Episodes
Selfie-ism permeates our world culture! Do we have cause for concern? What would the existentialists think?
Published 11/19/24
What's going on? Why don't we care about character anymore? This is very troubling.
Published 11/14/24
The Italian futurist Marinetti called for the absolute glorification of everything new and modern, a worship of everything machine! What resonance all this has today!
Published 11/08/24
Reading has become nearly obsolete in our age of momentary gratification. This is a great loss as reading engenders all sorts of important qualities that benefit us!
Published 10/30/24
Lying seems to be on the rise, especially in the political world! I don't think we realize how dangerous and how morally problematic it is!
Published 10/20/24
The French existentialists have a problem with bourgeois morality and relationships! What's their beef all about? Find out more!
Published 10/14/24
For Aristotle, leisure is the most important human activity. Unfortunately we're contracting out our leisure activities to AI, and with it, our humanity!
Published 10/05/24
Why do we feel so disturbed by dolls and robots that are human-like? Why do we really fear AI? Freud has an answer!
Published 09/30/24
Dostoevsky said that if God is dead, then everything is permitted. In other words, morality depends on religion. Is that true? I don't think so!
Published 09/22/24
Carpe Diem is usually translated as seize the day. But that's not quite accurate, and it's a reflection of our times! Sit back and enjoy, like a good Epicurean!
Published 09/13/24
The Presocratics, the first philosophers and scientists, rejected traditional mythological explanations in favour of rational ones! Huge turning point! Find out more!
Published 09/08/24
Going to graduate school gave me some important abilities and approaches to things that have proven beneficial for my life as a whole!
Published 09/02/24
What would Kierkegaard have thought of our age of the internet? The philosopher Herbert Dreyfus argues that he'd be no fan, to say the least! Find out more!
Published 08/29/24
The philosopher Karl Jaspers argues that we only truly self-realize when we learn to confront the inevitable hardships of life properly! Find out more!
Published 08/23/24
Did Socrates really die the way Plato describes it? And Socrates may have been a philosophical martyr but did he give much consideration to his FAMILY when he decided to take his life? Important questions!
Published 08/23/24
Apart from Socrates, Callicles is Plato's most formidable character. And he doesn't hold back! He thinks happiness is all about the full throttle pursuit of desires! Is he right? Has Socrates finally met his match? Find out more!
Published 08/13/24
There's a crisis of narration today, Han argues. Instead of narrative, we have information. And, unlike narrative, information can't give us any direction or meaning! We need to bring back narrative!
Published 08/04/24
This is Part 3 of a 3 Part series on love! It should be listened to in sequence! In it, I explore the state of love today and what, if anything, we might learn from some of the great writers, poets and philosophers who take love very seriously.
Published 07/13/24
This is Part 1 of a 3 Part series on love! It should be listened to in sequence! In it, I explore the state of love today and what, if anything, we might learn from some of the great writers, poets and philosophers who take love very seriously.
Published 07/12/24
This is Part 2 of a 3 Part series on love! It should be listened to in sequence! In it, I explore the state of love today and what, if anything, we might learn from some of the great writers, poets and philosophers who take love very seriously.
Published 07/12/24
George Orwell's 1984 warns against the dangers of a totalitarian society! Take away our language and our history and it's all over! Find out more!
Published 06/28/24
For Nietzsche there's no such thing as art for art's sake! No, art has indispensable practical value for our existence! Find out more!
Published 06/28/24
Exploring the themes of skill and heroism in Hemingway's Pulitzer Prize novel!
Published 06/14/24
Socrates influenced many of his contemporaries, but the strange thing is they all went on to develop very different outlooks! What does that say about Socrates? I speculate!
Published 05/22/24