes health as well as a strong cultural resistance to pursuing health as a key value in our lives. Any attempt to prioritize health will generally provide a powerful education in the underlying cultural values that shape our lives and, more often than not, resist the notion of health as a core good.

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The Power of Abstraction

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:00:00 GMT

A reflection on our capacity to overwhelm our actual experience of the world with abstract concepts that somehow is often more powerful than even our immediate physical surroundings. I was prompted to these thoughts by recent experiences mowing my lawn and spending time in some very different kitchens.

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Values: Ep. 1 - Introduction

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:00:00 GMT

A brief introduction to the field of values and why they matter as a subject of reflection. Fundamentally, we understand the world through our values so reflecting on our values and potentially even changing them gives us the opportunity to dramatically alter our experience of the world.

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Biography

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 07:00:00 GMT

A brief argument in favor of reading biographies as a warmup for a new series that will be coming very soon!

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Commodification vs Financialization

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 07:00:00 GMT

A long footnote to the Late Capitalism series in which I discuss the, at least to me, very important difference between these two concepts. While commodification is still going on, it is really the advent of this new financial world that has come to dominate our world in many quite dangerous ways. Perhaps a long discourse that interests only me.

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How to be Wrong and Why!

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:00:00 GMT

An invitation to explore the power of being wrong. In a culture that emphasizes the importance of rightness over a whole range of other possible values like harmony, beauty, health, fabulousness, inspiration, and so on, being wrong can be a liberating and enlightening experience. Once one begins being wrong, it lifts a burden of outlook and opens up a whole range of different experiences and orientations that are simply impossible within the RIght/Wrong dialectic.

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Image Attribution: “Guiding Light” by Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 18 - Conclusion 2 "Us"

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:00:00 GMT

While our particular brand of history is unique, people have been living history for a long time. By looking back to some earlier patterns of living that were more health-giving and joy-supporting than the form of life relentlessly promoted to us today, we can gain a few clues as to how we can adapt in the face of our challenges.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 16: Conclusion

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Nietzsche is not just presenting a series of arguments, he is modelling a very different approach to thinking and understanding our world than we usually encounter. To conclude our read-along, I reflect on the structure of his arguments and how they are as, or even more, important than the actual content. In the end, like a poem, Nietzsche invites us to participate in the creation of our own understanding.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 17 - Conclusion 1 "Cheerios"

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:00:00 GMT

A reflection on the global structure of Late Capitalism encapsulated in Cheerios as an example that can help us understand the nature of the world we inhabit. I also cover the unanswerable question, “Why has 70 years of efficiency and progress made Cheerios so expensive” and the unspeakable word - “Deflation”. Hopefully having these small examples in our minds will help us to address the complexity and estrangement that assaults us everyday.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 15

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:00:00 GMT

The final section finds Nietzsche in usual form attacking the notion of ‘levelling’ and ‘universal good’ and ‘Equality’. HIs driving force, following on Will to Power, is the pursuit of individual ideas that suit individuals and hence refute the drive towards universality or assumptions of ‘good’ or ‘true’.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum - Keurig

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Okay, I couldn’t help myself. Keurig is such a perfect example of how this entire orientation towards the world is destructive of more or less all the greatness and joy in life that I pause here to reflect in greater detail on the specifics of the Keurig case. I also think the example of FitBit and similar devices renting to us the capacity to connect with our bodies - and hence of course alienating us from our bodies - is similarly bizarre and disturbing. For the record, somewhere between 15-30 BILLION k-cups type pods are thrown away every year.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 16 - Reorientation

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 11:00:00 GMT

As long as we keep the values of Late Capitalism we will be trapped within and reproduce the problems associated with our current system. To reorient ourselves within our world we need to articulate for ourselves a new set of values. Two key elements is to resist the notion of money as a necessary arbiter of all things and to reevaluate our desire for haste. It is in large part our addiction to speed, haste, busyness and the attempt to live this way that opens us up to many of the problems we experience. Slowing down, doing less, and doing what we like are pretty much revolutionary today.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 14 (Will To Power)

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 11:00:00 GMT

I pause for a moment to review the central concept for Nietzsche - the Will to Power - how it differs from the concept of will deployed by Schopenhauer and how it utterly reframes the debate around free-will and determinism (though most people don’t seem to notice). Hopefully, this provides a little more clarity and also suggests why it is both a crucial insight and pretty confusing all the same time.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 15 - Health?

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Following on from the Unaskable Question, is the notion of how our health is intimately linked with our physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing. However, the logic of Late Capitalism, which we have been examining largely from the direction of money and economics, functions in precisely the same way when we look at our health. Unfortunately, but predictably, isolating people in stressful environments does not produce wellbeing nor is it actually being sought.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 13

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Nietzsche reminds us that pain does not, in fact, correlate with truth. And while these chapters are a little confusing, he repeats his observation that all philosophy is derived from the philosopher’s autobiography - and in this case it is clearly Nietzsche expressing his sense of the world.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum - Elon Musk

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Musk's decision to absorb his failed Twitter company into his failing AI company which he is now folding into his cash positive satellite launch company is such a perfect example of Late Capitalism I couldn’t help but comment. Bizarrely, Musk denies he has a car company, or a telecommunications company, or a rocket building company. Why would a successful 19th century industrialist systematically deny the companies he’s built? Late Capitalism.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 14 - The Unaskable Question

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 11:00:00 GMT

We know money answereth all things and that as long as we get money, keep money, and have more money then everything will be fine . . . of course this is completely and demonstrably wrong, and yet, the power of the Late Capitalist ethos reinforces this idea relentlessly as it prevents any other value from intervening in the process. However, if actually stop and ask - what is the source of my wealth, my wellbeing, my overflowing - well that is a potentially revolutionary question within the Late Capitalist ethos.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 12

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 11:00:00 GMT

We arrive at perhaps the central theme Nietzsche has been building towards - the Will to Power. That life is not trying to survive but rather to thrive is the key argument he makes. He sees this as an extra-moral condition of existence because it is present in all living things - hence Beyond Good and Evil. That life force is motivating and shaping in every moment fundamentally alters the notion of a disinterested observer working within the framework of perfect reason to derive the Truth about the world.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 13 - Employment

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Unsurprisingly, Late Capitalist outlooks have largely colonized our interactions with jobs. Both the structure of employment and the way we think about jobs has shifted dramatically over the last 40 years. Worse, our general cynicism about our current employment environment is itself a sign of how pervasive late capitalist outlooks have impacted even how we imagine our lives might be.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 11

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Here Nietzsche critiques the whole notion that we ‘live in a simulation’ or that we live in a ‘hologram’ roughly 150 years before those concepts come into existence. In fact, however, he is really working against the Platonic tradition of perfect forms that haunted, and continues to haunt, the western concept of both the world and how we should, as ethical beings, respond to it.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 12 - Exiles

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 11:00:00 GMT

The structure of our contemporary societies promotes an increasingly powerful focus on isolated individuals as not just a model, but the model of a quality and ‘successful’ life. As isolated individuals we increasingly struggle to meet our basic needs by interacting with globalized and financialized systems that exploit us. The increase in loneliness, anxiety, suicide, and other mental health problems is a predictable and necessary outcome of an increasingly exploitative world in which individuals are pitted against corporations.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 10

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Nietzsche attacks the central moral document of his time - The Sermon on the Mount! Nietzsche argues in favor of subtlety, nuance, and life-affirmation as opposed to clarity and moral judgement. This is one of the key defining sections that allows us to understand Nietzsche mental make up and core beliefs.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum - Davos Summit

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Just to make it absolutely clear how pervasive and singular the logic of Late Capitalism is, I present a brief reflection on the current events surrounding Greenland, Davos and global financial markets. I rarely comment on topical events, but the logic we have been discussing is so perfectly illustrated in recent statements by global leaders it just seemed to good to pass up without comment.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 11 - Contempt and Scarcity

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

The emotional sense of contempt for others and the concept of scarcity are relentlessly promoted and reinforced as a NECESSARY corollary to the Late Capitalist worldview. By holding both other people and all possible values in contempt, Late Capitalism undermines alternative outlooks. And the creation of scarcity is necessary for maximum extraction of value from any trade. Together they form a fundamental poison that undermines even the possibility of living in an abundant, respectful world.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 9

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Nietzsche reiterates his elitist ideals and focuses on the challenges of communication across one’s cultural assumptions. He points out the difficulties of being both misunderstood and outside even of the possibility of sympathy. All philosophy is autobiography indeed.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 10 - Four Autopsies

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Here are four examples rising from the very personal and small - gift cards - to the national and international difficulties facing governments trying to deal with the rising costs of retirement. The patterns we have been discussing are here exposed in, perhaps, excessive detail. However, I feel it is important to see the many manifestations of this logic before we move on to the larger philosophical implications for ourselves and our culture.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 8

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Chapter II presents a different direction for Nietzsche to attack contemporary philosophical modes by emphasizing how the obsession with TRUTH has warped the outlook of most philosophers and led them to make dubious arguments but, more importantly for Nietzsche, to play-act as martyrs.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 9 - Governments (Part 2)

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Along with the productivity myth, the GDP myth misleads our decision makers and obscures key aspects of our economic reality - there has actually been rather slow GDP growth for decades and much of what has taken place has made the economy worse for citizens rather than better.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 7

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Nietzsche emphasizes the difficulties we will encounter as we attempt to abandon morals and see the world as it is -free from natural laws and order and subject only to the interplay of power. If nothing else, you can’t say we haven’t been warned.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum - Strikes at The Louvre

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

An example of what it means to think with VALUES as opposed to FINANCE. Not saying the workers are correct, though I agree with them, but that their arguments are coming from an entirely different value set.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 8 - Governments (Part 1)

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Democratic governments are globally unpopular and part of the reason is the bind the Late Capitalist logic places them in. Growth and investment GOOD we should do MORE so everything keeps getting BETTER while at the same time having to continuously cut budgets, services, promises and often raise taxes - all unpopular. As of yet, they have not recognized the faultiness of the premises, neither right nor left, and hence they cannot begin to address the issues we actually face.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 6

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 11:00:00 GMT

So now Nietzsche wants to point out how systematically our cultures and grammar influence our capacity to think philosophically - further undermining the notion of Philosophy as an arbiter of transcendent truth. Then, in chapter 21, he decides to attack cause and effect, number, law, relativity and many other concepts we like to think help us think but which Nietzsche considers just so much mythologizing.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum on Landlords and Tenants

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 11:00:00 GMT

I ran into such a perfect example of financialization - stepping in between landlords and tenants for rent payments - I just had to share. I try to be cynical, but I can’t keep up.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 7 - Ethics

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 11:00:00 GMT

The elimination of all measures of worth besides price leaves us lost in a world where, with the removal of price, we have no ability to make judgements whatsoever. This is perhaps the single most debilitating impact of Late Capitalism.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum on Gaming

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 11:00:00 GMT

A response to some comments about Steam and a note on an interesting quote from Andre Gide.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 6 - Spotify and the Destruction of Culture

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Spotify represents a case study in how the logic of Late Capitalism ramifies throughout our lives in ways that destroys fundamental aspects of our culture. Our love of music is leveraged to destroy the ecosystem of music creation and enjoyment. The pattern represented by Spotify is repeated throughout every cultural sphere.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 5

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 11:00:00 GMT

So much for Free Will. Herein Nietzsche attacks the whole question of Free Will - not taking a side but simply pointing out the meaninglessness of most of the conversations surrounding free will.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 5 - We Know the Price of Everything, the Value of Nothing - and the Price of Nothing

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 11:00:00 GMT

In an almost Zen Koan kind of way, Late Capitalism increasingly immerses us in a society where we are simultaneously told money is THE most important value but wherein we are no longer able to even determine the price of things. This fundamental rewriting of our assumed economic structure - wherein we can make informed decisions - is eroding the dubious yet pervasive idea that somehow if we get our finances correct everything will work out.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 4

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Nietzsche rejects Sensualism, Materialism, Metaphysics and any simple understanding of Science with his core concern - an Ethics built on Joy and Vigour derived from a Will to Power that he sees in all life. It is not error he is against, but error that leads to sleepiness. Nietzsche wants a philosophy that wakes us up.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 4 - The End of History

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 11:00:00 GMT

One of the social impacts of Late Capitalism is the undermining of our sense of history. Expanding on a pre-existing pattern in American culture, which partly explains why the US is at the forefront of financialization, the loss of a historical sense disorients us in an endless, meaningless present. The logic of Late Capitalism consistently works to gather our attention, emphasize the individual, and disorient us in a world without value except for cash.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 3

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Having attacked most western philosophy, Nietzsche presents one of his core arguments - that all these claims to universal truth and discovery are simply a self-serving pose on the part of philosophers. Understanding his argument fundamentally alters the way we think not just about philosophy, but the construction of our understanding of the world itself.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 3 - The "Logic" of Financialization

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 11:00:00 GMT

The creeping presence of Financialization would not be so upsetting if it weren’t that it represents such an odd/counterintuitive world view. The logic of Late Capitalism is not, for the average person, either intuitive or even really comprehensible. So we are surrounded by systems that operate on alien logic designed, as often as not, to exploit us.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 2

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Wow, Nietzsche rolls out all the rhetorical cannons to open Beyond Good and Evil. He attempts to undercut both the history and focus of Western philosophy and introduce a new basis of thinking based on a different approach to understanding the human.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q17: The Planet?

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q17: The Planet?

“I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them. The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms – greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge – has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you.” WallStreet

Poverty, ignorance, illness and other problems of that kind are not metaphysical emergencies. By the metaphysical nature of man and of existence, man has to maintain his life by his own effort; the values he needs—such as wealth or knowledge—are not given to him automatically, as a gift of nature, but have to be discovered and achieved by his own thinking and work. Rand Virtue of Selfishness

Grazing offers a bounty of benefits

Increased diversity of plant and animal species. Control of invasive plant species, such as yellow starthistle. Habitat restoration for threatened and endangered species.

Controlling erosion from water runoff for improved water quality. Improving vegetation along stream banks and watershed health. Reducing wildfire threat from rangeland fires. Offering visually attractive vistas. Preventing fragmentation of habitat from housing and commercial development and maintaining connected wildlife corridors.

Preserving open space in a rapidly growing state. Providing food for consumers.

If we really want to reduce the human impact on the environment, the simplest and cheapest thing anyone can do is to eat less meat. Behind most of the joints of beef or chicken on our plates is a phenomenally wasteful, land- and energy-hungry system of farming that devastates forests, pollutes oceans, rivers, seas and air, depends on oil and coal, and is significantly responsible for climate change. The way we breed animals is now recognised by the UN, scientists, economists and politicians as giving rise to many interlinked human and ecological problems, but with 1 billion people already not having enough to eat and 3 billion more mouths to feed within 50 years, the urgency to rethink our relationship with animals is extreme.

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 2 - Financialization

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Financialization

The creeping intervention of global financial actors into every aspect of our lives is an often overlooked, but profound, aspect of late capitalism. These actors follow a very different logic from that of normal commerce. To appreciate the depths of the penetration of these actors I recommend an experiment where one tries to live for a week spending only cash and avoiding all major chains.

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Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 1

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

This read along series presents one of Nietzsche’s most important and confusing works. Written after Thus Spake Zarathustra, it continues to develop some of his central themes and attempts to reground Ethics in a completely new fashion.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q16: Nihilism?

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q16: Nihilism?

Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.

Structuralism: The term ‘structuralism’ can be applied to any analysis that emphasizes structures and relations, but it usually designates a twentieth-century European (especially French) school of thought that applies the methods of structural linguistics to the study of social and cultural phenomena. Starting from the insight that social and cultural phenomena are not physical objects and events but objects and events with meaning, and that their signification must therefore be a focus of analysis, structuralists reject causal analysis and any attempt to explain social and cultural phenomena one-by-one. Rather, they focus on the internal structure of cultural objects and, more importantly, the underlying structures that make them possible.

Existentialism: Sartre's slogan—“existence precedes essence”—may serve to introduce what is most distinctive of existentialism, namely, the idea that no general, non-formal account of what it means to be human can be given, since that meaning is decided in and through existing itself.

Marxism: "The first premise of all human history is, of course, the existence of living human individuals. Thus the first fact to be established is the physical organisation of these individuals and their consequent relation to the rest of nature." Marx Feuerbach

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Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Ep. 1

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

The revolution has happened, and we are its victims. If you feel a bit hopeless and disoriented by the world today, this is not just you or some random happenstance. You are being disoriented, and your sense of hope is being systematically undermined by a global economic logic—Late Capitalism—that has come to dominate almost every aspect of our lives. This series is not meant to be anti-commerce or intentionally backward-looking, but rather an attempt to situate ourselves relative to the realities of the world we now inhabit.

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Reading vs. TV

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

A reflection on the relative nature of Reading vs TV and the peculiarities of both mediums. Indeed, given how much time we spend engaged in watching various kinds of media, I think it is a bit shocking how little time we spend reflecting on the nature of the media and how it impacts us.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q15: Truth?

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q15: Truth?

Principia Mathematica

The aim of the book is to set a limit to thought, or rather — not to thought, but to the expression of thoughts: for in order to be able to set a limit to thought, we should have to find both sides of the limit thinkable (i.e. we should have to be able to think what cannot be thought).

It will therefore only be in language that the limit can be set, and what lies on the other side of the limit will simply be nonsense. Wittgenstein Tractus

In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavat Geeta, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial; and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence, so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions. I lay down the book and go to my well for water, and lo! there I meet the servant of the Brahmin, priest of Brahma, and Vishnu and Indra, who still sits in his temple on the Ganges reading the Vedas, or dwells at the root of a tree with his crust and water-jug. I meet his servant come to draw water for his master, and our buckets as it were grate together in the same well. The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges. Thoreau Walden

Once it's been proved to you that you're descended from an ape, it's no use pulling a face; just accept it. Once they've proved to you that a single droplet of your own fat must be dearer to you than a hundred thousand of your fellow human beings and consequently that all so-called virtues and duties are nothing but ravings and prejudices, then accept that too, because there's nothing to be done. Dostoyevsky Notes from the Underground

1893 World Parliament of Religion in Chicago

Religious leaders from all over the world from dozens of different faith groups gathered to discuss religious and philosophical concepts. Under the

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Primates In Space: Primates Are Stressed (Conclusion) - Ep. 12

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

The accumulated gap between our environment and our needs as primates have grown increasingly large over the last 100 years. As a result virtually every measure of health and well being have become shockingly negative. Yet we have little sense of why or what is happening because the systemic issues we face are difficult to identify in the sea of changes we experience in the world since the industrial revolution.

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Narrativium

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

We continually tell ourselves stories about every aspect of our lives. Taking a little time to reflect on the stories we tell ourselves is often quite revelatory about how our thinking is directed and limited. Likely it is impossible for humans to live without a rich life filled with stories, but the stories are often under our control to a remarkable degree.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q14: What is this science thing?

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q14: What is this science thing?

Now my method, though hard to practice, is easy to explain; and it is this. I propose to establish progressive stages of certainty. The evidence of the sense, helped and guarded by a certain process of correction, I retain. But the mental operation which follows the act of sense I for the most part reject; and instead of it I open and lay out a new and certain path for the mind to proceed in, starting directly from the simple sensuous perception. Novum Organum 1620

Empiricism and idealism alike are faced with a problem to which, so far, philosophy has found no satisfactory solution. This is the problem of showing how we have knowledge of other things than ourself and the operations of our own mind. Bertrand Russell (1945)

James Watt creates a really good steam engine around 1790

Maxwell and Boltzmann establish a kinetic theory of gas 1860s.

Having invented the dye [1856], Perkin was still faced with the problems of raising the capital for producing it, manufacturing it cheaply, adapting it for use in dyeing cotton, gaining acceptance for it among commercial dyers, and creating public demand for it. He was active in all of these areas: he persuaded his father to put up the capital, and his brothers to partner with him to build a factory; he invented a mordant for cotton; he gave technical advice to the dyeing industry; and he publicised his invention of the dye. William Perkin

Between 1405 and 1433 Ming China sent out huge "Treasure Fleets" to the Indian Ocean and beyond. Then Stopped.

1877 Thomas Edison establishes one of the first pure research and development labs in Menlo Park.

Currently, world research and development spending is in excess of one TRILLION dollars.

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Primates In Space: Primates Go Wild - Ep. 11

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

While the industrial revolution is widely recognized as a turning point in human history, less well appreciated is why it has been so influential. Each of the developments were undoubtedly important, however I argue it has been the rate of change that has had a greater impact than any particular change. As primates we are simply incapable of adapting as quickly as we have been presented with change and the stress is definitely showing.

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Andre Gide and Marcel Proust

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Two famous works that critiqued the Moral structure of turn of the century French society did so in entirely different ways. While Gide is more known for his critique, I argue Proust’s critique is far, far more important and powerful. Both authors are worth reading, however, it is Proust who forces us to join him in his reconsideration of whether we are aware of the fact or not.

Image attributions: See page for author, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q13: Enlightened?

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q13: Enlightened?

We can see from this that the sovereign power, absolute, sacred and inviolable as it is, does not and cannot exceed the limits of general conventions, and that every man may dispose at will of such goods and liberty as these conventions leave him; so that the Sovereign never has a right to lay more charges on one subject than on another, because, in that case, the question becomes particular, and ceases to be within its competency. Rousseau Social Contract

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Once your faith, sir, persuades you to believe what your intelligence declares to be absurd, beware lest you likewise sacrifice your reason in the conduct of your life. In days gone by, there were people who said to us: "You believe in incomprehensible, contradictory and impossible things because we have commanded you to; now then, commit unjust acts because we likewise order you to do so." Nothing could be more convincing. Certainly anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. If you do not use the intelligence with which God endowed your mind to resist believing impossibilities, you will not be able to use the sense of injustice which God planted in your heart to resist a command to do evil. Once a single faculty of your soul has been tyrannized, all the other faculties will submit to the same fate. This has been the cause of all the religious crimes that have flooded the earth. Voltaire Question of Miracles

admit no more causes of natural things than are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances,
to the same natural effect, assign the same causes,
qualities of bodies, which are found to belong to all bodies within experiments, are to be esteemed universal, and
propositions collected from observation of phenomena should be viewed as accurate or very nearly true until contradicted by other phenomena. Newton Principia (third edition?)

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Primates In Space: Primates Take Over - Ep. 10

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The combination of new crops, new outlooks, new technologies but, most importantly, the expansion of the primate intellectual and imaginative capacities led to the explosive growth in human population that created the world we live in today.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q12: What was reborn?

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q12: What was reborn?

1374 death of Petrarch 1413 Brunelleschi systematizes perspective

1439 Movable Press 1492 Columbus 1514 More's Utopia and Machiavelli's The Prince 1528 Castiglionie's The Courtier 1543 Copernicus The Revolution of the Heavens

No one, it seems to me, can hope to equal Augustine. Who, nowadays, could hope to equal one who, in my judgment, was the greatest in an age fertile in great minds? Petrarch.

When evening comes, I return home and enter my study; on the threshold I take off my workday clothes, covered with mud and dirt, and put on the garments of court and palace. Fitted out appropriately, I step inside the venerable courts of the ancients, where, solicitously received by them, I nourish myself on that food that alone is mine and for which I was born; where I am unashamed to converse with them and to question them about the motives for their actions, and they, out of their human kindness, answer me. And for four hours at a time I feel no boredom, I forget all my troubles, I do not dread poverty, and I am not terrified by death. I absorb myself into them completely. Machiavelli

I have turned my entire attention to Greek. The first thing I shall do, as soon as the money arrives, is to buy some Greek authors; after that, I shall buy clothes. Erasmus

Many will think they may reasonably blame me by alleging that my proofs are opposed to the authority of certain men held in the highest reverence by their inexperienced judgments; not considering that my works are the issue of pure and simple experience, who is the one true mistress. These rules are sufficient to enable you to know the true from the false — and this aids men to look only for things that are possible and with due moderation — and not to wrap yourself in ignorance, a thing which can have no good result, so that in despair you would give yourself up to melancholy. da Vinci

Utopus having understood that before his coming among them the old inhabitants had been engaged in great quarrels concerning religion, by which they were so divided among themselves, that he found it an easy thing to conquer them, since, instead of uniting their forces against him, every different party in religion fought by themselves. After he had subdued them he made a law that every man might be of what religion he pleased, and might endeavour to draw others to it by the force of argument and by amicable and modest ways, but without bitterness against those of other opinions; but that he ought to use no other force but that of persuasion, and was neither to mix with it reproaches nor violence; and such as did otherwise were to be condemned to banishment or slavery. Thomas More (Utopia)

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Primates In Space: Primates Discover The Printing Press- Ep. 9

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Despite the general acknowledgement of the importance of the printing press, I argue that why the press had such an impact is largely misunderstood. The printing press was the technology that most powerfully transitioned us from a face to face very personal experience of the world to one in which abstraction, distance, time and imagination slowly came to dominate our experience of the world.

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America As Seen From France - A Follow Up On Consumerism

Sat, 18 Oct 2025 15:00:00 GMT

A follow up to my lecture on America seen from France that explores in more detail some of the data behind American consumerism and how this translates into lived experience. In sum, while consumerism is a real issue everywhere, the comparisons between Europe and the US mask how utterly dedicated the US is to consumerism as a way of life.

Image Attribution: Lionel Allorge, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Baudrillard, the Simulacra and You

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 15:00:00 GMT

Following a question from a Patreon member, here is a reflection on Baudrillard and his theory of the Simulacra and how it relates to us and our condition today. Spoiler alert, I’m pretty sure he was really accurate in his analysis of the problem. Seemingly much less helpful, however, in what we can do about the position we find ourselves today.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q11: Why Golden?

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 18:45:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q11: Why Golden?

800 ad Abbasid Capital is established in Baghdad displacing the Umayids

801-873 Al Kindi and the Translation Movement

980-1037 Avicenna Medicine, Philosophy Bukhara

1126-1200 Averroes and the Al-Andalus

1258 Mongols sack Baghdad and destroy most libraries and books

Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī played a significant role in the development of algebra, arithmetic and Hindu-Arabic numerals. He has been described as the father of algebra. Another Persian mathematician, Omar Khayyam, is credited with identifying the foundations of algebraic geometry and found the general geometric solution of the cubic equation. His book Treatise on Demonstrations of Problems of Algebra (1070), which laid down the principles of algebra, is part of the body of Persian mathematics that was eventually transmitted to Europe. Yet another Persian mathematician, Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī, found algebraic and numerical solutions to various cases of cubic equations. He also developed the concept of a function.

Ibn al-Haytham was the first to explain that vision occurs when light reflects from an object and then passes to one's eyes. And he was the first to point out that vision occurs in the brain, rather than in the eyes. He was also an early proponent of the concept that a hypothesis must be proved by experiments based on confirmable procedures or mathematical evidence—hence understanding the scientific method five centuries before Renaissance scientists.

Hospitals, Pharmacies, medical case studies, drug testing, trade with China, Travel writing, histories, philosophy, linguistic studies, literature, educational institutions, hydrology, astronomy.

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Primates In Space: Primates Discover Iron - Ep. 8

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Wow, Iron is a huge, huge deal. Both the impact of the Iron itself and the cultural infrastructure necessary to harness the potential of Iron contributed to a revolution in civilization and a noticeable increase in both the global population and the rate of population increase. In some ways, Iron is likely as significant a contributor to civilization's growth as agriculture.

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America As Seen From France

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

A reflection on some of the differences I have experienced between France and the US. I start with some, at least to me, startling statistics about French working lives and economic situation and then expand to a more subjective sense of what I have ‘felt’ living in France that is quite distinct from the US. Delivered in lieu of my cancelled lecture.

Image Attribution: Lionel Allorge, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q10: So, About God...?

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q10: So, About God?

Timeline of Catholicism

313 Legalization of Christianity under Constantine

325-800 Beginning with the Council of Nicaea a series of councils attempt to deal with various controversies and Heresies.

900-1200 Catholic Church consolidates Papal primacy and civil power and begins to systematize church hierarchy.

1200-1520 Beginning of the Inquisition and rise of the power of the Franciscans and Dominicans as enforcers of Church authority ending in the Reformation.

Gnosticism 100: The word is the manifestation of a lesser being that deceives us about our own divinity and the true nature of the universal spirit.

Arianism 300: Long running debate about the nature of Christ and the Trinity. Arianism denies that Christ was equal to God but rather subordinate and created by God. Essentially a type of Monotheism in debate with the concept of the Trinity.

Pelagianism 400: Man is not born with original sin, men's will is sufficient to live a perfect life, grace of god is helpful but no necessary to good works.

Catharism 1130-1300: Two gods - Old Testament god is evil, New Testament God is good and they are at war. Christ is an Angel so no actual resurrection.

Henricians 1130-1180: Rejects authority of the central church, the Gospels openly read as the sole foundation of truth, most all organized forms of worship.

Fraticelli 1270-1440: Strict adherence to a vow of poverty. All wealth and property were seen as falling from the true teaching of Christ.

American Liberalism 1176-today: Pope Leo XIII (1895 and 1899) Condemned many aspects of American liberalism - particularly separation of church and state, freedom of speech, divorce laws, and reliance on reason.

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Primates In Space: Primates Discover God - Ep. 7

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 11:00:00 GMT

The Anthropological and Archaeological records strongly suggest we love, love, love creating gods. Whether via animism or anthropomorphic super-beings, humans seem to love placing ourselves within the context of a world filled with supernatural beings different from, yet fundamentally similar to humans.

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Ishiguro and McEwan

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Two well regarded authors to the impact of AI robots and their impacts on humans as their subjects for novels. The results are a fascinating contrast in tone, style, and emphasis that highlights the many different reasons, and ways, we read.

Image credit: https://easy-peasy.ai

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q9: The New World?

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q9: The New World?

Mayan Civilization

2,000-750 B.C. earliest developments

750 B.C. to 250 A.D. Cities, construction of monumental architecture

250- 900 A.D. Long Count Calendar and spread of city states. Height of Mayan Civilization

900-1500 Post classical period, shift in power centers, fragmentation.

1500-1600 Contact and conquest by the Spanish

Aztec Civilization

600 A.D. Nahuatl speaking peoples begin to settle in Mexico

600-1400 The Mixica and related groups travel around central Mexico without settling and forming an identifiable civilization.

1435-1522 founding of the Captial city of Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco and expansion of Aztec empire

Aztec Philosophy

Nahua metaphysics is processive. Process, movement, becoming and transmutation are essential attributes of teotl. Teotl is properly understood as ever-flowing and ever-changing energy-in-motion -- not as a discrete, static entity. Because doing so better reflects teotl's dynamic and processual nature, I suggest . . word "teotl" as a verb denoting process and movement rather than as a noun denoting a discrete static entity. So construed, "teotl" refers to the eternal, universal process of teotlizing. James Maffie

"on earth we travel, we live along a mountain peak. Over here there is an abyss, over there there is an abyss. Wherever thou art to deviate, wherever thou art to go astray, there will thou fall, there wilt thou plunge into the deep" (Sahagun 1953-82:VI,p.125).

Mayan Philosophy

It this unfolding that is described by the Popol Vuh itself. The connection of daykeeping to humans as a central function is of particular importance. Humans play a pivotal role in ordering of the cosmos and its continual creation. The ordering of the days does no happen without humans . . . The world is structured in and through time. (Alexus McLeod)

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Primates In Space: Primates Discover Writing - Ep. 6

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Perhaps THE breakthrough that makes the major components of civilization possible, writing transformed our capacity to understand both the world and ourselves. Nonetheless, literacy was historically exceedingly rare and even today is not universally considered an important capacity.

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Investment is not the Pope

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Our powerful belief in the economic narrative of investment and growth blinds us to the actual nature of the world we experience and the problems we face. Much like Luther’s critique of the Catholic church, re-thinking this concept would be so disruptive as to cause a complete rethink of our approach to economic challenges - something we are so far unwilling to do.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q8: Why is life so hard?

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q8: Why is life so hard?

1 All existence is dukkha. The word dukkha has been variously translated as ‘suffering’, ‘anguish’, ‘pain’, or ‘unsatisfactoriness’. The Buddha’s insight was that our lives are a struggle, and we do not find ultimate happiness or satisfaction in anything we experience. This is the problem of existence.

2. The cause of dukkha is craving. The natural human tendency is to blame our difficulties on things outside ourselves. But the Buddha says that their actual root is to be found in the mind itself. In particular our tendency to grasp at things (or alternatively to push them away) places us fundamentally at odds with the way life really is.

3. The cessation of dukkha comes with the cessation of craving. As we are the ultimate cause of our difficulties, we are also the solution. We cannot change the things that happen to us, but we can change our responses.

4. There is a path that leads from dukkha. Although the Buddha throws responsibility back on to the individual he also taught methods through which we can change ourselves, for example the Noble Eightfold Path.

Right Understanding or Perfect Vision

Right Resolve or Perfect Emotion

Right Speech or Perfect Speech

Right Action or Perfect Action

Right Livelihood or Perfect Livelihood

Right Effort or Perfect Effort

Right Mindfulness or Perfect Awareness

Right Meditation or Perfect Samadhi

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Primates In Space: Primates Discover Cities - Ep. 5

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 13:00:00 GMT

With the excess food available from the slow transition to Agriculture, cities began to form approximately 12,000 years ago. Nonetheless, as recently as 100 years ago most humans still did not live in urban settings. We are still learning how to adjust both mentally and culturally to putting so many primates in such a small area.

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Your Philosophy is not Right (Neither is Mine)

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 13:00:00 GMT

A reflection on the way in which Philosophy and its uses is so often misrepresented as an attempt to be RIGHT. However, this mistakes the power of philosophy and how it can help us understand our lives and our world.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q7: Where is the universe?

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 13:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q7: Where is the universe?

He who sees all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings, he

never turns away from It (the Self).

He who perceives all beings as the Self' for him how can there be

delusion or grief, when he sees this oneness (everywhere) ?

He (the Self) is all-encircling, resplendent, bodiless, spotless,

without sinews, pure, untouched by sin, all-seeing, all-knowing,

transcendent, self-existent; He has disposed all things duly for

eternal years. (Isa-Upanishad 6-8)

This Self is never born, nor does It die. It did not spring from

anything, nor did anything spring from It. This Ancient One is

unborn, eternal, everlasting. It is not slain even though the

body is slain.

If the slayer thinks that he slays, or if the slain thinks that

he is slain, both of these know not. For It neither slays nor is

It slain.

The Self is subtler than the subtle, greater than the great; It

dwells in the heart of each living being. He who is free from

desire and free from grief, with mind and senses tranquil,

beholds the glory of the Atman.

The wise who know the Self, bodiless, seated within perishable

bodies, great and all- pervading, grieve not.

This Self cannot be attained by study of the Scriptures, nor by

intellectual perception, nor by frequent hearing (of It); He whom

the Self chooses, by him alone is It attained. To him the Self

reveals Its true nature. (Katha-Upanishads II, 18-23)

When Brahma's day is manifest, this multitude of living entities comes into being, and at the arrival of Brahma's night they are all annihilated.

Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Partha, and they are helplessly dissolved.

Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.

That supreme abode is called unmanifested and infallible, and it is the supreme destination. When one goes there, he never comes back. That is My supreme abode.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him. (Bhagavad-Gita 8- 18-22)

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Primates In Space: Primates Discover Agriculture - Ep. 4

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

After Art and Tools, Agriculture is clearly one of the most significant breakthroughs in the evolution of human culture. The changes both socially and intellectually necessary to enable a transition to sedentary cereal growing are likely still incomplete.

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Cultivating The Intellect

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

A brief argument for a few habits of mind and time use that are necessary for developing a life of the mind. Not overly prescriptive, but time for quiet reflection, spending time with powerful people that inform and inspire, and creating an outlet for one’s own discoveries are central to experiencing our own power.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q6: What can we learn from nature?

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q6: What can we learn from nature?

Hundred Schools of Thought (600-200 B.C.)

Legalism: Humans are inherently corrupt and social order can only be maintained through strict hierarchy that imposes order through force.

Mohism: Human society is best served through equality, frugality, and ethical education focused on helping people understand their own best interests. An early example of utilitarian and materialist thinking.

Logicians: Focused on correct thinking, argumentation, naming and use of language as the method best suited to understanding the world and discovering right action. Placed heavy emphasis on reason.

Confucianism: Emphasis on the founding of social order in hierarchy, family, conformity to social roles, the native goodness of human beings and the central role of education.

The sense of compassion is the beginning of benevolence; the sense of shame the beginning of righteousness; the sense of modesty the beginning of decorum; the sense of right and wrong the beginning of wisdom. Man possesses these four beginnings just as he possesses four limbs. Anyone possessing these four and saying that he can not do what is required of him is abasing himself. Mencius

Treat with reverence due to age the elders in your own family, so that those in the families of others shall be similarly treated; treat with the kindness due to youth the young in your own family, so that those in the families of others shall be similarly treated—do this and the kingdom may be made to go round in your palm. It is said in the 'Book of Poetry,'

'His example acted on his wife,

Extended to his brethren,

And was felt by all the clans and States;'

Rén (仁, benevolence, humaneness); Yì (義/义, righteousness or justice);

Lǐ (禮/礼, proper rite); Zhì (智, knowledge); Xìn (信, integrity).

Zhōng (忠, loyalty); Xiào (孝, filial piety);

Jié (節/节, contingency); Yì (義/义, righteousness).

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Primates In Space: Primates Discover Art - Ep. 3

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Likely more important than tool use and necessary for the development of more sophisticated tools, the development and creation of art marks the fundamental development of the modern mind. Here we see the imagination put to work in ways that fundamentally altered both the world and how we understood and understand the world today. At the very dawn of the Upper Paleolithic the arts become central to human society.

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Death Of Our Narrative

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

It may feel like the end of the world, but it is mostly just the end of our conception of how the world works. When our fundamental values shift then it often undermines our sense of order and prevents the coherent presentation of political arguments. However, and hopefully, it also represents the opening for new ideas and systems to develop

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q5: Why was the past so great?

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q5: Why was the past so great?

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Primates In Space: Primates Make Tools - Ep. 2

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Tool use has evolved more slowly and means something different than has generally been understood. Over three million years of practice with tools led, eventually, to a revolution not so much in tools as in the social structure and mental outlook of the primates we are.

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Bergson's Day-Planner

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 18:02:01 GMT

Henri Bergson explored the tensions between two different conceptions of time - the objective/scientific and the subjective/experienced. The latter he called la duree’ and, despite being how we sense the world, it has been almost totally overwhelmed by the objective measure as represented by the Day-Planner mindset.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q4: How should we govern?

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q4: How should we govern?

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article I – Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common good.

Article II – The goal of any political association is the conservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, safety and resistance against oppression.

Article III – The principle of any sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation. No body, no individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation

Article IV – Liberty consists of doing anything which does not harm others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders which assure other members of the society the fruition of these same rights. These borders can be determined only by the law. (Rights of Man)

German Basic Law (Grundgesetz) Article 3 [Equality before the law] (1) All persons shall be equal before the law. (2) Men and women shall have equal rights. The state shall promote the actual implementation of equal rights for women and men and take steps to eliminate disadvantages that now exist. (3) No person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions. No person shall be disfavoured because of disability.

China is one of the countries with the longest histories in the world. The people of all nationalities in China have jointly created a splendid culture and have a glorious revolutionary tradition. Feudal China was gradually reduced after 1840 to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. The Chinese people waged wave upon wave of heroic struggles for national independence and liberation and for democracy and freedom. Great and earth-shaking historical changes have taken place in China in the 20th century. The Revolution of 1911, led by Dr Sun Yat-sen, abolished the feudal monarchy and gave birth to the Republic of China. But the Chinese people had yet to fulfil their historical task of overthrowing imperialism and feudalism. After waging hard, protracted and tortuous struggles, armed and otherwise, the Chinese people of all nationalities led by the Communist Party of China with Chairman Mao Zedong as its leader ultimately, in 1949, overthrew the rule of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism, won the great victory of the new-democratic revolution and founded the People's Republic of China. Thereupon the Chinese people took state power into their own hands and became masters of the country. (Preamble Chinese Constitution)

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Primates In Space: Intro - Ep. 1

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

An introduction to a new series exploring the profound influence our primate heritage has had over milennia in shaping practically every aspect of our world today. A different approach that I hope will open some of the deep structures that shape our understanding of the world.

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Exploitation

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

We often think of corporations as primarily destructive for their exploitation of natural resources. However, it is possible that the destruction of the social fabric of countries and communities is even more damaging to our long term health. Yet, this is a little commented on aspect of the Capitalist worldview.

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q3: How should people live?

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 17:32:28 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q3: How should people live?

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Plato's Symposium: The End - Ep. 14

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

A few thoughts to take us out. Most importantly Plato provides a model - as well as a trap - for us as we pursue philosophy and thinking in general. Thanks to everyone who read along with me!

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Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Our society's obsession with Data and Information leads to a series of systematic errors in both our understanding of the world and how we approach all kinds of problems we face. We refuse to accept that DATA and INFORMATION cannot solve what are fundamentally ethical problems. In any case, many of our challenges are not soluble but aspects of the human condition that can only be addressed in different ways depending on circumstances.

Image attribution: Sketchplanations

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q2: What the hell is going on?

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q2: What the hell is going on?

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Plato's Symposium: Tracking The Influence 2 - Ep. 13

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Other than our concept of Romantic Love, Body Soul Split, Self-Improvement and Truth, Plato really has had no influence at all . . . I mean, Plato is just everywhere - I mean EVERYWHERE!

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Plato's Symposium: Q & A #2 - Ep. 12

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Wes and Jeremy take questions from PATREON members on Plato's Symposium Lectures 4-11

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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q1: What the hell happened?

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q1: What the hell happened?

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Plato's Symposium: Tracking The Influence - Ep. 11

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The influence of Plato grows from the repeated introduction of Platonic ideas into Catholicism, Calvinism, Humanism, Romanacism, Enlightenment thought and even Scientific Rationalism. Platonic ideals surround us in so many ways it is difficult to actually narrow our focus to a few key points.

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Plato's Symposium: Q & A #1 - Ep. 5

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Wes and Jeremy take questions from Patreon members on Plato's Symposium, Lectures 1 - 4

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A Reflection on Taoism

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Our culture in theory tells us not to be stressed and filled with anxiety yet structurally virtually guarantees we will feel this way. Taoism works the other way around and singles out stress and anxiety as signs that whatever you are doing something is going wrong because those are feelings that demonstrate you are not living in harmony with the great Tao.

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Plato's Symposium: Enter Alcibiades - Ep. 10

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Enter Alcibiades - seemingly disrupting the entire structure of Plato’s dialogue, he actually works to underscore the power and truth of Socrates’ argument without ever actually engaging with the claims Socrates has made. We see and hear the quality of Socrates as a person rather than engage with the rationality of his thought. A masterclass in using misdirection and action to make arguments that would be impossible to support or articulate more directly.

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The Transvaluation of All Values: Conclusion - Ep. 9

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

If you feel confused and uneasy in a seemingly directionless world you are not crazy. We are experiencing a rapid transformation in all of the elements that create a sense of meaning and belonging and we both need, and perhaps, must create a new set of values if we are to regain a sense of peace.

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Plato's Symposium: The Speech of Diotima - Ep. 9

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Wow, after all the build up, Socrates - through the voice of Diotima - delivers a truly radical conception of the nature of love. That it might lead us to personal divinity is perhaps the single most powerful in this section of the dialogue.

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Techno Feudalism: A Follow Up

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Thanks for the questions and comments. A quick follow up to techno feudalism exploring some of the ideas in a little more depth and clarity - at least hopefully.

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The Transvaluation of All Values: Weight, Weigher and Measure - Ep. 8

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

When our social narratives fail us, we are thrown back onto the values we create and defend. We can, and should, be the final arbiter of our world.

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Plato's Symposium: Agathon and Socrates - Ep. 8

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The final set-up for Socrates’ speech establishes both the importance of one who knows above generally accepted wisdom as well as the complete dismissal of the mythological concepts as presented so far. Plato has Socrates present a stunning refutation of the whole idea that what everyone has said so far can actually be true as a way of beginning his presentation of THE TRUTH.

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Techno Feudalism

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Jean-Francois Lyotard, Gilles Deleuze, Foucault, Baudrillard all discussed major aspects of what is today often called Techno-Feudalism. While some of the modern conceptions are certainly apt and insightful, they often overlook the fundamental trick being played on us of extracting value from us while pretending to provide value for us. Further, this is not post-industrial but rather industrialism gone wild in its consumption of capital, mining, manufacturing, building, energy and human capacity. When we think it is both necessary and somehow ‘information’ rather than forced on us and industrial, we miss a lot of what is happening in our world.

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The Transvaluation of All Values: West Africa 2 - Ep. 7

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

A further exploration of the ways in which a willingness to open ourselves to the cultural influence of West Africa could potentially really help transform our lives for the better.

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Plato's Symposium: The Speech of Aristophanes - Ep. 7

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 10:39:13 GMT

While these speeches seem very different - and they are on the surface - they actually articulate a similar outlook expressed in very different terms. The idea of love driving us towards a unity with a universal force is key to understanding Plato’s ideas of Love and why and how he has been so influential.

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The Transvaluation of All Values: Can West Africa Save Us? - Ep. 6

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

If you feel your current values are failing then one needs to search for new values. One readily available set of values is provided by the influence of West Africa that still exists in the United States.

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Plato's Symposium: The Speech of Pausanias - Ep.6

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

So much for Phaedrus. Plato quickly moves to present core elements of his world view while undercutting the simple love for the gods. Again, everything is political, philosophical and very critical of his society all at the same time. Notice all of the now common concepts that Plato is sneaking in under the guise of a simple set of hymns to praise the gods. What could be wrong with that??

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The Transvaluation of All Values: Joy not Fear - Ep. 5

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Shockingly, people are immersed in a series of internal narratives that impose a sense of threat and fear as a core element of existence. Embracing Joy, like Play, fundamentally alters our experience of the world and more accurately reflects the world we find ourselves inhabiting.

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Plato's Symposium: The Speech of Phaedrus - Ep. 4

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The first speech comes from Phaedrus. He is sincere and well intentioned but delivers a seemingly very limited take on the nature of Love. As ever, there is a level of philosophy, politics and religious argumentation going on that is not that obvious on the surface.

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The Transvaluation of All Values: Play not Work - Ep. 4

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

In a world of almost unimaginable opportunity to express ourselves, we still maintain a sense of ‘work’ as our defining characteristic. Embracing a sense of Play in our lives seems like we are abandoning our duties and subjecting ourselves to soul crushing poverty.

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Plato's Symposium: Socrates & Apollodorus - Ep. 3

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

We reach the text itself. Hopefully I clarify why there is this strange framing element to the Symposium and the degree to which many of the seemingly odd asides and quotes are actually core to Plato’s general assault on the mytho-poetic concepts of Hellenistic society.

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Plato's Symposium: Introduction - Ep. 2

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Well, forgot to mention that both the Reformation and the Enlightenment were heavily influenced by Platonic thought(!). As a test, if you’ve ever thought that SCIENCE is THE path to the TRUTH; congratulations, you’re a Neoplatonist.

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The Transvaluation of All Values: You are not a Slave- Ep. 3

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

YOU ARE NOT A SLAVE:

Despite being by almost any measure some of the freest people in history, we consistently use language and express patterns suggesting we are in fact still peasant, serfs or slaves.

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Plato's Symposium: Introduction - Ep. 1

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Two main points in this introduction:

First, Plato is in deadly earnest in these dialogues trying to work out how his society and his class were crushed in a war and subject to tyranny and what, if anything, could be done.

Second, Plato has had an unbelievable impact on our conception of the world through his influence on Christianity. Further, as we will explore in later episodes, his thinking is also foundational to the Enlightenment and Humanism - two intellectual movements that undercut the power of Christianity in Western thought while, oddly, increasing the influence of the already overwhelming power of Platonic thought. In sum, Plato reigns supreme.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? - Real Estate Special - Ep. 13

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Just a follow up to discuss the forces that shape the global real estate market and how our standard response - supply and demand - reveals the degree to which our minds are captured by a wild oversimplification of economic forces and the benighted nature of our collective imaginations faced with economic challenges.

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The Transvaluation of All Values: The Individual and The Community - Ep. 2

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COMMUNITY:

Another aspect of confusion comes from a loss of our immediate community that throws us onto an ever increasing sense of individualism and, hence, isolation. We struggle mightily to address the very rapid transition from life patterns established in small scale communities to individualism and national or even global patterns of thought.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 12

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 10:00:22 GMT

CONCLUSION:

The conclusion to the capitalism series wherein I ramble a bit about the major concepts we have explored and why I think it is so important at this juncture in history to think about the influence capitalism has had on our conception of ourselves and our world.

Also, I checked the Euro Disney prices for a family of four, not counting transportation or hotel—the cost will be between 800 and 1700 euros. The price of coffee in Paris—roughly 3 or 4 euros depending on where you are. Feel free to make your own choices . . .

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The Transvaluation of All Values: Scarcity and Abundance - Ep. 1

Wed, 28 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

SCARCITY AND ABUNDANCE:

We have inherited a set of values that are a misfit for the world we now inhabit. The tension between our past and our present is creating a strong sense of confusion and dislocation. This series explores some of the elements of this problem beginning with why, in a world of overwhelming abundance, we still feel beset by scarcity.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 11

Mon, 26 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The past tells us that our future with Capitalism is unlikely to suddenly change. Rather, we are likely to experience a slow evolution of values that undermines and constrains the power of capitalism and frees us to pursue other sets of values and create new worldviews that combine elements of the past but create new ideals for a new world.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Confucius in The Analects—Relative Wisdom - Ep. 13

Fri, 23 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

In this short parable from the Analects we see the idea that wisdom is relative both to situations and individuals. This approach to wisdom is markedly different from the notion of universal laws and absolute ontology that informs much of the Western philosophical tradition.

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How to get rich with philosophy. No, really.

Thu, 22 May 2025 10:00:24 GMT

I know this sounds like a joke, but the joke was on me. This moment in the coffee shop highlighted how deeply I have internalized our cultural definition of wealth and riches despite, in theory, spending much of my life critiquing these kinds of cultural mindsets.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 10

Mon, 19 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

We reach today and discover, like 16th century Catholics, we know all the critiques of our condition but have difficulty imagining any possible alternative. This leads supposedly quite determinedly different arguments about both politics and economics to, upon reflection, represent very similar or perhaps even identical positions. Herein lies our struggle.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Searching for what you already have (Sufism) - Ep. 12

Fri, 16 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Searching for what we already have is one of the keys, if not the key, messages of Sufism. If you are a god, what are you looking for out in the world that is not already inside of you? This and related Sufi parables remind us that what we already have is what we are looking for.

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Why is Hinduism so difficult for the West?

Wed, 14 May 2025 10:29:34 GMT

An introduction into why we find it hard to understand Hinduism. It is not a faith based religion, there is no book, there are not many actual rules or commandments, it embraces the world in all its complexities and confusions and has no impulse towards evangelism. All in all, it is very difficult for people raised in the Judeo-Christian ethos to understand what, exactly, is going on with Hinduism.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 9

Mon, 12 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

CAPITALISM: EP. 9

I argue that one of the problems we face today is simply confusion. We understand the ills of global capitalism, we are cynical about it, and we are perhaps even trying to be exploitative in response. However, none of this is really an answer to or alternative that addresses the core problems introduced by capitalism. Without new standards, whether borrowed from the past or created afresh, it is impossible to adequately respond to the many challenges we face in the world today.

*My comment on the cost of housing in the US compared to France was actually compared to the Ile de France which is the metropolitan region that includes Paris but also some outlying areas. Some parts of Paris are considerably more expensive - but some about the same. However, for the greater metropolitan area my comments are accurate - either about the same or less expensive than a small town in Washington State.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: (Zen Koan)The Sound of One Hand Clapping - Ep. 11

Fri, 09 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The "sound of one hand clapping" is a famous, now seemingly trite and often ridiculed, Zen Koan that is quite profound. The Koan asks to pause and reflect on how much of our world is filled by ghosts of our own creation that have little or no actual relation to the world. A simple, powerful and difficult Koan.

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Your are not a digital nomad.

Wed, 07 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The concept of Digital Nomadism misrepresents both the concept of digital and of nomad. By confusing these concepts a narrative is created that argues for a mode of life that is exploitative of others and generally injurious for those who attempt to pursue this path. I argue that the whole concept reveals our deep confusion about how technology shapes our lives and often damages the quality of our lives.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 8

Mon, 05 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

CAPITALISM: EP. 8

We reach the end of the narrative arc for the Neo-Liberal global order only to discover we have no idea what comes next. The nearly alien nature of the modern corporation combined with global events of the last 15 years have unmoored our old assumptions but provided little or no guidance for what comes next.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Dharma (Guruspear) in the Mahabharata - Ep. 10

Fri, 02 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

A selection from the Mahabharata that presents a completely different relationship between man and the gods than is generally present in the western world. It also expresses the deep Hindu belief in the endless cycle of living and learning that encompasses even the gods.

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No, we're not becoming dumber.

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

No, we’re not becoming dumber. However, because of the incentives of the few major companies that have a disproportionate impact on how content is exposed to us, what we encounter IS remarkably awful. This is driven, unsurprisingly, by a drive to maximize profit by exploiting the young and uneducated. Hence, we are exposed to what is likely to appeal not to the dumb, but to the inexperienced, uneducated and indeed simplistically juvenile. Combined with the incentive to provide cheapest possible content, this perverse scenario produces a media world that seems apocalyptically barren.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 7

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

CAPITALISM: EP. 7

The new entity created with the rise of the corporation was created under an old set of values and philosophies that had no precedent for thinking about what was coming with the rise of the multinational corporation. The old, intuitive models of human relations took generations to fade leaving us in uncharted territory as we tried to understand and respond to the power that had been unleashed.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵 : Two Monks and a Woman - Ep. 9

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

This classic Zen tale asks us to consider the nature or our attachments and how what we carry in our minds is as important - perhaps even more important - than the experiences we have.

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No Left Wing! (The utter absence of a Liberal party in the USA)

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

No Left Wing!

In many of my conversations with folks here in France I realize that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the political spectrum in the US and this lecture is a brief reflection on the utter absence of a Liberal or Left wing party as it would be understood in much of Europe and many other Democracies as well. Indeed, I think many Americans are confused by this as well.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 6

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

CAPITALISM: EP. 6

We have met Capitalism and it is US. The co-evolution of modern conceptions of the individual and capitalism makes it difficult for us to recognize or act on values outside the Capitalist mindset. We tend to evaluate almost everything in terms of financial returns, investments, costs, rewards etc. and imagine our buying and participation in the economy is the fundamental mode of defining ourselves.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵 : Heidegger's Hammer - Ep. 8

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

From Being and Time, this example highlights the very different ways we relate to objects in the physical world. We rarely reflect on how we interact with physical objects and how they impact our experience of the world but, indeed, there are radically different modes of being that come into play in our interactions with objects like hammers.

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Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Conclusion

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"

So why would a governor of a Russian enclave denounce Kant 200+ years later? Kant’s undercutting of metaphysics fundamentally questions all of the assumptions necessary for a tyrant like Putin to justify his brutal war in Ukraine. Notions like ‘Greater Russia’ a ‘Common People’ a ‘Shared Vision of Civilization’ ‘A Divine Mission’ are all so much metaphysical nonsense according to Kant. In its place, he appeals to the power of the individual to construct a moral order from their own reason and experience - the foundations of many of his ethical arguments. Difficult, virtually unreadable, quiet and full of integrity, Kant creates a new foundation for grounding ‘truth’ within the power of every individual human.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 5

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:09:32 GMT

CAPITALISM: EP. 5

When this new concept of man and new structure of political relations is let loose on the North American continent history starts to be rewritten. While the history and social norms of ancient societies resisted the transformations pressed for by these new forms, having eliminated the ancient societies in the Americas, the forces of Capitalism were given an opportunity for unrestrained expression. And the rest, as they say, is history.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵 : The Ox in the Alley from Chuang Tzu - Ep. 7

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 12:00:00 GMT

In this tale, originally from the work of Chuang Tzu, a simple problem illustrates two different kind of thinking errors we make in day to day life and how Taoism seeks to help us avoid them.

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Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 7

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"

Having moved on from Empiricism and Idealism, Kant now undercut the foundations of Metaphysics by putting strict limits on the power of its insights while simultaneously establishing that metaphysics is, nonetheless, the best we can do in the way of thinking. He completes his run through the foundations of philosophical history much like Napoleon smashing through Europe - he destroys a lot but it is hard to see just what he built to go in its place. Roughly speaking, phenomenology, epistemology, ontology, existentialism and language philosophers have been struggling to recover ever since.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 4

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

CAPITALISM: EP. 4

The birth of the Dutch East India Company in 1602 is a watershed moment in the history of capitalism. A new power is brought into the world that the Dutch political powers used to create wealth and compete with their neighbors. However, this company also had many unintended consequences that we are still living with today.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: The Yaksha Prashna in the Mahabharata - Ep. 6

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

In a very simplified version of the famous Yaksha parable from the Mahabharata, we encounter the strangely rich and human nature of Hindu stories. In the original, there are something like 30 different questions so I have just mentioned a few of them here.

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Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 6

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"

So we now get to the point Kant has been angling towards the whole time. What do we gain from all of this thinking for metaphysics? Answer, we gain insight into the entire possible range of human understanding - only granting that the range is quite limited. He begins his argument by refuting the two major approaches to science and thinking generally prevalent in his time; idealism and empiricism. I find Kan’t powerful critique of these two outlooks helpful to keep in mind when encountering arguments that just assume the relevance and correctness of their world view and then prove something - empiricists are particularly guilty here - with little or no reflection on the often shaky foundations of their assumptions.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 3

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

CAPITALISM: EP. 3

The need for revenue and the fracturing of the European social order that accompanied the Reformation led to the slow development of a new vision of the individual and of trade and markets that launched the capitalist world as we know it today.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Achilles in The Illiad - Ep. 5

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

One of the great moments of human compassion and expressions of the utter waste of war. While Achilles is often raised as the symbol of the ultimate warrior, here he weeps and acknowledges the pointlessness and painfulness of war.

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Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 5

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"

It turns out that Science is possible! That is the good news. The bad news is that what science actually tells us is not what we might hope. The limits of empiricism and logic are explored and the foundations of what gives science its power to analyze the world is completely re-defined in this section of the prolegomena.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 2

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

CAPITALISM: EP. 2

As a Political Philosophy Capitalism contains a theory of the individual that includes the idea of natural rights - most importantly the right to private property. However, in practice, what this amounts to is the inalienable right to sell yourself into the marketplace, an opportunity resisted by people for centuries. It is the double step of creating a private space, and then creating an idea of people and citizenship that forces people to fill that space that shapes the Capitalist world today.

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Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 4

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"

As we dive into the foundations of natural science, I pause for a moment to consider the power of Kant’s argument relative to the foundations of mathematics. His arguments have proven pretty much correct relative to the foundations of mathematics as accepted today and so I think we should pay special attention to how he understands the foundations of the natural sciences.

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Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 1

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

CAPITALISM: EP. 1

We are surrounded by the idea of capitalism but shockingly little thought is commonly given to what it is, where it has come from and where we are likely going. An attempt to rectify this in a new series. The standard definition of Capitalism:

Private ownership of the means of production and distribution.

Market-based exchange, where goods and services are produced for profit.

Competition, which drives efficiency and innovation.

Minimal government intervention, though the degree varies (e.g., laissez-faire vs. regulated capitalism).

Marx included Exploitation, wage labor and class conflict . . .

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Plutarch's Life of Theseus - Ep. 4

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 12:00:00 GMT

It seems so simple, and yet this story from Ancient Greece captures many of the problems with time, identity, and meaning - a kind of one paragraph version of Heidegger’s Being and Time. It also brings into focus, at least for me, how thinking slowly about simple things can really reveal how tenuous our grasp on the world really is.

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Major Thinkers - Ludwig Wittgenstein- Ep. 7

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Perhaps the most influential philosopher of the 20th century, he defeated Russel’s attempt to provide a perfect foundation for mathematics and elaborated a linguistic approach to philosophy that dominated English language philosophy for decades. His gnomic writing style and the existence of most of his work as lecture notes compiled from his students make his published legacy quite problematic. Nonetheless, a crucial thinker in the history of philosophy.

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Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 3

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"

In these sections Kant lists out the requirements that must be met, according to him, to make any meaningful metaphysical claims. In doing so, he limits our access to the world by removing the opportunity to know things as they are and giving us only the possibility of understanding our world through our perceptual limitations. This fundamental insight, which seems quite obvious when clearly articulated, is a major limitation in the human capacity to understand the world. Yet Kant also sees it as providing a foundation for certain kinds of absolute knowledge. Whether he is correct or not, Kant raises an entire series of challenging questions that really cannot be ignored if one want to think seriously about the possibilities of knowledge.

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House of the Intellect (Conclusion) - Ep. 11

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

THE ISOLATED GENIUS:

In the concluding chapter I explore the poisonous idea of the isolated genius. By emphasizing the individual and the product rather than the community and the process, our society consistently tells us that it is wrong and limiting for us to cooperate with others in spaces or projects that don’t reward directly as individuals. The historical record is clear, however, that much more great work has grown from communities than from isolated individuals and that sustainable, life enriching processes are more important and likely more productive than the oft presented examples of self-destructive individuality.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Parable of the Talents - Ep. 3

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 11:00:00 GMT

"PARABLE OF THE TALENTS" FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT - EP. 3

I like this parable from the New Testament because it highlights one of the great tricks of philosophical ‘reasoning’ - the assumed frame. Allow me to frame an argument and I will win it. This common homily is so completely misread and the assumptions so horrifying it makes a fun example.

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Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 2

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 11:00:00 GMT

READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"

Kant’s introduction seems so humble and straightforward but this masks a project of breathtaking scope. Whether or not Kant ultimately achieves his aims is mostly beside the point. Here, he really does make a radical break with the past and tries to reorient not just our thinking about metaphysical questions but how we understand thinking in its entirety. Rarely has a thinker attempted such a sweeping revaluation and re-grounding of knowledge. Kant’s influence grows from the inability of later thinkers to ignore this challenge and, hence, he reshaped almost all the philosophy that came after him.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Socrates and Diotima - Ep. 2

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:00:00 GMT

SOCRATES AND DIOTIMA IN THE SYMPOSIUM - EP. 2

The Symposium is oft quoted and seemingly rarely read. This crazy scene explaining - well something - based on this completely fabricated myth captures much of the power of Plato’s capacity for storytelling and how he leads the reader along the most preposterous paths to often quite amazing conclusions. Aristophanes ridicules Socrates in the Symposium for using these kinds of arguments.

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House of the Intellect - Ep. 10

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 11:00:00 GMT

VALUES ARBITRAGE:

I argue that we have developed a deep seated sense of cynicism from continuous exposure to an environment where our values are systematically used against. Consciously or unconsciously aware of being exploited, we become cynical about the very ideals we need to cultivate in order to inhabit the house of the intellect. I review these core values and how we can defend them despite our environment.

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Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Zarathustra and the Snake - Ep. 1

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

PHILOSOPHICAL FIRESIDE CHATS 🔥 🪵 - EP. 1

This scene from Book II of Thus Spake Zarathustra - the Riddle and the Vision - is one of my favorites and captures some of Nietzsche’s ability to create a visceral sense of the challenge of addressing our most deeply held habits and beliefs.

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Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 1

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"

Kant’s influence on philosophy and thinking in general has been immense but also difficult to pin down because he is so challenging to read. His influence has come almost entirely second and third hand as we encounter versions of his thoughts and approaches through other thinkers who are using, attacking, or expanding on Kant’s insights. Here we launch a read-a-long series featuring one of his shortest and most accessible works - the Prolegomena to Any Future Meta-Physics. A clearer and much shortened version of his Critique of Pure Reason, this work transforms the landscape of philosophy and, whether one agrees or disagrees with him, it now becomes impossible to ignore him in good conscience.

Project Gutenberg Kant's Prolegomena

A nice critical edition Amazon.com : Immanuel Kant: Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics: That Will Be Able to Come Forward as Science: With Selections from the Critique of Pure Reason (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) eBook : Kant, Immanuel, Gary Hatfield: Kindle Store

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Q & A 2: House of the Intellect - Ep. 9

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Q & A #2 - HOUSE OF THE INTELLECT

Wes and Jeremy take questions from Patreon Members on House of the Intellect.

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House of the Intellect - Ep. 8

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

BUREAUCRACY:

As our societies have grown larger, more complex and more digitally integrated we have become enmeshed in ever larger and more centralized bureaucracies. These systems are, perhaps, inherently, the enemy of intellectual community. It is possible they could be organized differently, but for now they have a strong tendency to strip us of our individuality and personal integrity in the name of ‘efficiency’. Widely experienced but little commented upon, this powerful cultural force has undermined many of the institutions that had previously been havens of intellectual and artistic community.

I would be curious to hear listeners' Kafkaesque moments and how this made them feel.

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Major Thinkers - Simone Weil- Ep. 6

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Largely forgotten today, she was an influential thinker and, perhaps, mystic who lived a life of ethical commitment in an extraordinarily difficult period in history. She provided an inspirational example to many of her contemporaries and the tone of her works as much as the power of her arguments brought her wide acclaim.

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Reading Jung's Redbook - Ep. 7 (Conclusion)

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

CONCLUSION:

I conclude the series with the end of the first book of the Red Book. In the last section we see Jung sliding back and forth between various ideas of the role he is supposed to fulfill - kill god, be god, ignore god - and how we should respond to this. I also reflect on the difference between inspiration and discovery, what Jung is trying to do, and Philosophy, which generally requires a much more rigorous implementation of vocabulary, logic and consistency. Nonetheless I think Jung provides a great example of someone trying to explore and overcome the limitations of their own beliefs in a way that I find quite inspirational.

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House of the Intellect - Ep. 7

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

TECHNOLOGY AND DATA:

Neither Barzun nor myself are opposed to technology or data per se - it is the way our culture tries to isolate technology from the cultural environment and, hence, de-value most everything the house of the intellect values. The notion that the quality of the people who control technology and the experiences of people who interact with it simply do not matter is one of the recurrent and obviously deeply flawed cultural concepts that has attached itself to our modern conception. The chart I mention is below and demonstrates that, at least as traditionally measured, workers are not producing more per capita despite 50+ years of massive technological transformation.

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Major Thinkers - Jacques Derrida- Ep. 5

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

One of the most influential and controversial philosophers of the late 20th century, Derrida specialized in trying to unmoor our sense of certainty and truth. Working across 50 books, he was an intellectual gad-fly in the tradition of Socrates who always wanted us to be suspicious of clarity. He almost single-handedly brought continental philosophy back to the English speaking world.

You can find the original Lecture Notes Here

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 20

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 12:30:00 GMT

Q & A #9 - CONCLUSION

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lectures IX and X: Conclusion Parts 1 and 2

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Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 6

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

BEYOND RIGHT AND WRONG

Here Jung moves beyond simply rejecting the Right and Wrong and tries to create an ethos of ambiguity. Focusing on a dream involving Elijah and Salome, he experiences the intertwined relationship of lust and purity, truth and lies, seduction and holiness.

Here is a great entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on De Beauvoir’s Ethics of Ambiguity Simone de Beauvoir (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

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House of the Intellect - Ep. 6

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

ROB US OF WHAT WE LOVE:

In this episode I discuss the ways in which our culture and mental habits combine to rob us of the experiences we would love to be having by both limiting our capacity to participate and limiting the communities in which we might participate. I use contemporary American film culture as an example of a simultaneously booming art form that nonetheless seems to be culturally barren.

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Major Thinkers - Bertrand Russell - Ep. 4

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Bertrand Russell was a famous and influential thinker. He became a popular philosopher after his groundbreaking attempt to found mathematics on a prefect, logically complete footing failed. This is an improved audio version of my original lecture delivered at Peninsula College.

Here is a link to is very readable and enlightening History of Western Philosophy

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 19

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

LECTURE 10 - CONCLUSION 2 of 2 (HOW DOES THE WORLD SEE THE USA?)

Given Americans' central position in global trade, politics and culture, I explore how the unique American outlook is shaping, for good or ill, the global environment. From notions of extreme individualism to championing the idea of heroic consumerism, the economic power and example of America presents a serious challenge and even threat to many widely practiced social norms.

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Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 5

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

INTO THE DESERT

The power of Jung’s approach becomes a little more clear as we move into these later chapters. Jung is quite explicitly at war with his inherited cultural values. While it is one thing to recognize this, it is very much more difficult to try and reimagine one’s values - and hence one’s understanding of the self. Jung tries to murder the image of the hero - casting himself as an honorless assassin. He also articulates the powerful insight that the message Jesus teaches us is that we can torture and kill the gods.

Siegfried from the Niebelungenlied:

Now Siegfried was of noble birth, a prince without peer,

His fame had spread so widely, all held him dear.

His strength was like no other; his deeds could not be missed,

For he had conquered dragons and the Nibelung's treasure list.

In Burgundy’s bright court, his presence was a light,

With golden hair and armor, he dazzled every knight.

The ladies gazed in wonder, the men sang of his skill,

For none could match bold Siegfried’s grace and will.

As an exercise, make a list of all of the key values you sense in our culture - the importance of wealth for instance - and then try and embrace not just rejecting those values but actually overthrowing them. While it is generally fairly straightforward to make such a list, to actually internally transform ourselves, as Jung is striving to do, is extremely difficult.

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House of the Intellect - Ep. 5

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

COMMUNITY MATTERS:

As much as it is important to emphasize personal patterns of thought and behavior, we are hugely influenced by forces that come to us from society. Thinking about the patterns that have shaped culture in the past and our immersion in a new paradigm is necessary, and perhaps helpful, in thinking about why we feel the way we do and how we respond to broader cultural trends.

Think of moments from the past that appeal to you as having exemplified intellectual or artistic community and try and work out what the necessary conditions were - and what wasn’t really necessary. In the instance of the New York Jazz world, large crowds and national recognition simply did not exist in the first few decades.

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 18

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

LECTURE 9 - CONCLUSION 1 of 2 (THE INDIVIDUAL IN AMERICA)

Do you feel alone? In the 1st of 2 concluding lectures I explore how all the forces I have been discussing throughout this series shape the lived experiences of Americans today. The combination of materialism and libertarianism with our deep calvinist roots creates a peculiar and often toxic environment that leads to a sense of isolation and nihilism.

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Major Thinkers - Martin Heidegger - Ep. 3

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 11:00:00 GMT

An Improved Audio version of a lecture on Martin Heidegger. Heidegger was one of the most influential and controversial philosophers of the 20th century. This lecture explores his life and work and attempts to frame his philosophical ideas within the context of his many ethical failings.

A link to the lecture notes

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 17

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Q & A #8 - NEOLIBERALISM

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture VIII: Neoliberalism (the rise and fall-ish)

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Q & A: House of the Intellect - Ep. 4

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Q & A #1 - HOUSE OF THE INTELLECT

Wes and Jeremy take questions from Patreon Members on Episodes 1 & 2

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Q & A: Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 4

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Q & A #1 - READING JUNG'S THE RED BOOK

Wes and Jeremy take questions from Patreon Members on Episodes 1 & 2

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Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 3

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 11:00:00 GMT

HOW TO KILL THE HERO:

Siegfried from the Niebelungenlied:

Now Siegfried was of noble birth, a prince without peer,

His fame had spread so widely, all held him dear.

His strength was like no other; his deeds could not be missed,

For he had conquered dragons and the Nibelung's treasure list.

In Burgundy’s bright court, his presence was a light,

With golden hair and armor, he dazzled every knight.

The ladies gazed in wonder, the men sang of his skill,

For none could match bold Siegfried’s grace and will.

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House of the Intellect - Ep. 3

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 11:00:00 GMT

FREE YOUR MIND:

Our culture's bias towards technology, specialization, and bureaucracy all mitigate against having a mind that is free to pursue one’s own ideas and to allow the time and predilection to participate in the House of the Intellect. Here I use the example of medical doctors who, over the course of the last 80 years, have been transformed from key participants in the House of the Intellect to narrow specialists who now lack the education, inclination, and cultural environment to be valuable participants. Having our minds free and avoiding self-contempt and cynicism are fundamental to creating the peculiar mental habits necessary to the House of the Intellect.

A Few Notable Doctors:

W. Somerset Maugham

William Carlos Williams

Anton Chekhov

Arthur Conan Doyle

Mikhail Bulgakov

John Keats

Erasmus Darwin

Sigmund Freud

Charles Darwin

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 16

Sun, 26 Jan 2025 22:40:19 GMT

LECTURE 8 - NEOLIBERALISM: THE RISE AND FALL(ISH)

Is this at the end of the Reagan, Clinton, Obama, Bush era? This lecture explores the content, rise and decline of the political and economic philosophy of Neoliberalism. Premised on the idea that free markets that reduce trade barriers between nations creates a wealthier world that encourages personal liberty, reduces poverty, and aids in the rise of democracy. While the world has certainly become wealthier over the last few decades, other aspects of the neoliberal concept have turned out to be deeply disturbing.

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Major Thinkers - Karl Marx - Ep. 2

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Karl Marx is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of the world. This lecture reviews his background and some of the events that formed his thinking as a means of putting his core ideas into a historical frame. A hopefully much more listenable version of this early recording.

Karl Marx 1847 A link to the Economic and Philosophical manuscripts of 1847 which is perhaps the best place to get an introductory perspective on Marx’s thinking.

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 15

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:51:51 GMT

Q & A #7 - LIBERTARIANISM

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture VII: Libertarianism

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Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 2

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Wow, so I did mention this is a crazy, difficult text didn’t I? So Jung’s conscious attempt to break from the thought processes and values of his society created an intellectual and emotional crisis that shaped the creation of the Red Book. The most significant note for contemporary readers is that he is trying to return in some way to the approaches to knowledge and wisdom that shaped the first 4,000 years of civilization. This makes the book difficult to read on a number of levels including his rejection of the assumptions that allow us to understand arguments in general.

For next time please read Chapters Three - Five. And be warned, not that you haven’t realized this already, the crazy isn’t going to stop.

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House of the Intellect - Ep. 2

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 11:00:00 GMT

DIGNITY AND INTEGRITY:

It may seem a bit abstract, which I imagine it is, however I feel the disappearance of the concepts of Dignity and Integrity from the world of education, art, philosophy and culture generally is one of the greatest challenges to a sense of intellectual community today. Recognizing our own dignity allows us to appreciate the value of our contributions to the world of ideas and well as appreciate those of others. This dignity arises from and is reinforced by personal integrity towards ourselves and work. Unfortunately, these concepts have almost completely disappeared. Simply put, these are the only possible foundations on which the House of the Intellect can be built.

I would love to hear your thoughts, examples, and questions related to these ideas. Again, I’ll try to respond to them in a future questions and answers segment.

For further reading and general confusion:

Integrity (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Dignity (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 14

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 11:00:00 GMT

LECTURE 7 - LIBERTARIANISM

Is it healthy to pretend that you're doing it on your own? The notion that the best world is one in which each individual is maximally free and operates independently of all other individuals has been a powerful force in American cultural and political history. The expressions of libertarianism we see today are founded on a deep ethos that rejects all forms of government, law, taxation or any limitation on the person as being opposed to a truly great society. I explore the many contradictions and limitations of this outlook and why, given these problems, it still resonates so powerfully in American society.

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Major Thinkers - Friedrich Nietzsche - Ep. 1

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 08:01:00 GMT

MAJOR THINKERS - NIETZSCHE - EP. 1

An intellectual biography of Nietzsche kicks off this series discussing the life and philosophy of a series of major thinkers. I explore some of the key ideas and influences that shaped Nietzsche’s thinking including his loathing of Christianity and the influence of classical literature in shaping his ethical outlook. This is an improved audio version of a lecture I delivered over a decade ago.

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Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 1

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 08:01:00 GMT

A work that I think embodies, quite consciously on the part of Jung, many of the contradictions, challenges, and paradoxes of the modern mind trying to come to grips with a world that simply does not cohere with our general materialist, rationalist worldview. I hope to use this as both a great text to explore and an example of how one can read in a very different manner. It was working with great teachers who helped me learn to read in this particular way and in doing this exercise together I hope to model and share what I have been fortunate enough to learn.

I recommend the reader's guide rather than the larger, more expensive, and more beautiful full sized illustrated version because I am an aggressive notetaker and underliner. However, your tastes may vary.

For the first reading session please read the Prologue “The Way of What is to Come” and Chapters One and Two.

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 13

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 03:41:53 GMT

ADDENDUM - CALVINISTIC MATERIALISM VS. NIHILISTIC MATERIALISM

Does America practice a particular type of Nihilism? A follow up to clarify the notion of why Nihilism - the belief that there is no order or meaning in the world - is fundamental to the type of materialism practiced in America. Perhaps the clearest example is the rise of off-site storage where people pay to store material goods that, by definition, they cannot readily access - the materiality has become almost completely meaningless.

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 12

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 10:58:28 GMT

Q & A #6 - THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION: 1935 - 1949

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture VI: THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION

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House of the Intellect - Ep. 1

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 08:01:00 GMT

INTELLECTUAL HOMELESSNESS:

This series will explore the contemporary state of the world of arts and ideas and how we can begin to build lives centered around culture and philosophy. We are often misled as to the nature and purpose of intellectual pursuits. I hope to clarify the history and cultural forces that shape our understanding of and participation in the house of the intellect. Unfortunately, Barzun’s book The House of the Intellect is currently out of print. The Internet Archive has a copy available online at The house of intellect : Barzun, Jacques, 1907- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.

Articles I refer to in the lecture:

The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books - The Atlantic

Students Are Unprepared to Read Books — Minding The Campus

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 11

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 02:40:56 GMT

LECTURE 6 - THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION - 1935 - 1949

The twin catastrophes of the Great Depression and World War II utterly transformed America. In just 20 years, the structure of government, focus of the economy, tax policy, and America’s global position fundamentally altered. A country with a tiny tax base, miniscule military, isolationist politics and nascent federal government became a global super power with the largest economy in the world and a massive and growing federal government. Much of what we take as ‘America’ today is actually a reflection of the country that was created during these few years.

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 10

Thu, 09 Jan 2025 02:07:04 GMT

Q & A #5 - AMERICAN CALVINISM

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture V: American Calvinism

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 9

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 22:54:00 GMT

LECTURE 5 - AMERICAN CALVINISM

In this lecture I explore the deep and abiding influence of Calvinism on the American cultural outlook. Whether Christian or not, Americans believe in purity, the centrality of moral judgements, visible signs of success and more. These attitudes are rarely traced back to their true origin - the specific beliefs and social forms developed by John Calvin. America is a Calvinist country par excellence.

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 8

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:04 GMT

Q & A #4 - NIHILISTIC MATERIALISM

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture IV: Nihilistic Materialism

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 7

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 15:33:31 GMT

LECTURE 4 - NIHILISTIC MATERIALISM

That American culture is materialistic is an accurate but often unhelpful distinction as it is our particular kind of materialism that America manifests that is important to understand. In this lecture, I explore the peculiar Nihilistic elements that shape American materialism. Significantly, all the standard critiques of materialism - that material goods will not give your life meaning, that shopping is just coping mechanism for deeper ills, that the press of consumerism is driven largely by corporate greed - have little to no grip on the American psyche because everyone knows them and consumes anyway! America combines both a disbelief in consumerism with aggressive consumerism into a curious and counterintuitive set of outlooks and behaviors that shape important elements of American society.

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 6

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 21:53:11 GMT

Q & A #3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture III: American Individualism

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 5

Sat, 07 Dec 2024 07:04:01 GMT

LECTURE 3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM:

This lecture explores the evolution of the American conception of the individual and why it has become so dominant within American culture. Devoid of a deep history and often in strange surroundings with strange people, many Americans have, for generations, felt thrust out on their own. What for most societies was considered a severe punishment - banishment - became, in America, a common and perhaps necessary mode of life. Over time, a virtue was created from this necessity and the peculiar form of American individualism became cemented as a core element of American values.

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 4

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 19:16:00 GMT

Q & A #2 - NO HISTORY FOR YOU!

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture II: No History for You!

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 3

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 19:10:00 GMT

LECTURE 2: NO HISTORY FOR YOU!

In my second lecture I explore the bizarre and necessary historical amnesia that besets American culture. For the first 200 years of American settlement, the Native American culture was forcibly erased, then actively ignored once the ‘Natives’ problem had been “solved”. Also, the invisibility of the African American presence in much of the US, which represented 40-50% of the population in some states, created a further barrier to American history. Finally, the internal patterns of settlement and mass migration cemented a near total disregard for framing our cultural understanding in any historical sensibility.

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 2

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 19:05:00 GMT

Q & A #1 - WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture I: "What is an American?" Apologies for the audio quality on this one—it improves as the series moves along.

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A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 1

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 19:00:00 GMT

LECTURE 1: WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?

In my introductory lecture I explore the uniquely powerful role America plays in the contemporary world and the history that underlies its global dominance. 250 years ago, the United states had a tiny population, was loosely organized and beset by internal conflicts. A rapid and massive demographic and geographic expansion brought this relative backwater onto the world stage and then to global dominance. The cultural transformations that proceeded with this transformation created a society that is, for good or ill, extremely influential and uniquely American.

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