Wisdom in Paradox: The Seriousness of Play | Sophia Lectures 2023 Part 3/5
Release Date: 06/13/2024
Founding an Empire: Lessons from Augustus with Dr Barry Strauss
The Ralston College Podcast
In this lecture, historian Dr Barry Strauss examines Augustus as the architect of Rome’s imperial settlement, tracing how a young heir of extraordinary ambition transformed a republic struggling with civil war into an enduring political order. Tracing events from the turmoil following Julius Caesar’s assassination to the victory at Actium, the creation of the Pax Romana, and Augustus’s claim to rule as Rome’s “first citizen,” Strauss highlights how Augustus secured power by building trust, managing rivals, and reshaping public life through law, ritual, architecture, and art. The...
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Universities and the Future of Civilization: In Conversation with Iain McGilchrist
The Ralston College Podcast
Ralston College Dr President Stephen Blackwood speaks with newly appointed Chancellor Dr Iain McGilchrist about the fate of the universities and their role in the future of civilization. Reflecting on education, tradition, and the conditions necessary for genuine understanding, Dr McGilchrist shares his hope that we can restore places of truth, beauty, and wisdom despite the pressures of reductionism, instrumentality, and mechanistic thought. The conversation also traces prevailing academic narratives such as reduction and computation, which risk a flattening of human life into utility,...
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Taking Up Your Inheritance: A Philosophical Conversation Between Student and Teacher
The Ralston College Podcast
In this conversation, Jay Morris speaks with Dr James Bryson about the modern crisis of meaning and the difficulty of remaining spiritually oriented in a world shaped by reductionist accounts of mind, body, and nature. They reflect on the psychological and cultural repercussions of a scientific picture that brackets teleology and final causes, leaving many modern people disembodied, disenchanted, and uncertain about purpose. While acknowledging the genuine success of modern science, Dr Bryson argues that its limits must be faced honestly, especially where questions of meaning, value, and the...
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Drs Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying in Conversation with Ralston College’s Students
The Ralston College Podcast
In this wide-ranging conversation with students at Ralston College, evolutionary biologists Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying reflect on how to live well in the modern world, biologically, philosophically, and spiritually. Moving from Aristotle’s De Anima to the ethics of diet and the future of civilization, they explore the body not as an obstacle to overcome but as the very substrate through which consciousness takes form. From lineage and the long arc of life on Earth to nutrition, parenthood, grief, and the challenges of modern medicine, the discussion reveals an integrated vision of...
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The Sophia Lectures With Bret Weinstein - Lecture 4: The Relationship Between Culture and Genes
The Ralston College Podcast
In the fourth and final lecture of the 2025 Sophia Lecture series, Dr Bret Weinstein explores how humanity’s evolutionary inheritance, both genetic and cultural, has enabled us to navigate an extraordinary range of ecological and social niches. They show that while genes provide the foundational architecture of the mind, culture allows for rapid adaptation and the creation of new possibilities, from the construction of monumental cathedrals to the development of shared narratives that transmit knowledge across generations. Weinstein examines consciousness as a tool for novelty, emphasizing...
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The Sophia Lectures With Heather Heying - Lecture 3: The Usual Suspects
The Ralston College Podcast
In this third lecture, Dr Heather Heying turns to the conditions sufficient for the emergence of sentient consciousness, exploring how life evolves the capacity to perceive, learn, and create. Drawing on the examples of primates, corvids, dolphins, elephants, wolves, and others, she reveals how traits such as long lifespans, extended childhoods, sociality, and play recur in the rare instances where sentience has independently evolved. These convergences, she argues, point to universals in the nature of intelligence itself, from cooperative learning to creative problem-solving. Along the way,...
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The Sophia Lectures With Bret Weinstein - Lecture 2: Biological Nature to What End?
The Ralston College Podcast
In his lecture Biological Nature to What End?, Dr Bret Weinstein explores the principles of evolution as a lens for understanding human nature, culture, and the pursuit of well-being. Moving from the biotic and abiotic universes to the subtle dynamics of kin and group selection, he reveals how traits emerge, persist, and change across generations. Weinstein challenges the conflation of data collection with science, advocating for predictive models that embrace paradox, complexity, and long-term explanatory power. Throughout the talk, he considers how evolutionary patterns shape morality,...
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The Sophia Lectures With Heather Heying - Lecture 1: Foundations
The Ralston College Podcast
In this opening lecture, Dr Heather Heying invites listeners on an exploration of the deep structures that underlie both scientific inquiry and the human experience of knowing. Moving fluidly between biology, philosophy, and the history of ideas, she challenges inherited beliefs while seeking reconciliation through a broader epistemic lens. Weaving together Darwin’s early evolutionary sketches, the concept of universals, and the distinction between biotic and abiotic origins, she explores how evolution shapes everything from molecular structures to symbolic expression, and how the universals...
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Making Sense of Complex Systems with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying
The Ralston College Podcast
In this informal and wide-ranging conversation with Stephen Blackwood, Drs Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying reflect on the formative influences that shaped their intellectual journeys, the role of teachers in cultivating curiosity and courage, the spirit of play as essential to genuine learning, and the challenges of navigating hyper-novelty in the modern world. Throughout the discussion, they explore the limits of empiricism, the need for humility in the face of complex problems, and the enduring value of beauty, biology, and philosophy in guiding human flourishing. Applications for Ralston...
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Katabasis and Return: A Conversation With Mari Otsu About Her Time at Ralston College
The Ralston College Podcast
Mari Otsu joins Stephen Blackwood for a deeply personal conversation about her journey through the wounds of materialism, ideology, and spiritual forgetting, and her return to the soul through the beauty of the humanities. Reflecting on her years at NYU and the Grand Central Atelier, Mari speaks of a longing that nothing in the modern, politicized worldview could satisfy, and how she found healing in therapy, classical painting, and, most profoundly, the living philosophical community of Ralston College. Engaging with the works of Plotinus, Boethius, and Dante, she discovered a path of...
info_outlineIn the third lecture of the Sophia Lecture series, Professor Douglas Hedley embarks on an intellectual journey that explores the enigmatic nature of play and its profound impact on human life, drawing from ancient philosophies and modern psychological theories. Delving into the works of Heraclitus and Plato, Hedley examines the paradoxical relationship between play and seriousness and how this dynamic shapes our understanding of life's deepest questions. He discusses the transformative power of poetic language, the importance of embracing the child's soul, and the role of play as a bridge between our inner realities and the external world. Furthermore, Hedley reflects on mental health, cultural shifts, and the significance of the humanities in providing a sense of purpose and meaning, ultimately arguing that engaging with foundational texts and embracing play can help us navigate the complexities of modern life and contribute to our overall well-being.
Douglas Hedley is a Professor in the Philosophy of Religion at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow at Clare College. His work spans the fields of philosophy, theology, and psychology, focusing on the intersection of ancient wisdom and modern thought.
Glossary of Terms
Ion: Time period, sometimes interpreted as "lifetime" or "eternity."
Sophrosyne: Excellence in character; moderation; self-control; leading to well-being.
Resources
Ralston College
Website: https://www.ralston.ac/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RalstonCollegeSavannah
X: https://twitter.com/RalstonCollege
Douglas Hedley
https://www.ralston.ac/people/douglas-hedley
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture - Johan Huizinga
https://www.amazon.com/Homo-Ludens-Study-Play-Element-Culture/dp/1621389995
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure - Greg Lukianoff Jonathan Haidt https://www.amazon.com/Coddling-American-Mind-Intentions-Generation/dp/0735224897
Playing and Reality - D. W. Winnicott https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Reality-Routledge-Classics-86/dp/0415345464
Civilization and Its Discontents - Sigmund Freud https://www.amazon.com/Civilization-Its-Discontents-Sigmund-Freud/dp/0393304515
Modern Man in Search of a Soul - C. G. Jung https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Man-Search-Soul-Jung/dp/1684220904
The Red Book - C. G. Jung https://www.amazon.com/Red-Book-Philemon-C-Jung/dp/0393065677
Poetic Diction: A Study in Meaning - Owen Barfield https://www.amazon.com/Poetic-Diction-Meaning-Wesleyan-Paperback/dp/081956026X
Plato. "Laws." Translated by Benjamin Jowett, The Internet Classics Archive. https://classics.mit.edu/Plato/laws.html
Homer. "The Iliad." Translated by Samuel Butler, The Internet Classics Archive. https://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html
Quotes
"Does it mean a lifetime, time, or eternity is nothing but a child playing? Playing checkers or draughts. Kingship belonging to the child. Does this mean that living like a child is somehow to live like a king? Or is it a claim about the universe that all is chance?" - Douglas Hedley (on the enigmatic utterance of the ancient philosopher Heraclitus) [00:03:34]
“Meaning cannot be generated by human conventions… but only on the assumption that meaning is grounded in the logos and indeed the transformation of consciousness through poetic language." - Douglas Hedley [00:08:29]
Chapters
[00:00:00] - Introduction to the Sophia Lecture Series and Professor Hedley
[00:02:00] - The Enigma of Heraclitus' Riddles on Time and Play
[00:05:00] - Plato's Laws on Play and its Role in Life
[00:08:00] - The Transformation of Consciousness Through Language
[00:10:00] - The Significance of Mental Health and Play in Contemporary Society
[00:19:00] - Exploring Donald Winnicott's Theory of Play
[00:29:00] - Carl Jung and the Concept of the Daimon
[00:54:00] - The Legacy of Play in Philosophical and Psychological Thought
[00:58:00] - Q&A Session: Academia, Play, Suffering, and Self-Understanding
[01:12:00] - Concluding Reflections