The Reeds Podcast: Recent Episodes
The Reeds
The Reeds is a gathering of amateurs in the deepest sense of the word: lovers of letters, wisdom, and humankind. Our mission is to bridge the gap between the academy and the world by creating a community of sincere learners. So on this podcast, a bunch of amateurs get together and freely discuss books and ideas. The Reeds Podcast contains two series. The first is Close Reed, which always has a text at its foundation, and around which the discussion centers. The second is Bookshelves & Barstools, a purposefully untethered and impromptu series of conversations, designed to mimic the sort of passionate conversations we used to have after class or at a bar. One is (relatively) more serious, the other more relaxed, yet both are still just amateurs trying to get to the bottom of things. Learn more at: https://www.the-reeds.com/
Damon and Francisco attempt to awaken the podcast from its dogmatic slumber by discussing a classic essay by philosopher Isaiah Berlin, "Two Concepts of Liberty". The essay is one of the most influential in recent political philosophy, and his conceptions of positive and negative liberty frame much of the discourse in the field. We discuss how this distinction leads to Berlin's defense of liberalism, whether his value pluralism leads to relativism, and debate if he's too harsh on positive liberty.
We continue our discussion of modernity and what to do about it with another book from a St. John's tutor: the late Lise van Boxel's Warspeak: Nietzsche's Victory over Nihilism. We are also lucky enough to be joined by her colleague, friend, and fellow tutor at St. John's, Michael Grenke. Besides working with her very closely on the book, including writing the introduction, he has translated some of Nietzsche's works.
The book is a close reading of Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality, a polemic against the slave morality which Nietzsche diagnoses as the cause of modern nihilism. The group begins by discussing various aspects of the moral-theological prejudice, a central idea in Van Boxel's reading of Nietzsche. We also spend some time discussing how this sets up what is promised in the subtitle of the book: the victory over nihilism.
Damon, Francisco, and Peter take the opportunity to reflect on the intellectual roots of their alma mater, St. John's College, by discussing Jacob Klein's essay, "Modern Rationalism." Jacob Klein was the dean of St. John's, and this episode comes in between having two tutors of the college as guests on the podcast (Close Reed #15 and #17), both of which episodes are related to the problems posed by modernity and how to respond to them.
Klein takes a unique approach to the problem, through the history of mathematics. For him, the conditions of modernity are fundamentally created by the premises of modern mathematical physics and the conceptual shifts we had to make in order to create such a science. He traces this to the origin of the algebraic method developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, claiming that the shift from thinking about numbers as related to definite, concrete multitudes ('4' means '::'), to numbers as any possible multitudes you please ('a' means 'any number'), is a novel and radical break. This break is distinguished from the Greek or medieval mathematics by its greater separation from concrete reality. This separation was made possible because of the mind-body dualism created by Descartes (who is also one of the originators of modern algebra), creating the conceptual possibility for the world to be known through pure ideas alone, in complete separation from the environment (also known as rationalism). Klein then connects this development with the conditions of today, specifically the rise of capitalism and a highly ordered world, thus diagnosing our time as 'modern rationalism'. In this episode, we primarily try to clarify and map out these connections.
In this special episode of Close Reed, Damon and Francisco talk about a book with the actual author of that book! Claudia Hauer, tutor at St. John's College and visiting professor at the US Air Force Academy, is the author of Strategic Humanism: Lessons on Leadership from the Ancient Greeks. The book goes through the works of Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Aristotle, laying out clearly their thoughts on leadership, war, and human nature, which also serves to chart the rise of Greek democracy and its connected development to the Greeks' process of self-understanding.
One of the main projects of the book is to look towards Greek humanism as an antidote to the failings of our modern, enlightenment-technocratic humanism. Especially relevant is Aristotle's integrated model of the human being, which Claudia argues paints a more complete picture of the human being, incorporating biological, emotional, and intuitive components often left out of the modern picture. She calls this 'strategic humanism', as it is more in tune with the facts on the ground, the concrete realities of a situation which can always disrupt the most rational of plans.
To begin with, we ask Claudia about the role of language in the developing Greek culture, its impact on politics, strategy, and culture, and the differences between language under strategic vs modern humanism. This leads to discussion on contemporary culture in general, the modern oracles of social media, the value of the humanities, and possible ways forward, ways that try integrating the Greek perspective.
Now with fancy new intro music (credits go to the guest, and to Dionysus for the inspiration)!
Damon is joined once again by Zihan Mei of The Reeds to talk about Euripides' classic tragedy, The Bacchae. Dionysus has arrived in Thebes intent on punishing the inhabitants, specifically the king Pentheus and his family, for not recognizing his divinity. He drives the women of Thebes into ecstatic frenzy, and they leave the city to enact Dionysian rituals in the mountains. Understandably upset with this, Pentheus antagonizes the disguised Dionysus, and gets his brutal comeuppance by the end.
Mei wrote his senior thesis at St. John's on this play, and so he and Damon begin by discussing what it was about this text that he found intriguing. Topics include the paradoxical nature of Dionysus, why Pentheus fails to recognize the god, Nietzsche's take on Euripides, and more.
Damon is joined once again by Ben (from Close Reed #8, a graduate student in philosophy) to discuss a highly influential chapter from the Adorno and Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment: "The Culture Industry." Adorno and Horkheimer were two leading figures of the Frankfurt School, a school of thought whose aim it was to critique the capitalism and the failed communist movements (using concepts from thinkers like Marx, Hegel and Freud) of the past century, as well as to propose alternative political structures for the future. In The Dialectic of Enlightenment, they consider how the concepts of the enlightenment have (paradoxically) led to these oppressive and totalitarian societies.
In "The Culture Industry," Adorno and Horkheimer target the productions of popular culture in particular. They claim that film, radio, music, and other media produced by capitalist structures are essentially brainwashing the masses. This is because all art under capitalism is subservient to profit, and thus the market forces that create works of art are guided along already established paths, paths which are guaranteed to make money. This creates repetition of the same style, the same product, until we get used to this monotony and become passively accepting of it, content to entertain ourselves and forget about better possibilities. In this episode, Damon and Ben think through the implications of this critique, apply it to the present day media landscape, and consider the broader picture of how Adorno and Horkheimer view all this as a result of the enlightenment run wild.
We're joined once again by Bert Loan, professor of economics and dialogue-based pedagogy at Universidad Francisco Marroquin. This time, Francisco and Damon talk with Bert about the nature of cities, their unique allure, and how they are prime examples of emergence and complex systems. If you hate the concrete jungle, this is the episode to change your mind!
Three out of four Reeds members discuss Nietzsche's essay on the use and abuse of history. Nietzsche begins by claiming that history studied in and for itself, as objectively as possible, is a dangerous and corrosive enterprise. History ought to 'serve life', to direct cultures, and to be an individual's guide to action. We discuss the three types of history he outlines which serve life (monumental, antiquarian, critical), and the ways in which Nietzsche claims that the objective-scientific history of his day (and ours as well) has weakened modern man's personality, leading to cultural and personal degradation. We also spend some time at the end trying to figure out what Nietzsche means by truth.
Francisco is joined by Bert Loan, an economist from GMU and longtime professor of economics and dialogue-based pedagogy at Universidad Francisco Marroquin. Francisco and Bert talk about the intricacies of dialogue, Polanyi, Oakeshott, Plato, and what it means to belong to a culture.
Continuing our niche episode series on early modern responses to dualism by obscure thinkers... Anton Wilhelm Amo was an African philosopher (from what is now Ghana) in the early 18th century. He was brought to Germany as a child-slave for some dukes, who ended up treating him as a member of the family. He was allowed to cultivate his love of learning, and so he studied widely, including the fields of medicine, politics, and astronomy in addition to philosophy. Thus he was the first African not only to attend a European university, but to become a professor as well.
We read his doctoral dissertation "On the Impassivity of the Human Mind," where he provides a potential improvement to the dualistic framework by incorporating some Aristotelian concepts into Cartesian thought, particularly through the notions of hylomorphism and different types of souls. He accepts the dualistic categories of mind and body, but holds that it is the body that senses things rather than the mind. Further, the body is not just a machine the way Descartes thought, but a living being, possessed of a sensitive soul (as Aristotle would put it). Thus life, or a capacity to sense, becomes a third category of being in addition to mind and matter.
This episode is not for everybody, as it assumes some prior knowledge in the history of philosophy, and we don't spend a lot of time explaining it. This lets us engage with Amo's ideas more, rather than rehashing a bunch of old stuff to only spend a little time on them (and it's also a convenient excuse for our lack of clarity).
Damon and Peter explore the natural philosophy of Margaret Cavendish, a recently rediscovered 17th century philosopher, scientist, poet, and playwright. In addition to being one of the few women publicly writing during this period, she engaged with the foremost thinkers of her time (including Descartes, Hobbes, and Boyle) and was strongly iconoclastic, criticizing many prevailing theories. In laying out her anti-dualist materialism, which holds that everything is matter and that all matter is intelligent, she anticipated more modern ideas in philosophy. We also discuss her theory of occasional causation and perception, and how it all contributes to one holistic view of nature.
Bookshelves & Barstools is a series of unplanned conversations. The idea is to recapture the kind of talk we used to have after class or at a bar, where we follow our impulses when addressing a question, without necessarily agreeing with their content by nature of their being impulses. This allows for authentic thought, but also sometimes for radical statements with which the speaker probably wouldn't agree if pressed...we hope.
In this episode, a former high school classmate of Damon's, Alex, joins the discussion. Alex currently works for Hainan Nanhai Cloud Co. Ltd. on research into blockchain technology. Tuning in from a quarantine hotel in Shanghai, we explore some of the ideas Alex has been thinking about lately.
I'm joined by Cole to talk about Wilfrid Sellars' essay "Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man". Sellars is one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, although he is relatively unknown outside of academia. In this essay, he outlines what he sees as the aim of philosophy, and how it seeks to reconcile two competing images we have of the world: the manifest and the scientific. The episode is a little longer than usual, but Sellars demanded it!
Damon invites fellow Johnnie, friend, and philosophy grad student Ben Crispell on the program to talk about the horror of philosophy as explored in Eugene Thacker's In the Dust of this Planet. The conversation contains, much like the book itself, a combination of concept-exploring, cultural observations and copious references, from HP Lovecraft to Heidegger to monster movies. Through the lens of the horror genre (broadly defined), Thacker blends philosophical, theological, and pop-cultural elements to address the apocalyptic and existential threats which seem to characterize our modern world.
"The world is increasingly unthinkable - a world of planetary disasters, emerging pandemics, tectonic shifts, strange weather, oil-drenched seascapes, and the furtive, always-looming threat of extinction. In spite of our daily concerns, wants, and desires, it is increasingly difficult to comprehend the world in which we live and of which we are a part. To confront this idea is to confront an absolute limit to our ability to adequately understand the world at all - an idea that has been a central motif of the horror genre for some time."
Bookshelves & Barstools is a series of unplanned conversations. The idea is to recapture the kind of talk we used to have after class or at a bar, where we follow our impulses when addressing a question, without necessarily agreeing with their content by nature of their being impulses. This allows for authentic thought, but also sometimes for radical statements with which the speaker probably wouldn't agree if pressed...we hope.
WARNING: strong opinions expressed about beloved creatures in this episode.
Damon and Zihan explore a great short story from the master of the form, Jorge Luis Borges. The Garden of Forking Paths may just be an infinitely mysterious work... After making sense of the complex plot, the conversation drifts towards the nature of time, infinity, possibility, and what all that has to do with labyrinths.
You can read the story here.
On this episode of Close Reed, Damon joins Adam and Nic of An Unqualified Guide to the Good Life podcast to discuss Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, the journal of the Roman emperor consisting of his personal quest to live the good life through Stoic philosophy. The conversation includes our personal connections with the text, the relationship between nature and reason, and stoicism in general as a philosophy of life.
Big thanks to Nic and Adam for coming on the podcast (and letting us record in Nic's studio)! Be sure to check out Unqualified Guide to the Good Life for more content related to practical philosophy, the good life in general, and their trademark banter. The podcast is also part of their online magazine, The New Bohemian, which has even more great content including articles, music and videos. They're like a kindred spirit website to The Reeds, only one that has more of their act together...
Relevant social media:
Instagram: @goodlifecast
Facebook: The New Bohemian
In this episode, Damon and Peter sit down with special guest Tamara McCleary, who is the CEO of Thulium, futurist thinker, and host of SAP's podcast Tech Unknown: Discussions from the Edge of Next, exploring the impact of cutting-edge technology in business and society (something which we amateur podcasters neglected to plug in the episode). Tamara's wealth of experience in the tech world combined with her interest in the transhumanist movement make her an ideal conversation partner to discuss philosopher Nick Bostrom's article, "Why I Want to be a Posthuman When I Grow Up".
Bostrom advocates for the development of certain 'posthuman capacities', that is, advancements of our abilities through technology like genetic engineering or cybernetics, that could dramatically change what it means to be human. He argues that while there are certainly risks associated with these advancements, ultimately we should be focused on using these technologies to significantly improve human life. In the episode, we use the article as a springboard to talk about the moral and societal implications of posthumanism, whether we would consent to augmentation, existential risk, and more.
You can follow Tamara on Twitter
Mei and I try to untangle some mysteries in Julio Cortázar's short story Axolotl, which we both read during our time at St. John's. It's about a man whose obsession with axolotls eventually leads to his becoming one himself. We encourage listeners to read this one with us: we get into the details, and it's short enough to read over a cup of coffee.
You can find the translation we used here:
https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Cortazar_Axolotl.pdf
Bookshelves & Barstools is a series of unplanned conversations. The idea is to recapture the kind of talk we used to have after class or at a bar, where we follow our impulses when addressing a question, without necessarily agreeing with their content by nature of their being impulses. This allows for authentic thought, but also sometimes for radical statements with which the speaker probably wouldn't agree if pressed...we hope.
For this episode, Damon talks to special guest and dear friend Xin Ye about Kierkegaard's unfinished novel: Johannes Climacus, or De omnibus dubitandum est. Conversation includes the role of passion in philosophy, the implications of radical skepticism, and whether philosophy is fundamentally religious.
If this conversation sparked your interest, Xin has a wonderful essay touching on these ideas and more published on The Reeds, which can be found here: https://www.the-reeds.com/theology-religion/The-Man-of-Faith
This is the first episode of an experimental series of unplanned conversations. The idea is to recapture the kinds of conversations we used to have after class or at a bar, where we follow our impulses when addressing a question, without necessarily agreeing with their content by nature of their being impulses. This allows for authentic thought, but also sometimes for radical statements with which the speaker probably wouldn't agree if pressed...we hope.
In this episode, Peter and Damon (with late guest Francisco) discuss the introduction of Émile Durkheim's book The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Durkheim is known as the father of sociology, and in this book he applies his methods of examining societies to primitive religions, to see what they can tell us about religion in general and ourselves. Topics range from examining what the essential elements of religion are, how all knowledge might be a product of social and/or religious thinking, and how Durkheim may have solved the great empiricism vs rationalism debate.
The Reeds starts off its new series of conversations on some lesser known texts and essays in the history of ideas. And who better to start with than the great thinker who inspired our name, who let us know we are nothing but thinking reeds: Blaise Pascal. In this episode, Damon, Peter, and Zihan discuss a minor work of his entitled "Of the Geometrical Spirit". The conversation includes the balance of intuition and deduction in the pursuit of truth, situating Pascal's claims with developments in modern mathematics, and the existential dread of infinite spaces.
Members of The Reeds get together to discuss one of the seminal texts in the philosophy of science by the oft-overlooked polymath Michael Polanyi.
In this introductory episode, Francisco and Damon begin their discussion of Polanyi with the first chapter of Personal Knowledge. They approach the main thesis of the book that all forms of knowing have a "personal coefficient", and with this in mind, work through his views on relativity theory, the Copernican revolution, and the intersection of science, math, and philosophy.