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.
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Ep. 30 - From the Cave of Pythagoras: A Lecture and Discussion with Douglas Hedley
03/01/2023
Ep. 30 - From the Cave of Pythagoras: A Lecture and Discussion with Douglas Hedley
Ralston College presents a lecture by University of Cambridge Professor Douglas Hedley on the influential and mysterious pre-Socratic philosopher Pythagoras. Given in the very cave in Samos in which Pythagoras taught, this brief lecture touches on the philosopher’s influence on the Western tradition and the importance of the cave as an imaginative motif. Professor Hedley explores this recurring symbol as a place of birth and rebirth, of contemplation and illumination, and of tremendous inspiration to later figures such as Plato and many early Christian thinkers. The lecture took place during the first term of Ralston College's inaugural MA in the Humanities in autumn of 2022. Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode Eusebius Werner Jaeger Ralph Cudworth Kabbalah Pythagoras The Lyceum Lloyd P. Gerson St Ambrose Johannes Reuchlin St Augustine Metempsychosis Orphism Empedocles Plato’s Cave Socrates Mithraism Cave of the Apocalypse in Patmos Parmenides Aristotle Pindar Immanuel Kant Gottlob Frege Links of Possible Interest Douglas Hedley’s Cambridge Profile https://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/directory/douglas-hedley Living Forms of the Imagination https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0567032957/breviaryinfo-21 Dr Stephen Blackwood https://www.stephenjblackwood.com Dr James Bryson https://www.ralston.ac/people/james-bryson Ralston College (including newsletter) https://ralston.ac Ralston College Short Courses https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
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Ep. 29 - Marie Kawthar Daouda: Baudelaire and the Creation of the Poetic Self
10/13/2022
Ep. 29 - Marie Kawthar Daouda: Baudelaire and the Creation of the Poetic Self
Ralston College presents a lecture by Marie Kawthar Daouda on the infamous French poet, Charles Baudelaire. Baudelaire published one collection of poems in his lifetime, 'Les Fleurs du mal,' which was met by outrage and led to a scandalous lawsuit because of some poems’ graphic content. The problem with Baudelaire was not so much that he was writing about sex, drunkenness, and violence; it was that he wrote about ugly things—at times horrible things—while using the classical perfection of the French verse, and merged the longing for a lost ideal with the modernity of Haussmanian Paris. As such, Baudelaire's art is not about gruesome indecency, but about acknowledging horror as a non-negotiable part both of the human condition and of the creation of the self. Dr Daouda’s lecture focuses on two particular sonnets, 'À une passante' and 'Recueillement,' which offer emblematic examples of Baudelaire’s poetic technique and his philosophical heritage, and help to explain why, although he died in utter misery, he was one of the most influential artistic figures of the century that followed. This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on June 23rd, 2022. Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode Charles Baudelaire Eugene Delacroix, 'La Liberté guidant le peuple' Chateaubriand Benjamin Constant Alphonse de Lamartine Victor Hugo, 'Les Miserables' George Sand Jean-Jacques Rousseau Voltaire Victor Hugo, 'Les Chansons des rues et des bois' Édouard Manet Blaise Pascal Joseph de Maistre Edgar Allan Poe Platonism Neo-Platonism Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Imp of the Perverse' Charles Baudelaire, 'L’art romantique' Charles Baudelaire, 'Les Fleurs du mal' Carlos Schwabe, 'Spleen et idéal' Oscar Wilde Charles Baudelaire, 'À une passante' Petrus Borel, 'Champavert' Charles Baudelaire, 'Recueillement' Charles Baudelaire, 'Le Spleen de Paris' Michael Edwards, 'Bible et poésie' Vladimir Jankélévitch, 'La Mort' Carlos Schwabe, 'Les Noces du poete et de la Muse ou L’Ideal' Gustav Maureau Lord Byron Links of Possible Interest Dr Marie Kawthar Daouda's biography https://www.ralston.ac/people/marie-k... Dr Stephen Blackwood https://www.stephenjblackwood.com Ralston College https://ralston.ac Ralston College Short Courses https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-sho... Ralston College Humanities MA https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
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Ep. 28 - Arif Ahmed on David Hume’s Disturbing Conception of the Self
08/24/2022
Ep. 28 - Arif Ahmed on David Hume’s Disturbing Conception of the Self
Ralston College presents a lecture by Arif Ahmed on David Hume’s conception of self in Book I of his ‘Treatise of Human Nature.’ The idea of ‘the self’ or ‘soul’ as an enduring subject of experience seems very natural, indeed almost inevitable. Hume, however, argues that it is a mistake; and he gives a novel account of what it means for you or me to exist at any one time or across different times. In his lecture, Dr Ahmed assesses Hume's central argument and discusses whether it sheds any light on related questions concerning responsibility, the morality of life and death, and the nature and rationality of 'self-interest.' This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on May 19th, 2022.
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Ep. 27 - Alan Charles Kors: Voltaire’s ‘Philosophical Letters,’ Part II
08/03/2022
Ep. 27 - Alan Charles Kors: Voltaire’s ‘Philosophical Letters,’ Part II
Ralston College presents a lecture by Alan Charles Kors on Voltaire's great work 'The Philosophical Letters.' Profoundly impressed by the English scientific and philosophical revolutions of the seventeenth century, Voltaire sought to explain and to popularize new British thinking to his French readers. He argued that sound and innovative thinkers were more important to humanity than its political or military heroes and that preferring the philosophers of one’s native land over those of another nation was a barrier to truth and knowledge. In this second part of a broader lecture on Voltaire's thought, Professor Kors expands upon Voltaire’s observations of the relative political and economic freedom in England at the time and its connection to an underlying philosophical worldview. This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on April 28th, 2022.
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Ep. 26 - Alan Charles Kors: Voltaire’s ‘Philosophical Letters,’ Part I
06/28/2022
Ep. 26 - Alan Charles Kors: Voltaire’s ‘Philosophical Letters,’ Part I
Ralston College presents a two-part series of lectures by Alan Charles Kors on Voltaire's great work 'The Philosophical Letters.' Profoundly impressed by the English scientific and philosophical revolutions of the seventeenth century, Voltaire sought to explain and to popularize new British thinking to his French readers. He argued that sound and innovative thinkers were more important to humanity than its political or military heroes and that preferring the philosophers of one’s native land over those of another nation was a barrier to the advance of truth and knowledge. In this first lecture, Professor Kors explores the reasons for Voltaire's fascination with the English empirical tradition, which is exemplified by Francis Bacon, John Locke, and Isaac Newton. This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on April 21st, 2022.
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Ep. 25 - Theodore Dalrymple on H. G. Wells's 'The Time Machine'
04/13/2022
Ep. 25 - Theodore Dalrymple on H. G. Wells's 'The Time Machine'
Ralston College presents a lecture delivered on March 17th, 2022 by Theodore Dalrymple (aka Anthony Daniels) on H. G. Wells’s extraordinary 'scientific romance,' 'The Time Machine'. A brilliant seer and prophet with a very pessimistic view of humanity, Wells was, nevertheless, a naive and shallow political thinker. The two sides of his mind—the artistic and the ideological; the 'unofficial' and the 'official'—were in conflict. In his writings and personal life, Wells embodied the cultural and philosophical schisms underlying the most important political and sociological questions of our time. Wells's prescient insights, and troubling self-contradictions point to deep questions at the heart of human nature.
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Ep. 24 - Vernon Smith: Self-Interest Reconsidered
01/11/2022
Ep. 24 - Vernon Smith: Self-Interest Reconsidered
Stephen Blackwood speaks with the Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, Vernon L. Smith. They begin by defining and exploring commonly misunderstood economic terms—markets, capitalism, equilibrium—and then unpack the discoveries of Dr Smith’s pioneering experiments in economics, which—against widely held assumptions—revealed the operation of beneficence and non-zero-sum reciprocity at the heart of free exchange. ‘Self-interest’ is thus profoundly re-evaluated. Paradoxically, the only way to self-realization is through concern for others. Also, Vernon recommends for further reading, especially on the topic of his experimental games, which are described but not entirely comprehensible in the podcast, the following: Vernon L. Smith (1991) Papers in Experimental Economics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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Ep. 23 - Iain McGilchrist: The Coincidence of Opposites
11/20/2021
Ep. 23 - Iain McGilchrist: The Coincidence of Opposites
Ralston College presents a lecture delivered on October 26th, 2021 by Dr Iain McGilchrist followed by a discussion with Dr Stephen Blackwood and questions from the audience. In his lecture Dr McGilchrist deals with certain themes that are treated at greater length in his recent book The Matter With Things. He focuses especially upon the coincidence of opposites (coincidentia oppositorum), which he explores (providing an extraordinary range of illustrative examples) in such a way as to make manifest both its universality and its particular relevance to our present historical moment.
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Ep. 22 - Marwa Al-Sabouni: Architecture as a Matter of Life or Death
07/19/2021
Ep. 22 - Marwa Al-Sabouni: Architecture as a Matter of Life or Death
Ralston College presents a conversation between Stephen Blackwood and award-winning architect and author Marwa Al-Sabouni, followed by an audience Q&A. A voice of penetrating clarity and prophetic power, Al-Sabouni discusses the role of architecture in cultivating or undermining our social fabric, arguing that the seeds of the devastating Syria Civil War were sown by the choices of architects and city planners. Though born of particular and painful experience, Al-Sabouni's insights on the nature of human life and community are universal, and offer consolation and hope amidst the civic alienation and aesthetic degradation facing so many of us today. The event took place online on June 24th, 2021.
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Ep. 21 - Alexander Stoddart: Culture as Communion with the Dead
06/02/2021
Ep. 21 - Alexander Stoddart: Culture as Communion with the Dead
In Part II of their discussion Stephen Blackwood and Alexander Stoddart speak about the transhistorical community of past, present, and future. Stoddart explicates his Schopenhauerian view of art as life-denying and thus paradoxically able to help us relinquish our own will to power. He contrasts this view with that of a shallow presentism, a self-absorbed modernist outlook that views the present as inherently superior to both past and future, cutting off its own vital resources and neglecting its fundamental obligations. Stoddart shows another way. Artists, Art, and Writings Mentioned in this Episode: Homer; Palmyra; Br’er Rabbit and the Tar-Baby; Arthur Schopenhauer; Jean-Paul Sartre; Michel Foucault; Friedrich Nietzsche; Walter Scott; Richard Wagner; Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; Charles Dickens; Walter Pater; Gian Lorenzo Bernini; Buddhas of Bamiyan; Trajan's Forum; The Colosseum; Bartolomeo Colleoni Monument; The Shard of London; Albert Speer’s Volkshalle ("People's Hall"); T. S. Eliot: “Four Quartets”; Gone with the Wind, House of Tara (Antebellum architecture); Richard James Wyatt; Lincoln Memorial; John Flaxman: Am I Not a Man; Thomas Banks profile of Thomas Muir of Huntershill (https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/thomas-banks); Edgar Degas; Paul Cézanne; Pierre-Auguste Renoir; The Acropolis; Tyche; Statue of Tyche and Plutus in Istanbul; Statue of Liberty; Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro; Mount Rushmore
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Ep. 20 - On Becoming Alan Dershowitz
05/22/2021
Ep. 20 - On Becoming Alan Dershowitz
Ralston College presents a conversation between Stephen Blackwood and Alan Dershowitz, followed by an audience Q & A. The discussion begins with Professor Dershowitz describing the early influences that awakened his appreciation for civil liberties—particularly free speech—and the origins of his fiercely independent thinking. The subsequent conversation and response to questions touches on the decline of meritocracy, the principles of the Civil Rights Movement, the role of universities and intellectuals in revolution and tyranny, and the ways in which a culture of free inquiry is fundamental to human flourishing. The event took place online on April 28th, 2021. Works and Artists mentioned: H.N. Bialik, "The City of Slaughter," Adolf von Hildebrand
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Ep. 19 - Victor Davis Hanson on Who Killed Homer
04/15/2021
Ep. 19 - Victor Davis Hanson on Who Killed Homer
Have we killed Homer for good? Stephen Blackwood and historian-farmer Victor Davis Hanson examine the state of the contemporary West by returning to its ancient Greek origins. They explore the richness of its first principles, including self-critique, the elevation of rational understanding, the democratization of learning, and the unification of thought and action. They also bring to light our current cultural crisis: the uncritical rejection of the inherited past, an intellectualism divorced from reality, and a surrender to relativism at the cost of true self-reflection. They close by reflecting on the lateness of the hour, and offer a vital call to seek and speak truth, to ignite the fire of independence of mind, and to remember that while we may know more than those who came before, they are, as T.S. Eliot said, that which we know.
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Ep. 18 – Andrew Doyle on Free Speech and Why It Matters
03/30/2021
Ep. 18 – Andrew Doyle on Free Speech and Why It Matters
Ralston College presents a lecture with Andrew Doyle followed by a discussion and audience Q & A with Stephen Blackwood. Doyle discusses his new book, ‘Free Speech and Why it Matters,’ and offers trenchant examples of recent curtailment of the freedom of speech and thought. He provides a lively account of why free speech and free expression are vital for a thriving culture and describes the kinds of degradation that result when a wide array of ideas are not examined in the public square. The event took place online on March 4, 2021.
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Ep. 17 - Alexander Stoddart: A Conversation in His Studio
03/16/2021
Ep. 17 - Alexander Stoddart: A Conversation in His Studio
Should art be beautiful? This forbidden question guides Stephen Blackwood’s conversation with eminent sculptor and aesthetic luminary, Alexander Stoddart. Stoddart describes, in his usual incandescent fashion, his aesthetic awakening and his views on the failings of modernist and contemporary art. He also speaks about iconoclasm, about art’s battle with nature, and about the power of beauty to still the will. Finally, he offers parting advice for young artists and other seekers of meaning and beauty. The conversation took place in Stoddart's studio in Scotland. Artists, Art, and Writings Mentioned in this Episode: The paintings of Eisenhower, Churchill, and Hitler; The Buddhas of Bamayan; Venus de Milo; Richard Wagner: Tristan and Isolde; Bust of Beatrice in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence; The Statue of Liberty; Mount Rushmore; Gutzon Borglum; Christ of the Andes; The Angel of the North; Jackson Pollock; Desiderio da Settignano; Michelangelo: Staircase in the Laurentian Medicean Library, Medici tombs, Medici Chapel; Michelangelo: The Slaves; Giambologna; Adolf von Hildebrand; Copenhagen, especially the work and museum of Bertel Thorvaldsen; Hermann Ernst Freund; Arthur Schopenhauer; Antonio Canova; Lorenzo Bartolini, Plaster Cast Gallery at the Accademia Gallery
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Ep. 16 - Harry Lewis and Stephen Blackwood: What's an Education For?
02/05/2021
Ep. 16 - Harry Lewis and Stephen Blackwood: What's an Education For?
Stephen Blackwood speaks with Harry Lewis, legendary Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University (where he taught both Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg). They discuss the tragic limits of narrowly vocational approaches to education—with which many young people are pressured to conform—by contrast with education that fosters true self-reflection and a meaningful life. They also discuss cancel culture, college admissions, and freedom of speech.
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Ep. 15 – Theodore Dalrymple on Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons”
01/29/2021
Ep. 15 – Theodore Dalrymple on Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons”
Ralston College presents a lecture by Dr Anthony Daniels (aka Theodore Dalrymple) on Ivan Turgenev’s 1862 “Fathers and Sons”, followed by a conversation about the novel with Dr Stephen Blackwood. Daniels illuminates the depth of Turgenev’s insight into the revolutionary mindset, and its relevance to the nihilism of our own time and culture. This event was held live on January 14th, 2021 and includes questions from participants around the world.The music mentioned is Schubert's “Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen, D.343” played by Deborah Pae (cello) and Misha Namirovsky (piano), available at .
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Ep. 14 - The Morality of Satire: Andrew Doyle and Stephen Blackwood
01/06/2021
Ep. 14 - The Morality of Satire: Andrew Doyle and Stephen Blackwood
How does humor work and why is it needed more than ever? Stephen Blackwood talks with comedian and political satirist Andrew Doyle (aka, Titania McGrath) as they explore the sovereignty of truth, the metaphysical implications of satire, the role of humor in friendship, and why the asking of real questions is always a reason for hope.
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Ep. 13 - On the Freedom of Thought and Nature: Freeman Dyson and Stephen Blackwood
12/18/2020
Ep. 13 - On the Freedom of Thought and Nature: Freeman Dyson and Stephen Blackwood
Stephen Blackwood speaks with Freeman Dyson, the late mathematical-physicist and renowned free thinker. They begin with a discussion of education and of the formative experiences that inspired Dyson's intellectual curiosity and courage. The conversation then ranges from evolution to particle physics to consciousness as they discuss the free and non-reductive character of both thought and nature. Along the way, Dyson shares many stories from his long and adventuresome life; this interview was one of his last. One can only be astounded by the depth and breadth and fearlessness of his intellect and the power of his insight and example. Requiescat in pace.
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Ep. 12 - A Discussion of 'Ivan Ilyich:' Donna Orwin and Stephen Blackwood
10/24/2020
Ep. 12 - A Discussion of 'Ivan Ilyich:' Donna Orwin and Stephen Blackwood
In this complementary episode to the reading of ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich,’ Stephen Blackwood speaks with Dr Donna Orwin, professor of Russian literature at the University of Toronto. Dr Orwin provides context for Tolstoy and his world, and the two discuss the style, structure, and unfolding layers of meaning within this masterpiece novella.
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Ep. 11 - Tolstoy: The Death of Ivan Ilyich
10/15/2020
Ep. 11 - Tolstoy: The Death of Ivan Ilyich
In this first episode of a new series, Stephen Blackwood reads Leo Tolstoy’s classic novella, ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich.’ A masterful text from one of history’s great writers, it tells the story of a man whose fatal illness forces him to confront the shallow assumptions of his life and the slowly encroaching, inevitable reality of death. ‘Ivan Ilyich’ is a timeless meditation on the fundamental content of life: finding purpose, loving others, and understanding our finitude. The translation Dr Blackwood is reading from—easily found online, if you'd like to follow along—is by Louise and Aylmer Maude.
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Ep. 10 - Independence in an Age of Conformity: Stephen Wolfram & Stephen Blackwood
08/30/2020
Ep. 10 - Independence in an Age of Conformity: Stephen Wolfram & Stephen Blackwood
How does one cultivate creativity and independence of mind? Stephen Blackwood talks to physicist and entrepreneur Stephen Wolfram about his precocious and largely self-educated early life and his ascent to become a world-class scientist, an innovator in computational theory, and the founder of a global company. They discuss how to pursue and develop one's gifts, how to think against the grain, and how to approach life with a sense of its unbounded possibility.
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Ep. 9 - Deep Thinking in a Distracted World: Cal Newport and Stephen Blackwood
08/03/2020
Ep. 9 - Deep Thinking in a Distracted World: Cal Newport and Stephen Blackwood
Stephen Blackwood talks with Cal Newport, writer and professor of computer science. They begin by reflecting on the historically unparalleled challenges and distractions of the digital age. They then discuss strategies to reclaim our mental autonomy, the generative power of non-instrumental thinking, and the fundamental dynamic of thought and life.
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Ep. 8 - On Freedom and Truth: Yeonmi Park & Stephen Blackwood
07/24/2020
Ep. 8 - On Freedom and Truth: Yeonmi Park & Stephen Blackwood
North Korean defector and human rights champion Yeonmi Park speaks with Stephen Blackwood about her journey to freedom: first from an oppressive political regime, then from slavery in China, and then from her own inner humiliation and fear. They speak about agency, resilience, and redemption, as well as the life of the mind, our need for others, and, above all, the relation between freedom and truth.
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Ep. 7 - Douglas Hedley and Stephen Blackwood: Reason, Imagination, and Reality
05/13/2020
Ep. 7 - Douglas Hedley and Stephen Blackwood: Reason, Imagination, and Reality
What connects truth, imagination, and freedom? Stephen Blackwood talks with philosopher-theologian Douglas Hedley about the human mind and its participation in a fundamentally knowable universe. The conversation begins with an introduction to three foundational aspects of the Platonic tradition — beauty, nature, and self-knowledge — and to the influences of that tradition throughout history, extending from modern science and the Enlightenment to contemporary understandings of beauty and human rights. They discuss the mind's extraordinary and complementary capacities of imagination and rationality in making and understanding the world. They conclude with a discussion of dominant contemporary ideologies — both materialist determinism and the philosophies of power — and consider ways of regaining a more adequate standpoint.
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Ep. 6 - Iain McGilchrist and Stephen Blackwood: The Unfolding of Life and Thought
04/19/2020
Ep. 6 - Iain McGilchrist and Stephen Blackwood: The Unfolding of Life and Thought
In Part II of their conversation, Stephen Blackwood and Iain McGilchrist discuss questions of theology, science, and philosophy, including: the shared nature of human life, revealed anew by the COVID-19 pandemic; 'unfolding' as a metaphor for actualization; freedom, necessity, and reason; and the fundamental role of the humanities in a thriving culture.
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Ep. 5 - Iain McGilchrist and Stephen Blackwood: On Finding Ourselves Within the Whole
04/02/2020
Ep. 5 - Iain McGilchrist and Stephen Blackwood: On Finding Ourselves Within the Whole
A conversation between Iain McGilchrist and Stephen Blackwood: Dr McGilchrist gives a brief summary of his account of the two sides of the brain and then the two discuss how that account offers a powerful interpretation of the contemporary world.
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Ep. 4 - Boethius and the Consolation of Philosophy
11/06/2019
Ep. 4 - Boethius and the Consolation of Philosophy
In this lecture for the Temenos Academy in London, delivered on June 19th, 2019, Stephen Blackwood offers a powerful reading of the ancient Roman writer Boethius and his magnum opus The Consolation of Philosophy. After tracing the Ancient Greek roots from which it draws, Blackwood sketches the Consolation’s investigation of how the individual can attain self-possession and true fulfillment amidst injustice, misfortune, distraction, and the inexorable movement of time. Blackwood also shows how this perennially influential book, written as its author faced unjust imprisonment and torture, relates the inner life of the individual and the wider cultural renewal with which it is intrinsically connected. Ralston College: Don't forget to subscribe!
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Ep. 3 - Jordan Peterson and Stephen Blackwood: Our Cultural Inflection Point and Higher Education
09/21/2019
Ep. 3 - Jordan Peterson and Stephen Blackwood: Our Cultural Inflection Point and Higher Education
Dr Jordan Peterson speaks with Dr Stephen Blackwood about our cultural inflection point and higher education, as well as Solzhenitsyn, redemption, and the hunger for meaning.
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Ep. 2 - Jordan Peterson and Roger Scruton: On the Transcendent
09/21/2019
Ep. 2 - Jordan Peterson and Roger Scruton: On the Transcendent
A conversation between Dr Jordan Peterson and Sir Roger Scruton, moderated by Dr Stephen Blackwood, introduced by Professor Douglas Hedley, presented by The Cambridge Centre for the Study of Platonism and Ralston College, held on November 2nd, 2018 in Cambridge, England.
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Ep. 1 - Douglas Murray and Stephen Blackwood: On Ideological Madness and Its Antidote
09/20/2019
Ep. 1 - Douglas Murray and Stephen Blackwood: On Ideological Madness and Its Antidote
Are we living through an era of madness? Stephen Blackwood sits down with best-selling author Douglas Murray to discuss manifestations of madness in contemporary culture. They explore the metaphysical system sustaining present ideologies, consider the necessity of meaning and forgiveness, and move beyond to discuss the transcendent values and works of art that enlighten, and perhaps offer an antidote for, the madness of the present. Works mentioned: Literature: T. S. Eliot, especially The Four Quartets; Philip Larkin; C. Day-Lewis; Shakespeare Music: Palestrina; Orlando Gibbons; Thomas Tallis, especially Spem in Alium and Lamentations of Jeremiah; Gustav Mahler, especially Symphony No. 3; Igor Stravinsky; Olivier Messiaen; Johannes Brahms, piano; Benjamin Britten; Michael Tippett
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