Ralston College
Hermeneutic Charity - Kate Spanos
updated
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
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 inaugural year of Ralston College’s MA in the Humanities program—classicist Dr Paul Epstein considers how Sophocles’s tragedy The 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.
—
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 The Women of Trachis
01:44:10 Dialogue with Students About The 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
nomizo (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:
Dr Stephen Blackwood
https://www.stephenjblackwood.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
Ralston College (including newsletter)
https://ralston.ac?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
Support a New Beginning:
https://www.ralston.ac/support-a-new-beginning?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
—
Thank you for watching!
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
@johnvervaeke 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
John Vervaeke
youtube.com/@johnvervaeke
Dr Stephen Blackwood
https://www.stephenjblackwood.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
Ralston College (including newsletter)
https://ralston.ac?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
Support a New Beginning:
https://www.ralston.ac/support-a-new-beginning?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
—
Thank you for watching!
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
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
David Novak
philosophy.utoronto.ca/directory/david-novak
Dr Stephen Blackwood
https://www.stephenjblackwood.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
Ralston College (including newsletter)
https://ralston.ac?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
Support a New Beginning:
https://www.ralston.ac/support-a-new-beginning?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
—
Thank you for watching!
-
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.
-
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. Stephen Wolfram
02:15 Stephen 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:
The ruliad writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/11/the-concept-of-the-ruliad
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
Dr Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Ralston College (including newsletter)
https://www.ralston.ac/
Support a New Beginning
https://www.ralston.ac/support/giving-opportunities
Ralston College Humanities MA
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
—
Thank you for watching!
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 intellectual society 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 of Arabic translations of the Greek originals. 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. Only those ancient works that survived through to the birth of printing in the 15th century were guaranteed an existence into our modern world.
—
00:00 Introduction: A Journey through Classical Literature with Dr. Butterfield
06:05 Preservation and Valuation of Greek Culture
08:55 The Evolution of Writing Systems
16:50 Greek Influence on Roman Culture
22:25 The Rise of Christianity and Advances in Book Technology
29:40 Preservation and Transmission of Classical Texts in the Middle Ages
34:50 Arabic Scholars: Preserving Greek Knowledge and Shaping Western Thought
38:00 The Renaissance and Rediscovery of Greek Texts
45:10 Conclusion: The Printing Press and the Spread of Classical Knowledge
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 based at the University of Cambridge, and Editor of the Classics website Antigone. His work centres on the critical study of classical texts and their survival from antiquity.
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
Re-Humanising Education By Stephen Blackwood and Bernadette Guthrie — ARC Research arc-research.org/research-papers/re-humanising-education
—
Additional Resources
Dr Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Dr Butterfield on the crisis in the Humanities
thecritic.co.uk/issues/march-2024/hollowed-out-humanities
Ralston College (including newsletter)
https://www.ralston.ac/
Support a New Beginning
https://www.ralston.ac/support/giving-opportunities
Ralston College Humanities MA
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
—
Thank you for watching.
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Gregg Hurwitz
gregghurwitz.net
Gregg Hurwitz, the New York Times bestselling author of the Orphan X series and a storyteller whose work spans many mediums and genres, in conversation with Stephen Blackwood, the founding president of Ralston College, and with students enrolled in the inaugural year of the College’s MA in the Humanities program. In this live event—recorded at Ralston College—Hurwitz discusses the concrete details of his own writing practice and explains how his training in literature and psychology have informed his craft. He reflects on how storytelling helps us to understand the self and on the real-world value of learning to speak with honesty and authenticity.
Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode:
Sigmund Freud
Carl Jung
Joseph Campbell
Gregg Hurwitz, You’re Next
The Sixth Sense (film)
Romanticism
William Wordsworth, “Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood”
William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Transcendentalism
Kurt Vonnegut
James Joyce, “The Dead”; Ulyssess
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night
William Faulkner, Light in August; As I Lay Dying; The Sound and the Fury
Raymond Chandler
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”
Albert Camus, The Stranger
James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice
Carl Rogers
Lord Byron
Batman (comic series)
Punisher (comic series)
Richard Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen
Pablo Picasso
Joan Didion
The Book of Henry (film)
Alan Moore
Additional Resources
Dr Stephen Blackwood
https://www.stephenjblackwood.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
Ralston College (including newsletter)
https://ralston.ac?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
Support a New Beginning:
https://www.ralston.ac/support-a-new-beginning?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
Ralston College Humanities MA:
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=LevelsofSelf
http://ralston.ac/latin-program
Ralston College welcomes applications, from all parts of the world, from all academic backgrounds, and from all degree and non-degree programs, to its inaugural Summer Latin Program, which will teach Latin, as well as Italian, immersively over two months in Italy.
The program will run from July 23rd to September 23rd and will be held primarily in Ortygia on Sicily, and in Rome, along with multiple overnight trips and an extended stay on the Bay of Naples, before ultimately concluding in Florence.
Full and partial scholarships are available for the strongest applicants. The deadline for applications is Monday 3 June 2024.
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Professor Michael Hurley, Professor of Literature and Theology at Trinity College in the University of Cambridge, delivers a lecture to students during Ralston College’s inaugural Master’s in the Humanities program on the intertwining of language and thought in the work of three major Victorian authors: Walter Pater, John Henry Newman, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Professor Hurley argues that, far from being merely ornamental, in these authors style is constitutive of thought and the difficult pursuit of beauty is inextricable from the pursuit of truth.
Authors, ideas, and works mentioned in this episode:
Pythagoras
Anti-Empiricism
St. John the Evangelist
Logos
Heraclitus
Romanticism
David Jones
Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach”
Sophocles
Peloponnesian War
John Henry Newman
William Blake
W.B. Yeats
Margot Collis
G.K. Chesterton
William James, “The Present Dilemma in Philosophy”
Pragmatism
Walter Pater, Studies in the History of the Renaissance
Walter Pater, “Style”
Aestheticism
Oscar Wilde
Harold Bloom
Melos
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa
Prolepsis
Hypotaxis
Parataxis
Cicero
Virgil
Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur”; “As Kingfishers Catch Fire”; “Carrion Comfort”
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
In this lecture, entitled "'What a Piece of Work is a Man’: Radical Thoughts on Human Nature" and delivered on March 30, 2023 as part of the Drummond Lecture Series at Hillsdale College, Dr Stephen Blackwood—the founding president of Ralston College—argues that we must first understand something’s nature before we can properly care for and cultivate it. This principle holds true for all living things, including plants and animals, but it is seen in its fullest complexity in human beings as they seek to realize their unique potential through the concrete challenges and conditions of their individual lives.
Drawing richly upon both text and images, Dr Blackwood explains that the actualization of our potential is not inevitable but instead relies upon us being rooted in a culture that can nurture, sustain, and challenge us as we seek to orient our subjective and finite experiences of the world toward eternal and infinite realities. Dr Blackwood’s lecture is a call to action for both individuals and institutions, reminding us of our sacred duty to both realize our own gifts and to accompany and support others as they seek to do the same.
Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode:
radix (Latin, “root")
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
The Biblical book of Ezekiel
Ugo da Carpi
cultus, (Latin, “cultivation, culture, education, devotion”)
Aristotle, De Anima
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
St Augustine
Anthony Daniels / Theodore Dalrymple
thaumazein (θαυμάζω: Ancient Greek, “wonder”)
Sigrid Undset, Kristen Lavransdatter
Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo”
Homer, Odyssey
Pythagoras
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy
Cal Newport, Deep Work
Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism
Gerard Manley Hopkins, “As Kingfishers Catch Fire”
This recording is the property of Hillsdale College and all rights are reserved.
#philosophy #shorts #religion
#hell #philosophy #shorts #religion
It's essential to recognize that while gender can influence personal identity, it should not confine or define us entirely. We are all inherently multifaceted, possessing both masculine and feminine qualities that contribute to our unique selves.
#gender #philosophy #shorts #religion
Pageau further delves into how this imagery interacts with its placement within the Church, enhancing the narrative of creation and ultimate fulfillment. He draws attention to the layered symbols within the scene, such as the crucifixion and harrowing of Hades. By exploring the cosmic symbolism—Christ as the source, the sheep and goats as symbols of inclusion or exclusion, and the strategic placement of figures—Pageau encourages a view of the Last Judgment not as a daunting reckoning but as a powerful allegory for the continuous formation and evaluation of identity against a higher ideal. This perspective not only demystifies the traditional fears associated with the Last Judgment but also prompts a personal reflection on how we align with broader, universal truths.
Jonathan Pageau is a renowned artist and the host of The Symbolic World podcast. He specializes in the interpretation of symbolic patterns across various cultural and historical contexts. Learn more about Jonathan Pageau and embark on a journey into the symbolic universe by visiting his podcast at http://thesymbolicworld.com and his website at http://www.pageaucarvings.com.
Glossary of Terms
Iconography: The visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the study or interpretation of these.
Byzantine Art: A style of art developed in the eastern Mediterranean in the late first millennium AD, characterized by its religious themes and extensive use of icons.
Resources
Ralston College
Website: https://www.ralston.ac/
YouTube: youtube.com/@RalstonCollegeSavannah
X: twitter.com/RalstonCollege
Images
The Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Torcello, Italy: The Last Judgement, Apse Mosaics
Church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy: 6th century Mosaic
The Basilica of Saint Sabina, Rome, Italy: Wooden door panels depicting The Ascension
Ascension of Christ, Rabbula Gospel Book (fol. 13v)
The Monastery of Apollo at Bawit, Egypt
Chapel of the Domus Galilaeae, Israel
Russian the Last Judgment Icon (Novgorod version, 15th century)
Quotes
"I believe that the image of the Last Judgment is actually a way to understand how identity formation functions." - Jonathan Pageau [00:09:00]
"We have to transform people; that's real. And that is undeniable when you meet someone that is transformed." - Jonathan Pageau [00:57:00]
Chapters
00:00:00 - Introduction to the Medieval Cosmos and Jonathan Pageau
00:06:30 - The Image of the Last Judgment and Its Significance
00:13:40 - Exploring the Fractal Nature of Medieval Symbols
00:17:40 - Understanding the Last Judgment and Its Structure
00:24:40 - Iconographic Representation of Christ, the Virgin, and Saints
00:29:00 - The Right Hand and Left Hand of Christ in the Last Judgment
00:37:00 - The Hetoimasia and the Prepared Throne
00:39:20 - Depictions of Paradise and Hell in the Last Judgment
00:50:20 - The Problem of Fragmentation and the Nature of Sin
00:55:00 - From Division to Unity: The Path Forward
00:57:50 - Q&A Session: Symbolism, Imagery, Rationality, and Integration
#play #philosophy #shorts
#shorts #philosophy #art
#plato #philosophy #shorts
#shorts #philosophy #lecture
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
Kenosis: The self-emptying of one's own will and becoming entirely receptive to God's divine will.
Resources
Ralston College
Website: https://www.ralston.ac/
YouTube: youtube.com/@RalstonCollegeSavannah
X: twitter.com/RalstonCollege
Douglas Hedley
https://www.ralston.ac/people/douglas-hedley
Living Forms of the Imagination -Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Living-Forms-Imagination-Douglas-Hedley/dp/0567032957
Sacrifice Imagined: Violence, Atonement, and the Sacred - Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Sacrifice-Imagined-Violence-Atonement-Sacred/dp/1441194452
The Iconic Imagination - Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Iconic-Imagination-Douglas-Hedley/dp/1441194630
The Ages of the World 1811 - Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Von Schelling amazon.com/Ages-World-Contemporary-Continental-Philosophy/dp/1438474059
Man at Play - Hugo Rahner S.J. amazon.com/Man-Play-Hugo-Rahner-S-J/dp/1949899799
Plotinus: Myth, Metaphor, and Philosophical Practice - Stephen R. L. Clark amazon.com/Plotinus-Myth-Metaphor-Philosophical-Practice/dp/022633967X
Quotes
"While our Plato often discusses in a hidden matter, the duty belonging to mankind, it sometimes seems as though he's joking and playing. But platonic games and jokes are much more serious than the serious things of the Stoics." - Douglas Hedley, originally from Marsilio Ficino [00:10:20]
“All fleeting things are just an image. The imperishable is here an event. The indescribable is thus done. The eternal feminine draws us upwards.” Douglas Hedley, paraphrasing Goethe [00:45:40]
Chapters
[00:00:00] Introduction and musical performance
[00:04:00] Formal introduction of Professor Douglas Hedley
[00:09:35] Exploring the philosophical and theological dimensions of play
[00:16:40] The Renaissance connection: Erasmus and the play of wisdom
[00:22:20] Plotinus and the cosmic dance of creation
[00:27:00] Playfulness in theology and philosophy
[00:32:00] Sacred play: the intersection of divine joy and human creativity
[00:36:40] The iconic imagination: symbols and play in spiritual life
[00:42:00] Femininity, wisdom, and play in cultural traditions
[00:52:00] Concluding thoughts on play and human development
[00:56:12] Audience Q&A: insights on play, culture, and society
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
Aesthetics: The branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste.
Resources
Ralston College
Website: https://www.ralston.ac/
YouTube: youtube.com/@RalstonCollegeSavannah
X: twitter.com/RalstonCollege
Douglas Hedley
https://www.ralston.ac/people/douglas-hedley
Living Forms of the Imagination -Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Living-Forms-Imagination-Douglas-Hedley/dp/0567032957
Sacrifice Imagined: Violence, Atonement, and the Sacred - Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Sacrifice-Imagined-Violence-Atonement-Sacred/dp/1441194452
The Iconic Imagination - Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Iconic-Imagination-Douglas-Hedley/dp/1441194630
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture - Johan Huizinga
amazon.com/Homo-Ludens-Study-Play-Element-Culture/dp/1621389995
Truth and Method - Hans-Georg Gadamer amazon.com/Truth-Method-Hans-Georg-Gadamer/dp/0826405851
Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art - Hans Belting amazon.com/Likeness-Presence-History-Image-before/dp/0226042154
Quotes
"Friedrich Schiller observes that man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays." - Douglas Hedley [00:15:49]
There has emerged a widely documented crisis of aesthetics. In the wake of Duchamp, or Warhol, it becomes more difficult to speak of the artwork, or indeed, aesthetic experience, more broadly." - Douglas Hedley [00:03:52]
Chapters
00:00:00] Introduction to the Aesthetics of Play
[00:02:25] Philosophical Significance of Art, Beauty, and Aesthetics
[00:17:00] Kant's Contribution to Aesthetics and the Concept of Genius
[00:24:00] Schiller's Aesthetic Education of Man and the Concept of Play
[00:33:40] Gadamer's Exploration of Art's Ontology and the Critical Role of Play
[00:52:56] Audience Questions and Reflections
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
Aeon: 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: youtube.com/@RalstonCollegeSavannah
X: twitter.com/RalstonCollege
Douglas Hedley
https://www.ralston.ac/people/douglas-hedley
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture - Johan Huizinga
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 amazon.com/Coddling-American-Mind-Intentions-Generation/dp/0735224897
Playing and Reality - D. W. Winnicott amazon.com/Playing-Reality-Routledge-Classics-86/dp/0415345464
Civilization and Its Discontents - Sigmund Freud amazon.com/Civilization-Its-Discontents-Sigmund-Freud/dp/0393304515
Modern Man in Search of a Soul - C. G. Jung amazon.com/Modern-Man-Search-Soul-Jung/dp/1684220904
The Red Book - C. G. Jung amazon.com/Red-Book-Philemon-C-Jung/dp/0393065677
Poetic Diction: A Study in Meaning - Owen Barfield 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
Douglas Hedley is a distinguished philosopher at the University of Cambridge, celebrated for his extensive research in the philosophy of religion and Platonism. He is the author of multiple influential works on imagination and religious experience.
Glossary of Terms
Language games: A concept introduced by Ludwig Wittgenstein that highlights the importance of usage and practice in shaping meaning
Resources
Ralston College
Website: https://www.ralston.ac/
YouTube: youtube.com/@RalstonCollegeSavannah
X: twitter.com/RalstonCollege
Douglas Hedley
https://www.ralston.ac/people/douglas-hedley
Philosophical Investigations - Ludwig Wittgenstein amazon.com/Philosophical-Investigations-Ludwig-Wittgenstein/dp/0631205691
The Trinity (Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century) - Saint Augustine amazon.com/Trinity-2nd-Works-Saint-Augustine/dp/1565484460
Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry - Owen Barfield amazon.com/Saving-Appearances-Idolatry-Owen-Barfield/dp/081956205X
Truth and Method - Hans-Georg Gadamer amazon.com/Truth-Method-Hans-Georg-Gadamer/dp/0826405851
Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature - Richard Rorty amazon.com/Philosophy-Mirror-Nature-Richard-Rorty/dp/0691020167
Augustine-Confessions-vol-1.pdf - Augustine. (n.d.). Confessions, Vol. 1. wesleyscholar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Augustine-Confessions-vol-1.pdf
Plato. (n.d.). Alcibiades 1.
platonicfoundation.org/platos-alcibiades-1
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture - Johan Huizinga
amazon.com/Homo-Ludens-Study-Play-Element-Culture/dp/1621389995
Quotes
"The great archetypal activities of human society are all permeated with play from the start." - Johann Huizinga, Homo Ludens [00:02:30]
“I think consciousness is fundamental to existence. In fact, it's the great philosophical question of our age.” - Douglas Hedley [01:01:24]
Chapters:
[00:00:00] - Introduction to Sophia Lectures: overview and introduction of Professor Douglas Hedley
[00:02:00] - Exploring play and language: merging Huizinga’s Play concept with Wittgenstein’s Language Games to reveal language’s essence in shaping human culture and thought.
[00:20:00] - The inner word and the play of meaning: exploring Augustine’s inner word and poetry’s power to unveil transcendent truths.
[00:26:00] - Tradition, interpretation, and the essence of language: exploring the intellectual legacies of Barfield and Gadamer, their critique of Modernism, and the philosophical significance of language's transcendental source.
[00:52:00] - Participation, aesthetics, and the divine word: navigating Gadamer's concept of participation through Platonic light, aesthetic experience, and the theological depths of language.
[01:00:00] - Audience Q&A and concluding reflections
Douglas Hedley is a distinguished philosopher at the University of Cambridge, celebrated for his extensive research in the philosophy of religion and Platonism. He is the author of multiple influential works on imagination and religious experience.
Glossary of Terms
Sophia: Greek word for wisdom, used in the context of the lecture series to signify the exploration of wisdom through philosophy.
The Delphic Oracle: The ancient Greek oracle at Delphi, famous for its cryptic predictions and guidance, including the maxim 'know thyself.'
Resources
Website: https://www.ralston.ac/
YouTube: youtube.com/@RalstonCollegeSavannah
X: twitter.com/RalstonCollege
Instagram: instagram.com/ralstoncollege
Douglas Hedley
divinity.cam.ac.uk/directory/douglas-hedley
https://www.ralston.ac/people/douglas-hedley
Living Forms of the Imagination -Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Living-Forms-Imagination-Douglas-Hedley/dp/0567032957
Sacrifice Imagined: Violence, Atonement, and the Sacred - Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Sacrifice-Imagined-Violence-Atonement-Sacred/dp/1441194452
The Iconic Imagination - Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Iconic-Imagination-Douglas-Hedley/dp/1441194630
The History of Religious Imagination in Christian Platonism, Exploring the Philosophy of Douglas Hedley - Christian Hengstermann amazon.com/History-Religious-Imagination-Christian-Platonism/dp/1350217697
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture - Johan Huizinga
amazon.com/Homo-Ludens-Study-Play-Element-Culture/dp/1621389995
In the Shadow of Tomorrow: A Diagnosis of the Modern Distemper - Johan Huizinga amazon.com/Shadow-Tomorrow-Diagnosis-Modern-Distemper/dp/1950970116
Leisure: The Basis of Culture - Josef Pieper
amazon.com/Leisure-Basis-Culture-Josef-Pieper/dp/1586172565
The Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi) - Hermann Hesse
amazon.com/Glass-Bead-Game-Magister-Ludi/dp/8087888383
The Journey to the East - Hermann Hesse amazon.com/Journey-East-Hermann-Hesse/dp/1891396889
Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse amazon.com/Siddhartha-Hermann-Hesse/dp/081120068X
Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age - Robert N. Bellah amazon.com/Religion-Human-Evolution-Paleolithic-Axial/dp/0674061438
Tertullian. (n.d.). De Spectaculis.
tertullian.org/works/de_spectaculis.htm
De Ludo Globi: The Game of Spheres - Nicholas de Cusa amazon.com/Ludo-Globi-Spheres-JANUS-LIBRARY/dp/0898350689
Plato. (n.d.). Symposium.
https://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html
Plato. (n.d.). Phaedo.
https://classics.mit.edu/Plato/phaedo.html
Plato. (n.d.). Laws.
https://classics.mit.edu/Plato/laws.1.i.html
Quotes
"Platonic games and jokes are much more serious than the serious things of the Stoics." - Marsilio Ficino [00:09:20]
"Play may well be a key to understanding something about ourselves." - Douglas Hedley [00:09:00]
Chapters
[00:00:00] - Introduction
[00:01:00] - Welcome and introduction of Sophia lectures series
[00:06:40] - Topic introduction: The Spirit of Play
[00:08:13] - Guest speaker introduction: Professor Douglas Hedley
[00:09:40] - Distinguishing play and game
[00:15:00] - Play as an intimation of the sacred
[00:20:40] - The link between play and freedom
[00:26:40] - Essentialism and play as an essential part of human condition
[00:31:20] - Critique of play within the Christian tradition
[00:36:50] - The glass bead game by Hermann Hesse
[00:45:00] - Critique of Mandarin culture in the glass bead game
[00:51:00] - Religious aspect of play
[01:02:00] - Suspicion of leisure in Anglo-American culture
[01:04:00] - Q&A session
[01:37:19] - Conclusion of Q&A session and end of the lecture
Douglas Hedley is a distinguished philosopher at the University of Cambridge, celebrated for his extensive research in the philosophy of religion and Platonism. He is the author of multiple influential works on imagination and religious experience.
Resources
Ralston College
Website: https://www.ralston.ac/
YouTube: youtube.com/@RalstonCollegeSavannah
X: twitter.com/RalstonCollege
Instagram: instagram.com/ralstoncollege
Douglas Hedley
divinity.cam.ac.uk/directory/douglas-hedley
https://www.ralston.ac/people/douglas-hedley
Living Forms of the Imagination -Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Living-Forms-Imagination-Douglas-Hedley/dp/0567032957
Sacrifice Imagined: Violence, Atonement, and the Sacred - Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Sacrifice-Imagined-Violence-Atonement-Sacred/dp/1441194452
The Iconic Imagination - Douglas Hedley amazon.com/Iconic-Imagination-Douglas-Hedley/dp/1441194630
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture - Johan Huizinga
amazon.com/Homo-Ludens-Study-Play-Element-Culture/dp/1621389995
Truth and Method - Hans-Georg Gadamer amazon.com/Truth-Method-Hans-Georg-Gadamer/dp/0826405851
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Praise of Folly. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved from britannica.com/topic/Praise-of-Folly-by-Erasmus
Quotes
"The concept of play...straddles evolutionary history, psychology, ethics, aesthetics, even religion." - Douglas Hedley [00:01:24]
"Play, perhaps surprisingly, has quite a significant role in the history of philosophy." - Douglas Hedley [00:02:53]
"Metaphysics is our spiritual oxygen." - Douglas Hedley [00:17:35]
Chapters
[00:00:00] - Introduction to Professor Douglas Hedley and the Sophia Lecture Series
[00:01:20] - Discussion on the choice of “The Spirit of Play” as the lectures' topic
[00:02:00] - Explanation of play's multifaceted nature
[00:04:40] - Importance of play in understanding human experience
[00:05:00] - Recommendation of Johan Huizinga's Homo Ludens
[00:07:00] - Connection between play and the history of philosophy
[00:08:20] - Kant, Schiller, and Gadamer's perspectives on play
[00:09:20] - Ralston College as a vision of Christian humanism
[00:10:40] - Philosophy as a way of life and the importance of friendship
[00:11:20] - Learning through imitation and the educational experience
[00:12:40] - Joy from immersion in the philosophical tradition
[00:13:20] - Challenges to traditional humanities in contemporary culture
[00:14:20] - The richness of the Christian Platonic tradition
[00:15:20] - Discussion on ultimate questions independent of social constructs
[00:16:40] - The significance of beauty in the cosmos
[00:18:00] - Conclusion and appreciation for Hedley's contributions
For further details and to make an application, please visit here: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Become a member of next year’s cohort in the MA in the Humanities program. Apply now: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
See Ralston College Student Testimonials Part I here:
youtu.be/8qGC-1odxt8
and Part II here:
youtu.be/qymrRu85pTw
as well as with three other short videos, each featuring a student discussing different aspects of their experience at Ralston:
Learning Greek at Ralston — Joshua Gomersall youtu.be/ug3wXB0Vi1Y
Hermeneutic Charity — Kate Spanos youtube.com/watch?v=uaYjSXdTlkA&t=0s
Ralston and Savannah — Scott Robinson youtu.be/CSGFTbv24ms
Become a member of next year’s cohort in the MA in the Humanities program. Apply now: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
See Ralston College Student Testimonials Part I here:
youtu.be/8qGC-1odxt8
and Part II here:
youtu.be/qymrRu85pTw
as well as with three other short videos, each featuring a student discussing different aspects of their experience at Ralston:
A Call to Adventure — Anand Mangal youtu.be/hAlonQpUBkA
Hermeneutic Charity — Kate Spanos youtu.be/AZaGQwV-Oqs
Ralston and Savannah — Scott Robinson youtu.be/CSGFTbv24ms
Become a member of next year’s cohort in the MA in the Humanities program. Apply now: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
See Ralston College Student Testimonials Part I here:
youtu.be/8qGC-1odxt8
and Part II here:
youtu.be/qymrRu85pTw
as well as with three other short videos, each featuring a student discussing different aspects of their experience at Ralston:
A Call to Adventure — Anand Mangal youtu.be/hAlonQpUBkA
Learning Greek at Ralston — Joshua Gomersall youtu.be/ug3wXB0Vi1Y
Hermeneutic Charity — Kate Spanos youtu.be/AZaGQwV-Oqs
Become a member of next year’s cohort in the MA in the Humanities program. Apply now: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
See Ralston College Student Testimonials Part I here:
youtu.be/8qGC-1odxt8
and Part II here:
youtu.be/qymrRu85pTw
as well as with three other short videos, each featuring a student discussing different aspects of their experience at Ralston:
A Call to Adventure — Anand Mangal youtu.be/hAlonQpUBkA
Learning Greek at Ralston — Joshua Gomersall youtu.be/ug3wXB0Vi1Y
Ralston and Savannah — Scott Robinson youtu.be/CSGFTbv24ms
Consider becoming a member of next year’s cohort in the MA in the Humanities program. Apply now: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
See Ralston College Student Testimonials Part I here:
youtu.be/8qGC-1odxt8
as well as with four short videos, each featuring a student discussing different aspects of their experience at Ralston:
A Call to Adventure — Anand Mangal youtu.be/hAlonQpUBkA
Learning Greek at Ralston — Joshua Gomersall youtu.be/ug3wXB0Vi1Y
Hermeneutic Charity — Kate Spanos youtu.be/uaYjSXdTlkA?si=5zncH87YcBFP1__D
Ralston and Savannah — Scott Robinson youtu.be/CSGFTbv24ms
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
Ralston College Humanities MA
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Douglas Hedley’s Cambridge Profile
divinity.cam.ac.uk/directory/douglas-hedley
Living Forms of the Imagination
amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0567032957/breviaryinfo-21
Dr Stephen Blackwood
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
Timeline
0:00 – Introduction
3:26 – Professor Douglas Hedley’s Lecture
7:25 – Introduction to Pythagoras
9:42 – The importance of the cave as a symbol
12:29 – Cave in Christianity and the ancient world
17:13 – Q & A: Plato’s and Pythagoras’ appeal to numbers as example of non-material realities
20:50 – Influence of Pythagoras on Plato
24:20 – The realness of number and mathematics
#ralstoncollege
See Ralston College Student Testimonials Part II here:
youtu.be/qymrRu85pTw
as well as with four short videos, each featuring a student discussing different aspects of their experience at Ralston:
A Call to Adventure — Anand Mangal youtu.be/hAlonQpUBkA
Learning Greek at Ralston — Joshua Gomersall youtu.be/ug3wXB0Vi1Y
Hermeneutic Charity — Kate Spanos youtu.be/AZaGQwV-Oqs
Ralston and Savannah — Scott Robinson youtu.be/CSGFTbv24ms
For more information about Ralston College, please visit:
Ralston College: http://bit.ly/3j2Zrbu
This lecture took place during the first term of Ralston College's inaugural MA in the Humanities on August 31st, 2022.
Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode
Library of Celsus
Heraclitus
Logos (λόγος)
John the Apostle
The Gospel of John, “Book 1”
Carl Jung
John Milton
Book of Genesis
Book of Exodus
Friedrich Nietzsche
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Links of Possible Interest
Dr Jordan Peterson
https://www.ralston.ac/people/jordan-b-peterson
Dr Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Ralston College (including newsletter)
https://ralston.ac
Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
Ralston College Humanities MA
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Timeline
0:00 – Beginning
0:57 – Lecture begins
4:18 – The world of what matters versus the world of matter
10:08 – Patterned regularities are superordinate to immediate perception
13:30 – Our perception shows us what is, but also what could be
16:30 – We are not automated machines; we are rather an embodiment of the Logos
22:10 – We prioritize perceptions, thus see the world through a system of values
31:30 – We cannot see the world except through an ethic
36:50 – We act out the world through what we describe as a narrative
47:25 – Social cohesion is dependent on perceptual prioritization
50:00 – Consequences for the future
#RalstonCollege
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
Eugène 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 poète et de la Muse ou L’Ideal'
Gustav Moreau
Lord Byron
Links of Possible Interest
Dr Marie Kawthar Daouda's biography
https://www.ralston.ac/people/marie-kawthar-daouda
Dr Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Ralston College
https://ralston.ac
Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
Ralston College Humanities MA
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Timeline
0:00 – Introduction
4:15 – Dr Daouda's lecture: background and context of Baudelaire’s time
11:03 – Baudelaire’s influences and relationship with Victor Hugo
19:15 – Horror and ecstasy: Baudelaire’s split view of life
24:20 – Baudelaire’s 'À une passante'
40:24 – Baudelaire’s 'Recueillement'
56:45 – Baudelaire’s reflections on time, nature, and the day
1:01:40 – The presence of God and the divine in poetry
1:04:41 – Conclusion: influence and legacy of Baudelaire
*Discussion*
1:09:03 – The question of time and eternity in Baudelaire’s 'À une passante'
1:14:54 – The beauty of language in 'À une passante'
1:17:57 – What drew Daouda to Baudelaire?
1:22:03 – Baudelaire’s personal struggles in childhood and adulthood
1:26:50 – Baudelaire’s artistic and theological influences
1:30:56 – Original sin: Baudelaire’s critical opinions of art and God
1:37:18 – The redeeming qualities of language in tragedy and loss
1:42:55 – Why were Baudelaire’s poems censored?
1:45:28 – Dodging the trap of procrastination; poetry reading as modern rebellion
#RalstonCollege
This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on May 19th, 2022.
Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode
David Hume, ‘A Treatise of Human Nature,’ Book 1, Part 4, Section 6
Empiricist tradition: Aristotle, Roger Bacon, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, A. J. Ayer
Humean causality
Descartes and the Cartesian cogito
Milinda Pañha, simile of the chariot
Commissurotomy, split-brain experiments of Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga
Derek Parfit, ‘Reasons and Persons’
Julian Jaynes, ‘The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind’
Ludwig Wittgenstein, ‘Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus’
Immanuel Kant, ‘Critique of Pure Reason’
Extended mind thesis
Daniel Dennett, 'The Self as a Center of Narrative Gravity', in Kessel, F. S. et al. (ed.) Self and Consciousness: Multiple Perspectives
Alfred North Whitehead
Carl Gustav Jung
Links of Possible Interest:
Dr Arif Ahmed's profile at Ralston College and Cambridge
https://www.ralston.ac/people/arif-ahmed
phil.cam.ac.uk/people/teaching-research-pages/ahmed
Dr Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Ralston College
https://ralston.ac
Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
Ralston College Humanities MA
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Timeline
0:00 – Introduction
5:07 – Ahmed’s lecture: an overview of moral and practical consequences of understanding selfhood
17:32 – Hume’s Empiricist background
22:21 – Hume’s reaction to Descartes’ certainty about the self
29:59 – Hume’s positive thesis: the self as a bundle of sensations
35:16 – Commissurotomy experiments, Jaynes, and other problems with the persistent self
41:00 – Hume’s conception of the self applied to our lives
48:41 – The gap between Hume’s views in private and in public
*Discussion*
53:46 – From whence do ethics arise for Hume?
56:09 – How far does the mind extend?
58:15 – How are bundles constructed according to Hume?
1:02:22 – Despite ‘Wittgenstein’s rope,’ don’t we still have a sense of the whole?
1:05:00 – Should we disregard Humean causality when we build societies?
1:08:26 – What can we say about the mind that attributes or opposes unifying realities?
1:12:46 – Consciousness in Hume; connection to Locke
1:18:52 – Importance of memory and language in self
1:22:05 – Was Hume hypocritical for not acting on his philosophical assumptions?
1:27:15 – Difference between humans and animals; understanding of death
1:33:00 – Relating Hume to Whitehead and Jung
1:37:50 – Hume on meditation and ‘always-on’ consciousness
#RalstonCollege
This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on April 28th, 2022.
Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode
Alan Charles Kors, ‘Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment’
Alan Charles Kors, ‘Atheism in France, 1650–1729: The Orthodox Sources of Disbelief’
Voltaire, ‘The Philosophical Letters’
William Penn
Socinianism
John Locke
Deism
Edmund Burke
Links of Possible Interest:
Dr Kors’ Profile at FIRE
thefire.org/alan-charles-kors
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment
global.oup.com/academic/product/encyclopedia-of-the-enlightenment-9780195104301
Ralston College
https://ralston.ac
Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
Ralston College Humanities MA
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Timeline
0:00 – Introduction
2:09 – Kors’ Lecture: Criticism and response to Voltaire’s work in his time
8:09– Context of ‘The Philosophical Letters’ publication
17:23 – Voltaire’s use of irony
19:43 – Voltaire on the Quakers and the introduction of pluralistic thought
30:00 – Religion studied in natural terms
42:22 – The Socinians and the founding of new religious sects
44:48 – The virtues of English governance versus the French aristocracy
*Discussion*
54:52 – Voltaire’s admiration of the Quakers’ first principles
1:01:59 – The limitation of arbitrary power; religious monism as an origin for human suffering
1:11:44 – Why could England control the power of kings?
1:15:33 – Voltaire’s support for English empiricism over French rationalism
1:19:27 – Political radicalism and Voltaire’s fear of disorder
1:22:22 – Voltaire’s ‘reform of the mind’ and the necessity of humility
1:32:42 – The cost of coercion and what is at stake in freedom of conscience
#RalstonCollege
This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on April 21st, 2022.
Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode
Alan Charles Kors, ‘Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment’
Voltaire, ‘The Philosophical Letters’
Voltaire, ‘Oedipus’
Isaac Newton, ‘Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy’
Francis Bacon, especially ‘Novum Organum’
John Locke, especially ‘An Essay Concerning Human Understanding’
René Descartes, ‘Discourse on the Method’
René Descartes, ‘Meditations Upon First Philosophy’
René Descartes, ‘Principles of Philosophy’
Links of Possible Interest:
Dr Kors’ Profile at FIRE
thefire.org/alan-charles-kors
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment
global.oup.com/academic/product/encyclopedia-of-the-enlightenment-9780195104301
Ralston College
https://ralston.ac
Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
Ralston College Humanities MA
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Timeline
0:00 – Introduction
3:38 – Kors’ lecture: Background of the ‘Philosophical Letters’
5:52 – Voltaire biography
12:19 – Voltaire on the role of philosophy
16:36 – Voltaire’s heroes in English philosophy
18:15 – Philosophy as mastery over nature; example of inoculation
28:06 – Francis Bacon: the scientific framework
34:12 – John Locke: superiority of sense experience in knowledge acquisition
41:44 – Isaac Newton: the fruit of Lockean empiricism
**Discussion**
50:50 – What would Voltaire make of the current claim that knowledge is a construct?
54:57 – Unusual ordering of ‘Philosophical Letters’
59:30 – The anti-aristocratic character of the scientific method?
1:02:39 – How does one ask the right questions?
1:06:38 – Balance between respect for past and challenging of its assumptions
1:14:16 – Can we know moral truths through Voltaire’s philosophical process?
1:23:15 – The role of humor in Voltaire’s argumentation
1:27:05 – Voltaire on the blank slate theory; empiricism vs ‘lived experience’
1:31:05 – English toleration exaggerated by Voltaire?
#RalstonCollege
Ralston College offers an MA in the Humanities, online short courses, live lectures, in-person events, and podcasts.
For more information about Ralston College, please visit:
Ralston College:
https://ralston.ac
Ralston College Humanities MA:
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Jordan Peterson:
jordanbpeterson.com
Stephen Blackwood:
stephenjblackwood.com
Ralston College offers an MA in the Humanities, online short courses, live lectures, in-person events, and podcasts.
For more information about Ralston College, please visit:
Ralston College:
https://ralston.ac
Ralston College Humanities MA:
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Jordan Peterson:
jordanbpeterson.com
Stephen Blackwood:
stephenjblackwood.com
Ralston College offers an MA in the Humanities, online short courses, live lectures, in-person events, and podcasts.
For more information about Ralston College, please visit:
Ralston College:
https://ralston.ac
Ralston College Humanities MA:
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Jordan Peterson:
jordanbpeterson.com
Stephen Blackwood:
stephenjblackwood.com
Although Wells was an ardent believer in social progress, the future that he envisions in what is arguably his most famous novel is hardly a progressive fantasy. Instead, he conjures a dark, dystopian world, one which is in tension with his own political, evolutionary, and collectivist commitments. An artist whose creativity and insight were untrammeled by his personal politics, Wells offers an instructive example of a literary genius divided between his views and his muse, his own personal perspective and his enduring, inspired vision. Wells' prescient insights, and troubling self-contradictions, point to deep questions at the heart of human nature.
This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on March 17th, 2022.
Artists, Art, and Writings Mentioned in this Episode
H. G. Wells
'The Misery of Boots'
'Experiment in Autobiography'
'Star Begotten'
'The Time Machine'
'War of the Worlds'
'The Island of Doctor Moreau'
'Tono-Bungay'
'Mind at the End of Its Tether'
'Gulliver’s Travels,' Jonathan Swift
'Hamlet,' specifically Gertrude on Ophelia's death (Act 4, Scene 7)
'Heart of Darkness,' Joseph Conrad
'London Labour and the London Poor,' Henry Mayhew
Links of Possible Interest:
Theodore Dalrymple’s City Journal profile
city-journal.org/contributor/theodore-dalrymple_44
Anthony Daniels' Visitor page at Ralston College
https://www.ralston.ac/people/anthony-m-daniels
Ralston College
https://ralston.ac
Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
Ralston College Humanities MA
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma
Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Timeline
0:00 - Beginning
0:30 - Introduction to Theodore Dalrymple
6:18 - Lecture begins: Wells' background
10:01 - Wells' view on society and social arrangement
15:22 - 'The Misery of Boots' and inequality
18:46 - Wells' cosmopolitan view and move to non-fiction
22:27 - 'Star Begotten' and Wells's pessimism
24:57 - Belief in technocracy to solve man's problems
27:56 - 'Time Machine': the division of humanity
40:39 - 'Island of Doctor Moreau' and pessimism of animal nature of man
42:12 - 'Tono Bungay' and absence of personal responsibility
45:44 - Conclusion: 'Mind at the End of its Tether'
**Discussion**
47:27 - Wells' inner tensions and contradictions; isolation of intellectuals; social theory vs social reality
55:23 - Reality that impinges upon us regardless of culture; technocratic thinking and its problems
1:06:41 - How can we be aware of self-delusion?
1:10:37 - Why are we disconnected from the past?
1:13:02 - What arises from looking at humanity as an abstraction?
1:19:08 - What does 'The Time Machine' say about progress?
1:20:13 - Why is the novel disturbing?
1:23:01 - Human particularity in 'The Time Machine'
1:29:57 - Wells' contribution to the 'Declaration of Human Rights'
1:31:12 - Absence of sexual difference and the family in 'The Time Machine'
1:38:14 - Time Traveler's background in science
1:40:02 - Necessity of difficulties in life
#RalstonCollege
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.
Writers and Writings Mentioned in this Episode
Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations” (1776), Chapter 7
“Humanomics: Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century” (2019), Vernon L. Smith and Bart J. Wilson
“The Theory of Moral Sentiments” (1759), Adam Smith
Parables of Jesus found in the Gospels
Carl David Anderson (physicist)
The Gospel of John, Chapter 1
C. S. Lewis’s Trilemma
Links of Possible Interest:
Humanomics: Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century
amazon.com/Humanomics-Sentiments-Twenty-First-Cambridge-Economics/dp/1316648818
Dr Smith's Visitor Page at Ralston College
https://www.ralston.ac/people/vernon-l-smith
Ralston College
http://ralston.ac
Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Timeline
0:00 – Introduction
1:10 – The most misunderstood economic concept today
4:17 – Definitions: market and ideological equilibrium
10:24 – How markets work without central planning
13:31 – Maximum utility and Dr Smith’s experiments
16:03 – Inadequacy of term “free market”
18:08 – Why do some believe “capitalism” is the source of our ills?
27:59 – Human dignity and economic output
34:18 – Dr Smith’s experiments in behavioral economics
43:21 – Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and self-interest
58:21 – Beneficence and whether it can be coerced
1:07:48 – Non-zero reciprocity as the key to market success
1:19:14 – Invisible realities and the invisible hand
1:30:50 – Competition as a solution for higher education
#RalstonCollege
The event took place online on October 26th, 2021.
Artists, Art, and Writings Mentioned in this Episode
Iroquoian Cosmology
Charles Sanders Peirce
Niehls Bohr
Friedrich Hölderlin
Goethe
Heraclitus
Alan Watts
Upanishads
William Blake
Jacob Needleman
Hegel
Alfred North Whitehead
M.C. Escher, “Angels and Devils”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Ryōan-ji Zen Garden
Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Carl Jung
Ochwiay Biano
William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence”
Sam Johnson
Laurence Sterne
William Wordsworth
David Olive (physicist)
William Empson
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Joseph Campbell
Empedocles
F.W.J von Schelling
Kabbalah
Aristotle, concept of “phronesis”
Louis Pasteur
Pierre Curie
William James
Wilfred Owen, “Strange Meeting”
Jonathan Sacks
Franz Schubert, String Quartet in C Major
The Sophists
Protagoras
Immoderate Greatness, William Ophuls
Oedipus Rex
Jesus, “The Lord’s Prayer”
Links of possible interest:
Channel McGilchrist
channelmcgilchrist.com
The Matter With Things (soon available elsewhere)
bookdepository.com/Matter-With-Things-Iain-McGilchrist/9781914568060
amazon.com/Matter-Things-Brains-Delusions-Unmaking-ebook/dp/B09KY5B3QL
Ralston College
https://www.ralston.ac
Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Timeline
0:00 – Introduction
4:44 – McGilchrist’s Lecture
1:05:44 – Q and A
#RalstonCollege
The conversation took place online on June 24th, 2021.
Artists, Art, and Writings Mentioned in this Episode
Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque
Saint Mary of the Holy Belt Cathedral
Souk marketplaces
Roger Scruton: The Aesthetics of Architecture
Christopher Alexander
Links of Possible Interest:
The Battle for Home: The Vision of a Young Architect in Syria
wwnorton.com/books/9780500343173
Building for Hope: Towards an Architecture of Belonging
thamesandhudson.com/building-for-hope-towards-an-architecture-of-belonging-9780500343722
Dr Al-Sabouni's Fellow Page at Ralston College
https://www.ralston.ac/people/marwa-al-sabouni
Ralston College
http://ralston.ac
Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
Timeline
0:00 – Introduction
4:15 – Al-Sabouni’s Overview of Homs’ architecture and destruction
17:26 – Role of architecture in undoing moral fabric
29:21 – How civic policy contributes to architectural degradation
34:56 – The means to foster a shared human horizon that affirms difference while also transcending it
45:06 – The necessity and decline of face-to-face encounters
54:10 – Buildings as a way to cultivate shared feelings of belonging
1:01:40 – “He who has no old has no new”
1:10:35 – Q and A
#RalstonCollege
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 ForumRalston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
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 (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
Links of Possible Interest:
Ralston College
https://www.ralston.ac
Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses
Stephen Blackwood
stephenjblackwood.com
0:00 – Beginning
2:00 – Stoddart’s beginnings
5:13 – Relationship between time and eternity in sculpture
11:10 – Present, past, and future in art
14:58 – The impulse of iconoclasm
22:05 – Idolatry of the present
26:32 – Iconoclasm as amnesia
30:11 – Stoddart’s other artistic interests
37:54 – Monuments and the sins of the past
45:34 – Dying and life-affirmation
50:03 – How to have a fruitful relationship with the past
1:00:13 – How to fight despair through sculpture
1:06:17 – Advice for young people making things
#RalstonCollege