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Episode 160: Orwell on Totalitarianism and Language (Part Two)
Continuing with 1984. How does the book relate to real-world politics? Is this something that we should actually be afraid our society will turn into…
9 years, 6 months ago
Episode 160: Orwell on Totalitarianism and Language (Part One)
On the novel 1984 (1949) and the essays "Politics and the English Language" (1946) and "Notes on Nationalism" (1945). What's the relation between lan…
9 years, 6 months ago
Episode 159: Confucius on Virtuous Conduct (Part Two)
Continuing on the Analects without our guest. We cover passages on glibness, using names properly, filial conduct, remonstrance, love of learning, pl…
9 years, 7 months ago
Episode 159: Confucius on Virtuous Conduct (Part One)
On the Analects, compiled after 479 BCE. How should we act? What's the relation between ethics and politics? Can a bunch of aphorisms written in the …
9 years, 7 months ago
Episode 158: Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Part Two)
Continuing on the Consolation, chiefly books 3 and 4, on virtue ethics (we all naturally aim at the good but can be mistaken about it or too weak to …
9 years, 7 months ago
Episode 158: Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Part One)
On the Consolation, written as he awaited execution in 524 CE. Do bad things really happen to good people? Boethius, surprisingly, says no, for Stoic…
9 years, 7 months ago
Episode 157: Richard Rorty on Politics for the Left (Part Two)
Continuing on Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in 20th Century America (1998). We talk more about Rorty's description of the conflict between t…
9 years, 8 months ago
Episode 157: Richard Rorty on Politics for the Left (Part One)
On Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in 20th Century America (1998). What makes for efficacious progressivism? Rorty argues that reformism went …
9 years, 8 months ago
Episode 156: Philosophy and Politics Free-Form Discussion (Part Two)
Continuing our liberal bubble-bursting exercise, the core foursome address more directly the question of how philosophy is supposed to shape one's po…
9 years, 8 months ago
Episode 156: Philosophy and Politics Free-Form Discussion (Part One)
How does studying philosophy help you to make sense of the political landscape? Wes, Mark, Dylan, and Seth play pundit and reflect on political rheto…
9 years, 8 months ago