Podcast
Books of Titans Podcast
Hosted by Erik Rostad · EN
Welcome to the Books of Titans Podcast where I (Erik Rostad) seek truth & beauty in the Immortal Books. My goal is to read the Great Books written by 200 authors over the next 15 years and share what I’m learning. I’ll talk a bit about each book, tie ideas together from a variety of genres, and share the one thing I always hope to remember from each of the Immortal Books.
www.booksoftitans.com
www.booksoftitans.com
19episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
#293 - The Birth of Love
2w ago00:27:03Tap to summarizeIn this episode, I cover The Birth of Love myth in Plato’s Symposium dialogue. I don’t usually think of Plato as a myth maker, but here he is offering a different spin on the birth of Eros to show how love’s parentage shows our need for Beauty. The ladder of love leads to Plato’s heavenly form of Beauty in a wonderful way. I talk about this myth, Plato’s use of myth, and myth in general in the art of persuasion.Books / Articles Referenced:* Plato: Selected Myths / Translation by Catalin Partenie / Oxford World’s Classics* Hesiod: Theogony / Translation by M.L. West / Oxford World’s Classics* Plotinus: The Enneads on Love / Translation by Stephen Mackenna / Penguin Classics* From Plato to Christ / Louis Markos* God in the Dock: Myth Became Fact / CS. Lewis* Better Than Sex! / Deacon Harrison Garlick This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#292 - Philebus by Plato
3w ago00:31:37Tap to summarizeWhat is the good life? This is the question addressed in Philebus, one of Plato’s later dialogues, written in the late 350s BC. Philebus and his counterpart Protarchus (a pupil of Gorgias) argue for pleasure as the highest pursuit and good. Plato (through Socrates) argues for wisdom and knowledge. Can either of these be the sole pursuit of the life well-lived? The goal of the dialogue is to rank pleasure and wisdom.Plato quickly establishes the necessity for a third option in this quest - a mixture of pleasure and wisdom. It’s impossible to have pleasure without thought and memory and a life solely dedicated to wisdom would be a bit dry. However, pleasure by its nature is unlimited, and therefore cannot be ranked or measured.Plato then distinguishes between true and false pleasures. True pleasures are those that don’t involve pain (like witnessing a sunset or hearing a beautiful piece of music). False pleasures are those based upon false beliefs (like I’m going to win the lottery), bad measurement/distance (another beer now will hurt in the morning), and relief from pain (showing the absurdity of hedonism that more pain leads to more pleasure).Plato concludes with a ranking or Ladder of Goods:* Goodness in Moderation* In Beauty* In Intellect and Reason (Wisdom from the beginning)* Knowledge* Good/True Pleasures (Pleasure from the beginning, only false pleasures are not allowed)The key point in this dialogue is that the good life does not consist of getting more of either of the initial pursuits, pleasure or wisdom. Instead, it consists of getting the correct balance between the two. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#291 - The Flowering Hawthorn by Hugh Ross Williamson
4w ago00:16:15Tap to summarizeIn today’s podcast episode, I cover the legend of The Flowering Hawthorn and its connection to the King Arthur legend. It’s a tale that begins with Joseph of Arimathea. He’s the rich man who buried Jesus in his tomb. Tradition holds that Joseph traveled to England many years after the resurrection carrying with him the blood of Jesus, a staff, and possibly, the holy grail. Joseph’s staff began to bud each Christmas Day in Glastonbury, England.The story is told across the ages by bards, poets, and kings. Glastonbury attracted pilgrims from around the world to come and see this flowering hawthorn.Is the story true? Or is it just speculation, legend, or tradition? We may never know, but there are enough connection points in this story that make it delightfully intriguing.I recorded this video episode at the Christ Church meadow in Oxford, England.PhotosHere are a set of photos sent to me by Stephen Crotts who visited these sites last year. Crotts is the illustrator of the new Arthuriad, an Epic Poem by Malcolm Guite, recounting the King Arthur legend. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#290 - Anaximander & Anaximenes
May 800:25:25Tap to summarizeIn this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of two of the earliest Greek Philosophers, Anaximander & Anaximenes of Miletus. Anaximander is credited with introducing the idea of the First Principle, of which his was the infinite, and Anaximenes, Air.Books Referenced:* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#289 - Parmenides
May 100:19:52Tap to summarizeIn this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Parmenides of Elea. Robin Waterfield calls him “the single most important Pre-socratic thinker.” He introduced a puzzle about Being that required a response by philosophers who followed him. From that puzzle, we have the Atom / Void idea from Democritus and the Forms / Shadows idea from Plato. Plato even has a dialogue named after this influential philosopher who lived from 515 - 450BC.Books Referenced:* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#288 - Gorgias
Apr 2400:30:45Tap to summarizeIn this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Gorgias, the father of the Sophistic Movement. We can pinpoint a shift from philosophy to sophism in the life of Gorgias. Each of the early Greek philosophers had a First Principle, an arche they considered to be the foundation of everything else. That stops with the Sophists. Instead of a love of wisdom using speech to seek after truth, the Sophists value persuasion and the ability to get results irrespective of truth.The work of most early Greek philosophers only survives in minor fragments. With Gorgias, we have some surviving full works that are simply delightful. I talk about the life of Gorgias, these surviving works, and the one thing the stuck out to me the most about this early Sophist.Books Referenced:* The Greek Sophists - Translation by John Dillon and Tania Gergel - Penguin Classics* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics* Lives of the Sophists - Philostratus - Loeb Classical Library 134Show Notes:* Encomium of Helen This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#287 - Democritus
Apr 1700:26:55Tap to summarizeIn this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Democritus of Abdera. He is one of my favorite early Greek philosophers, mainly because of his wisdom/ethical sayings. He barely made the Presocratic cut, being just 1 - 10 years before Socrates. However, his ideas, way ahead of their time, were picked up by Aristotle and Epicurus and have influenced humankind to our time. A true Renaissance Man before it was popular 😉, Democritus is worthy of study. His First Principle(s) of Atoms and the Void are revolutionary and are great responses to the ideas of earlier philosophers.Books Referenced:* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#286 - Anaxagoras
Apr 1000:21:05Tap to summarizeIn this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Anaxagoras of Clazomenae. His first principle, the thing that organized everything else, was the nous or the mind. He thought that in the beginning, there was an original mixture of unchanging seeds that a mind set in motion and began to organize. Anaxagoras was born in Asia Minor and moved to Athens, becoming one of the first philosophers to establish Athens as a hub of philosophy. In fact, Anaxagoras is a philosophical grandfather to Socrates through his student Archelaus. Socrates learned from Archelaus who learned from Anaxagoras.Books Referenced:* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#285 - Empedocles
Apr 300:28:48Tap to summarizeIn this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Empedocles of Acragas. He lived from 495 - 435 BC before dramatically diving into the volcano at Mt. Etna to prove he was immortal. As we find out in this episode, the accounts of the life and death of Empedocles are varied and contradictory and contain an element of myth, which is appropriate given his use of epic poetry to present his ideas. With Empedocles, we have the largest stash of fragments of any of the early Greek Philosophers.Books Referenced:* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#284 - Thales of Miletus
Mar 2700:28:48Tap to summarizeAristotle called Thales the Father of Natural Philosophy. At a very high level, he’s credited with shifting from mythos to logos, from a mythological explanation of the world to one based upon natural observation. Thales believed that water was the underlying principle of everything, that an immortal soul existed, and that earthquakes were caused by waves underneath a flat earth instead of by the gods.Thales of Miletus is one of the earliest Greek philosophers (625 - 545 BC) and in this podcast episode, I look at his life, his ideas, and his impact both now and then.Books Referenced:* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe
Transcribe →