The Ralston College Podcast

The Ralston College Podcast delivers a series of conversations and lectures aimed at fostering a deeper, livelier, and freer intellectual culture for us all.

The Sophia Lectures With Bret Weinstein - Lecture 4: The Relationship Between Culture and Genes 11/04/2025

The Sophia Lectures With Heather Heying - Lecture 3: The Usual Suspects 10/28/2025

The Sophia Lectures With Bret Weinstein - Lecture 2: Biological Nature to What End? 10/21/2025

The Sophia Lectures With Heather Heying - Lecture 1: Foundations 10/15/2025

Making Sense of Complex Systems with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying 10/06/2025

Katabasis and Return: A Conversation With Mari Otsu About Her Time at Ralston College 08/25/2025

Society, Technology and Philology with Dr Jason Pedicone: Thoughts on the Study of the Classical Humanities at the Dawn of the Digital Revolution 07/14/2025

Nature in Augustine’s Confessions 06/23/2025

Douglas Murray: Reconstructing our Culture | Renewal and Renaissance: A Ralston Symposium 04/23/2025

Douglas Murray: Reconstructing our Culture | Renewal and Renaissance: A Ralston Symposium Douglas Murray, revered cultural critic and author, delivers the highlight of Ralston College’s symposium of “,” a lecture exploring the theme of cultural reconstruction. Delivered from one of the beautiful, stately galleries of Savannah’s Telfair Academy, the audience is treated to an intimate address that is both deeply moving and inspiring of hope. Murray’s talk begins with the sober reflection that civilizations are mortal and share the fragility of life. He recounts how the loss of confidence experienced after the catastrophes of the World Wars led to the development of modernism, postmodernism and finally deconstructionism. The lecture then takes a more optimistic turn as Murray confidently asserts that after decades of deconstruction, especially in the field of higher education, we are now entering an era of reconstruction. He explains how this process of cultural renewal can come about through both the opportunities afforded by technology and the process of going back into the great literary treasures of the past, finding our place amongst these works and adding to them. Murray shares his love of books, describing himself as “not only a bibliophile but something of a bibliomaniac,” and expresses how literature, and especially poetry, can ground us in the world and make us feel that we are never alone for we will always have “friends on the shelves.” Traversing through Byron, Gnedich, Stoppard, Auden and Heaney, Murray recounts three powerful stories that reveal the lengths certain individuals will go to recover, preserve and transmit our cultural treasures. The talk was followed by a captivating Q&A session which ranged from the current status of poetry to the topics of writing, war and human nature. As part of the stirring introduction to the lecture from Stephen Blackwood, President of Ralston College, soprano Kristi Bryson performed Handel’s Lascia ch’io pianga, accompanied on the piano by Ralston alumna and fellow, . A splendid performance showcasing perfectly the ability of culture to transcend the difficulties of life through the power of beauty. A reminder for us all of exactly what it is that we are seeking to preserve and renew. Mr Murray's books, including his most recent, are available here: . To watch the first conversation of the day—the roundtable from the Ralston College Renewal and Renaissance Symposium, featuring multiple speakers discussing the future of education, culture, and human flourishing—click . /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/36272530

What does it take to spark a new Renaissance? 04/15/2025

What does it take to spark a new Renaissance? In February 2025, Ralston College hosted a landmark symposium in Savannah, Georgia, bringing together leading thinkers, artists, educators, and students for a searching conversation about the renewal of our shared culture. Over the course of a wide-ranging roundtable, speakers explored the collapse of higher education, the need for sacred space, the conditions for reawakening beauty and truth, the integral importance of literature, music and architecture, and the crucial role of the young in rebuilding a meaningful culture that can inspire and endure. This conversation is not an academic exercise in abstraction. It is the practical work of preservation—of remembering what the world has forgotten, and of laying foundations for what must come next. The roster of speakers is as follows: Stephen Blackwood: Why we are on the verge of renaissance James Orr: Why America is ready for change David Butterfield: Why colleges are the institutions to build James Hankins: Why the Italian Renaissance emerged Joseph Conlon: Why learning languages is essential Gregg Hurwitz: Why literature must resonate outside academia Jonathan Pageau: Why renewal requires in-person, communal remembrance Samuel Andreyev: Why music needs to know its tradition to thrive Christian Sottile: Why we need beautiful architecture Mari Otsu: Why Ralston College was the place that changed my life Authors, Artists, and Works Mentioned in this Episode: Sir Isaac Newton Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Friedrich Hölderlin’s Patmos Martin Heidegger John of Patmos, a figure traditionally identified with John the Apostle or John the Evangelist Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam The Cambridge Five Sir Niall Ferguson Saint Benedict of Nursia Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Charlemagne Alcuin of York Walter de Merton Gaius Marius Marcus Tullius Cicero Paradiso – the third and final part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy Francesco Petrarca Cola di Rienzo Richard Wagner’s opera Rienzi Livy (Titus Livius) Homer Plato Plutarch “JD Vance States the Obvious About Ordo Amoris” – in First Things, by James Orr Pythagoras Plato’s dialogue Phaedrus Charles Dickens Alfred Hitchcock William Shakespeare Metamorphoses by Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BCE – 17 CE), known as Ovid Albert Camus – The Stranger James M. Cain – The Postman Always Rings Twice Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment Edgar Allan Poe Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray Michelangelo Buonarroti Pope Julius II The Bible Ezra Pound, quote from ABC of Reading (1934) Professor Jeffrey Eley Mark C. McDonald The Medici Family Gian Giorgio Trissino Andrea Palladio Otto Wagner The Black Paintings (Las Pinturas Negras) by Francisco Goya Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Peter Paul Rubens /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/36144075

Why We Tell Stories: Greg Hurwitz & Jonathan Pageau in Conversation 04/03/2025

The Enduring Consolation of Philosophy with Stephen Blackwood 03/03/2025

Dr Iain McGilchrist in Conversation with Ralston College’s Students 02/10/2025

The Sophia Lectures with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 3: Finitude and the Infinite 01/13/2025

The Sophia Lectures with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 3: Finitude and the Infinite In his final , “Finitude and the Infinite,” Dr Iain McGilchrist grapples with the vital role that the imagination plays in the perception of reality, and what this power can disclose about reality itself. He shows that imagination has the capacity to make contact with an illimitable, irreducible, and inexhaustible world, one that presents itself to us under the aspects of finitude and infinitude. Beginning with the English Romantic poets, McGilchrist shows how these artists resisted the habits of perception that can be associated with the brain’s left hemisphere. This part of the brain is adept at rendering, representing, and modeling, but it does so at the cost of simplifying whatever it constructs. Poets like Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, and Blake strove to remove the film of familiarity from their vision. For them, imagination was the power that made intuitive connections and integrative “leaps,” giving access to a richer, unbounded reality not subject to the strictures of reductive categories. In dialogue with physicists, philosophers, and mathematicians, McGilchrist ultimately shows how the vision of the world offered by the Romantic poets lays claim to the infinite and the eternal. For these artists, eternity is “adverbial”: it is a way of being, a manner, and a modality. McGilchrist convincingly shows us that we, too, can decline to see the world through categories that are measurable, predictable, and countable—but finally lifeless; like the poets whom he takes as his main interlocutors in this lecture, we can, instead, open ourselves to reality’s boundless, vital, and infinite character. Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode: William Wordsworth - Preface to the Lyrical Ballads Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Biographia Literaria Percy Bysshe Shelley - A Defence of Poetry Max Scheler William Blake Richard Feynman James A. Shapiro Denis Diderot Barbara McClintock William James Albert Einstein Leonhard Euler William Wilson Morgan Richard Feynman The Ancient of Days (William Blake, 1794, watercolor etching) Nicholas of Cusa - De Docta Ignorantia Jason Padgett Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Galileo Galilei David Hilbert Henri Bergson Richard Wagner Isaac Luria - Lurianic Kabbalah Edward Nelson Alfred North Whitehead Eugène Minkowski Heraclitus Jordan Peterson Zeno of Elea John Milton John Keats Jorge Luis Borges Martin Heidegger Tao-te Ching William Blake - “The Tyger” Emily Dickinson Marianne Moore Robert Browning - “Two in the Campagna” Bhagavad Gita Peter Cook John Polkinghorne Mary Midgley René Descartes Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling J. B. S. Haldane Lee Smolin Eugene Koonin Hildegard of Bingen - The Choirs of Angels Christ Pantocrator and Signs of the Zodiac C. S. Lewis Johannes Kepler Jesus /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/34834745

The Sophia Lectures with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 2: Symmetry and Asymmetry 01/06/2025

The Sophia Lectures with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 2: Symmetry and Asymmetry In his second Sophia Lecture, Dr Iain McGilchrist gives a bracing, counterintuitive account of the fundamental categories of our experience of the world. McGilchrist shows how fundamental binaries—such as stasis and motion, simplicity and complexity, order and randomness, and even straight lines and curves—do not occur in nature in ways that conform to our assumptions about an inert, independent, and predictable universe. Drawing from disciplines as disparate as physics, mathematics, biology and art, McGilchrist shows that asymmetry is not simply a principle of vitality, harmony, and beauty. McGilchrist argues that asymmetry is primary, a reality that is prior to symmetry and which forms the basis of the very symmetries in nature and the arts to which it gives rise. The dynamism which results from the drive to balance and to resist balance is at the root of the vigor of natural systems, the beauty that they embody, and which the arts then reflect. With examples ranging from the elegance of the golden ratio to the structure of the human brain, McGilchrist’s lecture offers a fresh perspective on the nature of patterns in complex systems and human creations. His work invites us to search for wholeness, harmony, and connection from a set of starting points which are as surprising as they are fruitful; as always, he challenges us to see our world in new—and newly unified—ways. Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode: Johann Sebastian Bach John Donne - “Holy Sonnet 7: At the round earth’s imagin’d corners” Gerard Manley Hopkins - “Carrion Comfort” Werner Heisenberg - Physics and Beyond: Encounters and Conversations with Einstein, Planck, Dirac, Bohr, and Other Physicists of Our Time Alexander Pope - “The Rape of the Lock” Iain McGilchrist - The Master and his Emissary Pierre Curie Chien-Shiung Wu Nassim Nicholas Taleb - Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder Aesop Heraclitus Democritus Leonardo da Vinci Louis Pasteur Rong Li & Bruce Bowerman - “Symmetry breaking in biology” Arthur Koestler Aristotle Oliver Sacks Thomas Holstein Tim Crow Onur Güntürkün Jane Clark & Daniel Simons (Christopher Chabris) - Gorillas in Our Midst Jonathan Rowson Alastair McIntosh Richard Dawkins Nikolaj Nikolaenko Luciano Laurana Giorgio Martini - Ideal City Raphael - The School of Athens Andrea Palladio William Blake - “The Tyger” Theodosius II Christ Pantocrator Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel John P. McGovern William Osler William Alwyn Lishman William Shakespeare - King Lear John Cleese Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sir Roger Scruton /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/34738400

The Sophia Lectures with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 1: Division and Union 12/30/2024

Dr Iain McGilchrist on the Cultivation of Wisdom 12/23/2024

The Education of Iain McGilchrist, Part II: Medical School and Beyond 12/17/2024

The Education of Iain McGilchrist, Part I: From Winchester College to All Souls 12/09/2024

We Live in the Flicker: T. S. Eliot and Dante on the Spaces Between 11/18/2024

We Live in the Flicker: T. S. Eliot and Dante on the Spaces Between Ralston College presents a talk by Christopher Snook, Lecturer in the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University, on the influence of Dante’s Purgatorio on two of T.S. Eliot’s most important works: The Waste Land and Four Quartets. Mr Snook attends, in particular, to how Eliot’s treatment of fragments represents at once both a departure from and a return to medieval understandings of the whole. This medieval understanding is evidenced in the “manifold articulation” of particulars within the architecture of the Gothic cathedral, the literary shape of the Divine Comedy, and the logical structure of the Summa Theologicae. Mr Snook’s lecture was given in the final term of the 2023-24 year of Ralston College’s MA in Humanities program, which focused on the concept of the Whole. Applications are now open for the upcoming year of the MA in the Humanities program, which will focus on the theme of Fellowship. Authors, Artists, and Works Mentioned in this Episode: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologicae René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Charles Baudelaire, “The Painter of Modern Life” T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” T. S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men” T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot Dante, The Divine Comedy T. S. Eliot, The Family Reunion Ezra Pound William Shakespeare, Macbeth John Donne, “No Man is an Island” Charles Baudelaire, “À une passante” William Shakespeare, The Tempest George Herbert Nicene Creed Augustine, Confessions Charles Williams Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Franz Kafka, “Before the Law” (from The Trial) Freidrich Schlegel Pascal, Pensées Michel de Montaigne Plato, Republic /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/33982677

The Other Side of Despair: The Search for Meaning in T.S Eliot’s “The Waste Land” 11/13/2024

The Other Side of Despair: The Search for Meaning in T.S Eliot’s “The Waste Land” Ralston College presents a talk by Christopher Snook, Lecturer in the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University, on T.S. Eliot’s modernist masterpiece The Waste Land. The lecture explores the personal, historical, and literary contexts of Eliot’s poem. Through an engagement with the Western tradition that is simultaneously rich and fragmented, The Waste Land confronts cultural and personal crises that have atrophied both memory and desire. Snook finds in Eliot’s work a mournful modernism that serves as a serious and searching rejoinder to the more frivolous and enervated responses present in some modernist schools, most notably Dadaism. This lecture was delivered on April 15th, 2024 at Ralston College’s Savannah campus, during the final term of the second year of the MA in the Humanities Program. Applications are now open for next year’s MA program. Full scholarships are available. Mentioned in this episdoe: T. S. Eliot “The Waste Land”The DialKathleen RaineVirgil, AeneidEliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”Eliot, “Tradition and Individual Talent”Eliot, The Family Reunion Henri BergsonBertrand Russell Virginia Woolf, Jacob’s RoomLeonard WoolfEzra PoundJames Joyce, Ulysses Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Oswald Spengler, Decline and Fall of the West Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past Claude McCay, Harlem Shadows August Strindberg Neo-impressionism Cubism Dadaism Surrealism Futurism Taxi Driver (film) Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, War, the World’s Only Hygiene Hugo Ball, Dada Manifesto “That Shakespearian Rag” William Shakespeare, Hamlet World War I Henry James F. H. Varley Punic Wars Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy The Tempest Modernism Collage Pablo Picasso Georges BraqueMarcel Duchamp, Nude Descending Staircase; Fountain Montage F. H. BradleyHegel, Phenomenology of Spirit Plato The Matter of Britain Jessie Weston James Frazer Richard Wagner, Parsifal Augustine, Confessions Charles Dickens, Hard Times Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Eliot, “The Hollow Men” Tower of Babel Petronius, The Satyricon Michelangelo, frescoes of Sistine Chapel Virgil, Eclogues Ovid, Metamorphoses Franz Kafka Chaucer, Canterbury Tales Thomas Middleton, Women Beware Women; A Game at Chess Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra Charles Baudelaire, “Au Lecteur” Fredrich Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/33928262

Jay Parini on Why Poetry Matters 10/28/2024

Polytheism and the Polis: The Drama of the Individual Before the Self with Paul Epstein | Ralston College 08/26/2024

Polytheism and the Polis: The Drama of the Individual Before the Self with Paul Epstein | Ralston College Dr Paul Epstein is a distinguished classicist and Professor Emeritus of Classics at Oklahoma State University, renowned for his extensive knowledge of Greek and Latin literature. In this lecture and discussion—delivered in Savannah during the x term of the inaugural year of Ralston College’s MA in the Humanities program—classicist Dr Paul Epstein considers how Sophocles’s tragedy Women of Trachis and Aristophanes’s comedy Frogs arise from—and reflect upon—the polis-centered polytheism of ancient Greece as it appeared during the Athenian flourishing of the fifth century BC. Professor Epstein explores how these Greek dramas articulate the relationship between human beings, the gods, and the community. Tragedy, in Professor Epstein’s account, is about the overall structure of the community, while comedy starts with the individual’s exploration of that community. Yet both forms ultimately reveal an understanding of the individual that is inseparable from the polis in which he or she lives. Professor Epstein argues that our contemporary notion of the self as an entity fundamentally separate from context would be entirely alien to the ancient Greeks. Grasping this ancient understanding of the individual is vitally necessary if we are to correctly interpret the literary and philosophical texts of Hellenic antiquity. *In this lecture and discussion, classicist Dr. Paul Epstein considers how Sophocles’s tragedy Women of Trachis and Aristophanes’s comedy Frogs arise from—and reflect upon—the polis-centered polytheism of ancient Greece during the Athenian flourishing of the fifth century BC. Professor Epstein explores how these Greek dramas articulate the relationship between human beings, the gods, and the community. Tragedy, in Professor Epstein’s account, is about the overall structure of the community, while comedy starts with the individual’s exploration of that community. Yet both forms ultimately reveal an understanding of the individual that is inseparable from the polis in which he or she lives. Professor Epstein argues that our contemporary notion of the self as an entity fundamentally separate from context would be entirely alien to the ancient Greeks. Grasping this ancient understanding of the individual is vitally necessary if we are to correctly interpret the literary and philosophical texts of Hellenic antiquity. — 0:00 Introduction of Professor Epstein by President Blackwood 6:25 The Polytheistic World of the Polis 01:09:35 Dialogue with Students on Polytheism and the Polis 01:22:40 Sophocles’s Women of Trachis 01:44:10 Dialogue with Students About Women of Trachis 01:56:10 Introduction to Aristophanes' Frogs 02:24:40 Dialogue with Students About Frogs 02:49:45 Closing Remarks for Professor Epstein's Lecture — Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in This Episode: Athenian flourishing of the fifth century BC Sophocles, Women of Trachis Aristophanes, Frogs William Shakespeare Plato, Symposium Aristophanes, Lysistrata Homer, Odyssey Aristotle, Poetics Peloponnesian War Plato, Apology nomizó (νομίζω)—translated in the talk as “acknowledge” nous (νοῦς) binein (Βινέω) Johann Joachim Winkelman Nicene Creed Titanic v. Olympian gods Hesiod Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility Sigmund Freud Existentialism techne (τέχνη) logos (λόγος) eros (Ἔρως) hubris (ὕβρις) Philip Larkin, “Annus Mirabilis” Athansian Creed psuche (ψυχή)—translated in the talk as “soul” thelo (θέλω)—translated in the talk as “wishes” Aristophanes, Clouds mimesis (μίμησις) — Additional Resources — Thank you for listening! /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/33490727

Levels of Intelligibility, Levels of the Self: Realizing the Dialectic with Dr John Vervaeke | Ralston College 08/02/2024

Levels of Intelligibility, Levels of the Self: Realizing the Dialectic with Dr John Vervaeke | Ralston College Dr John Vervaeke is a cognitive scientist and philosopher who explores the intersections of Neoplatonism, cognitive science, and the meaning crisis, focusing on wisdom practices, relevance realization, and personal transformation. Ralston College presents a lecture titled “Levels of Intelligibility, Levels of the Self: Realizing the Dialectic,” delivered by Dr John Vervaeke, an award-winning associate professor of cognitive science at the University of Toronto and creator of the acclaimed 50-episode “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis” series. In this lecture, Dr Vervaeke identifies our cultural moment as one of profound disconnection and resulting meaninglessness. Drawing on his own cutting-edge research as a cognitive scientist and philosopher, Vervaeke presents a way out of the meaning crisis through what he terms “third-wave Neoplatonism.” He reveals how this Neoplatonic framework, drawn in part from Plato’s conception of the tripartite human soul, corresponds to the modern understanding of human cognition and, ultimately, to the levels of reality itself. He argues that a synoptic integration across these levels is not only possible but imperative. — 00:00 Levels of Intelligibility: Integrating Neoplatonism and Cognitive Science 12:50 Stage One: Neoplatonic Psycho-ontology and the Path to Spirituality 41:02 Aristotelian Science: Knowing as Conformity and Transformation 46:36 Stoic Tradition: Agency, Identity, and the Flow of Nature 01:00:10 Stage Two: Cognitive Science and the Integration of Self and Reality 01:04:45 The Frame Problem and Relevance Realization 01:08:45 Relevance Realization and the Power of Human Cognition 01:20:15 Transjective Reality: Affordances and Participatory Fittedness 01:23:55 The Role of Relevance Realization: Self-Organizing Processes 01:31:30 Predictive Processing and Adaptivity 01:44:35 Critiquing Kant: The Case for Participatory Realism 01:53:35 Stage Three: Neoplatonism and the Meaning Crisis 02:00:15 Q&A Session 02:01:45 Q: What is the Ecology of Practices for Cultivating Wisdom? 02:11:50 Q: How Has the Cultural Curriculum Evolved Over Time? 02:26:30 Q: Does the World Have Infinite Intelligibility? 02:33:50 Q: Most Meaningful Visual Art? 02:34:15 Q: Social Media's Impact on Mental Health and Information? 02:39:45 Q: What is Transjective Reality? 02:46:35 Q: How Can Education Address the Meaning Crisis? 02:51:50 Q: Advice for Building a College Community? 02:55:30 Closing Remarks — Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode: Antisthenes Aristotle Brett Anderson Byung-Chul Han Charles Darwin Daniel Dennett D. C. Schindler Friedrich Nietzsche Galileo Galilei Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Heraclitus Henry Corbin Immanuel Kant Iris Murdoch Isaac Newton Igor Grossmann Johannes Kepler John Locke John Searle John Spencer Karl Friston Karl Marx Mark Miller Maurice Merleau-Ponty Nelson Goodman Paul Ricoeur Pierre Hadot Plato Pythagoras Rainer Maria Rilke René Descartes Sigmund Freud W. Norris Clarke anagoge (ἀναγωγή) Distributed cognition eidos (εἶδος) eros (ἔρως) Evan Thompson’s deep continuity hypothesis Generative grammar logos (λόγος) Sensorimotor loop Stoicism thymos (θυμός) Bayes' theorem Wason Selection Task The Enigma of Reason by Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber The Ennead by Plotinus Explorations in Metaphysics by W. Norris Clarke Religion and Nothingness by Keiji Nishitani The Eternal Law: Ancient Greek Philosophy, Modern Physics, and Ultimate Reality by John Spencer — Additional Resources — Thank you for listening! /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/32458157

Knowing God in the Book of Job | Dr David Novak with Ralston College 07/19/2024

Knowing God in the Book of Job | Dr David Novak with Ralston College Dr David Novak is a distinguished professor at the University of Toronto, renowned theologian, and esteemed rabbi. He has authored numerous books, delivered the prestigious Gifford Lectures, and bridges ancient philosophical traditions with modern ethical issues. Recorded live at Ralston College in Savannah, GA in November of 2022. Dr David Novak—Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto—offers a lecture on the Book of Job followed by an extended question and answer session with students enrolled in Ralston College’s Master’s in the Humanities Program. In his lecture, Dr Novak explores the complex position of Job in the canon of Jewish scriptures, surveys diverse scholarly accounts of the concluding passages of the book, and offers his own interpretation of Job’s “face-to-face” interaction with God, one that emphasizes direct knowledge over abstract understanding and finds in the book’s conclusion a vision of the resurrection of the body. — 00:00 Introduction 08:20 Dr. David Novak’s Lecture on the Book of Job 53:25:00 Question and Answer Session with Ralston College Students and Dr. Novak 54:45 Question: Does Job’s Vision Occur Before or After Death? 59:40 Question: Why are Job’s Friends Punished for Their Conceptual Understanding? 01:03:00 Question: How Does This Align With the Belief That No One Can See God and Live? 01:09:05 Question: What is the Purpose of the Dialogues Between Job and His Friends? 01:13:05 Question: Did Job’s Friends Hear God’s Voice During the Appearance? 01:14:55 Question: What is the Significance of God Doubling Job’s Possessions? 01:15:30 Question: Is There a Visual Aspect to God’s Response to Job, or Is It Only Auditory? 01:15:30 Question: What Does it Mean for God to Make a Bet with the Adversary? 01:19:10 Question: Is Job’s Refusal to Curse God a Prerequisite for His Later Vision? 01:25:15 Question: What Do You Make of the Relationship Between Satan and God? 01:29:05 Did God Use Job to Prove a Point to Satan, Knowing the Outcome? 01:31:20 Question: Can Man Question God and Express Grievances? 01:35:40 Question: Does Elihu Suggest People Perceive God Through Suffering and Visions? 1:41:30 Question: How Has Your Belief in Providence Impacted Your Life? 01:44:45 Closing Remarks — Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode: The Book of Job The Book of Ezekiel The Book of Leviticus The Book of Esther The Book of Ecclesiastes Robert Gordis, The Book of God and Man: A Study of Job mashal (משל)—Hebrew, “parable” Katagoros (Hebrew—קָטִיגור; Greek—κατήγορος)—”accuser” Fredrich Nietzsche Johann von Rist, “O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid” G.W.F. Hegel Richard Rorty Reinhold Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man Leo Strauss Plato, Republic Yehuda Haleri Aristotle Thomas Aquinas The Book of Isaiah via negativa John Rawls Eric Gregory Chaim ibn Attar Tzimtzum (צמצום) — Additional Resources — Thank you for listening! /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/32226562

Unlocking Consciousness with Dr Stephen Wolfram: AI & Philosophy | Ralston College 07/05/2024

Unlocking Consciousness with Dr Stephen Wolfram: AI & Philosophy | Ralston College Dr Stephen Wolfram is a renowned computer scientist, physicist, and entrepreneur who earned his PhD in particle physics at 20 and became the youngest MacArthur Fellow at 21. As the founder of Wolfram Research, he has developed groundbreaking technologies widely used by university researchers in engineering, physics, mathematics, and computing. How can computational thinking and philosophy together unlock the mysteries of human consciousness and the universe? In this Q&A session, conducted in February 2024 with students enrolled in Ralston College’s MA in the Humanities program, the renowned physicist and computer scientist, Dr Stephen Wolfram, explains his own intellectual trajectory and explores the intersection of computational and philosophical inquiry, particularly in the age of AI. In the course of this wide-ranging conversation, Dr Wolfram discusses computational irreducibility, the nature of mind, the ethics of AI governance, and the growing value of a liberal arts education. — 00:00 Introduction: Dr. Stephen Wolfram's Genius and AI's Impact on Humanities 01:30 Welcoming Dr. Steven Wolfram 02:15 Steven Wolfram's Early Life and Achievements 05:10 The Power of Computational Thinking 07:20 The Ruliad, Philosophy, and Computational Language 15:15 Q: Exploring Computational Irreducibility and Emergence 21:25 The Ruliad and the Nature of Reality 32:30 Q: The Role of Computational Thinking in Education 41:05 AI Governance and Ethics 46:35 Q: Bridging STEM and Humanities for Better AI Ethics 48:40 Building Wolfram Alpha 50:35 Q: Plato and Balancing Innovation in AI 01:05:25 Q: Probability and Unpredictability: Insights from Nassim Taleb 01:09:35 Q: Human Consciousness and the Computational Soul 01:22:35 Conclusion: Reflections on Learning, Philosophy, and the Future of Education — Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode: Gestalt entities Computational irreducibility Computational equivalence The second law of thermodynamics Plato, Republic AI Governance Utilitarianism Arrival (film) ChatGPT Nassem Talib, The Black Swan Colin Maclaurin — Additional Resources Join the conversation and stay updated on our latest content by subscribing to the Ralston College . — Thank you for listening! /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/32026162

From Homer to Gutenberg: Ancient Greek and Its Afterlives with Dr David Butterfield 07/01/2024

From Homer to Gutenberg: Ancient Greek and Its Afterlives with Dr David Butterfield David Butterfield is a renowned classicist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge. His work centres on the critical study and teaching of classical texts. How did the Renaissance revival of Greek language study transform Western Europe's intellectual landscape and shape our modern understanding of the Classics? In this talk, delivered on the island of Samos in Greece in August 2023 as part of Ralston College’s Master’s in the Humanities program, Dr. David Butterfield—Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Cambridge—charts how Western Europe came to appreciate the language and culture of ancient Greece as an integral part of its own civilizational inheritance. Dr. Butterfield explains that large-scale technological and cultural changes in late antiquity led to a gradual loss of Greek language proficiency—and a waning interest in the pagan world—among Western European intellectuals during the Early Middle Ages. While the Scholasticism of the High Middle Ages was invigorated by the rediscovery of the Greek philosophical tradition, this encounter was mediated almost entirely through Latin translations. It was only in the Renaissance—when a renewed appreciation of the Hellenic world on its own terms led to a revitalization of Greek language study—that our contemporary conception of Classics was fully established. — 00:00 Introduction: A Journey through Classical Literature with Dr. Butterfield 04:05 Preservation and Valuation of Greek Culture 06:55 The Evolution of Writing Systems 14:50 Greek Influence on Roman Culture 20:25 The Rise of Christianity and Advances in Book Technology 27:40 Preservation and Transmission of Classical Texts in the Middle Ages 32:50 Arabic Scholars: Preserving Greek Knowledge and Shaping Western Thought 36:00 The Renaissance and Rediscovery of Greek Texts 43:10 Conclusion: The Printing Press and the Spread of Classical Knowledge — Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode: Homer Magna Graecia Pythagoras Odyssey Cato the Elder Third Macedonian War Great Library of Alexandria Great Library of Pergamum Horace, Epistles Emperor Augustus Codex Sinaiticus Constantine Neoplatonism Plato Charlemagne Carolingian Renaissance Virgil Ovid Abbasid Caliphate Avveroës Avicenna Thomas Aquinas Petrarch Ottoman Conquest Epicurus Lucretius Aristotle Gutenberg — Additional Resources - Explore Ancient Greece and Rome with Modern Insights Join the conversation and stay updated on our latest content by subscribing to the Ralston College . /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/31886932

Education without Indoctrination: Can It Exist? Stephen Blackwood, John Vervaeke & David Butterfield 06/28/2024

Education without Indoctrination: Can It Exist? Stephen Blackwood, John Vervaeke & David Butterfield Stephen Blackwood is the founding President of Ralston College, with advanced degrees in Classics and Religion and visiting positions at Harvard, Toronto, and Cambridge. David Butterfield is a renowned classicist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge. His work centres on the critical study and teaching of classical texts. John Vervaeke, PhD, is an award-winning professor of psychology, cognitive science, and Buddhist psychology at the University of Toronto. What are the fundamental principles required to cultivate an educational environment free from ideological bias? In this episode, Stephen Blackwood, David Butterfield, and John Vervaeke explore the current landscape of higher education and its pervasive ideological influences. They discuss the importance of fostering genuine freedom of inquiry, intellectual diversity, and non-coercive teaching practices. Through personal anecdotes and reflections on academic experiences, the conversation examines the conditions that make real dialogue and meaningful education possible. This episode challenges listeners to reconsider the essence of true education and its role in developing critical, independent thinkers. — 00:00 Introduction and Exploring Education Without Indoctrination 02:20 Defining Indoctrination in Education 05:25 Current State of Higher Education 09:05 Neo-Marxism and Power Dynamics in Education 16:30 Teaching and Parenting: Fostering Realization and Free Agency 26:05 John Vervaeke:Exploring Logos, Love, and the Meaning Crisis 35:35 The Dual Aspects of Free Speech: Good Faith and Inquiry 38:30 Audience Q&A: Handling Classroom Dynamics and Approaches 53:45 Conclusion: University Traditions and Political Orientations — Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode Friedrich Nietzsche Thomas Jefferson Martha Argerich Descartes Jordan Peterson Education without Indoctrination Freedom of Speech The New Criterion Meaning Crisis Dialectic into Dialogos The Vervaeke Foundation — Additional Resources Join the conversation and stay updated on our latest content by subscribing to the Ralston College . /episode/index/show/ultimatequestions/id/31886907

Self and Story: In Conversation with Gregg Hurwitz 06/27/2024

Language, Thought, and Style: The Articulated Logos in Victorian Literature with Michael D. Hurley 06/26/2024

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