Podcast
Chasing Leviathan
Hosted by CG Productions · EN
Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. Every episode is a dialogue, a journey into the depths of a meaningful question explored through the lens of personal experience or professional expertise.
12episodes
Episodes
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How to Change Minds Without Lies, Bullshit, or Moral Compromise | Dr. Colin Marshall
2w ago00:54:29Tap to summarizeWhy do morally good people often hesitate to change other people's minds, viewing persuasion as presumptuous, obnoxious, or downright creepy? The University of Washington's professor of philosophy, Dr. Colin Marshall, joins host PJ Wehry to discuss how to successfully bridge deep divides in our highly polarized climate.Dr. Marshall explores the ethics and psychology of civil persuasion in his book, Just Hear Me Out: How to Change Minds Without Lies, Bullshit, or Moral Compromise. They examine how genuine persuasion isn't about manipulation or aggressive takedowns , but rather requires a delicate balance of respect, compassion, and the right environment.In this conversation they explore: Why the fallout of the 2016 US presidential election pushed Dr. Marshall from pure theoretical philosophy into finding practical tools for civil engagement. The crucial difference between manipulative persuasion—where people are treated as obstacles to maneuver—and civil persuasion that honors a person's complete humanity. How combining Immanuel Kant's emphasis on rational respect with Arthur Schopenhauer's focus on deep compassion creates a coherent framework for changing minds. Why attempting to persuade someone at the Thanksgiving table almost always fails, and the importance of establishing an "attention-friendly context" like grabbing a coffee or a beer. Incredible real-world examples of successful persuasion, including Daryl Davis persuading extremists to leave the KKK and Megan Phelps-Roper leaving the Westboro Baptist Church after patient, charitable interactions on Twitter. The concept of "moral myopia"—the deeply human tendency to become so hyper-focused on one moral issue or our own self-respect that we lose sight of the other person's bandwidth and feelings. The psychology of building trust, and why establishing warmth and shared humanity must always come before proving your intellectual competence. This is a conversation for anyone interested in philosophy, psychology, and healthy communication who wants to understand how to sincerely navigate our modern disagreements without sacrificing their own moral integrity.Make sure to check out Dr. Marshall's book: Just Hear Me Out: How to Change Minds without Lies, Bullshit, or Moral Compromise 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226842002/Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. Timestamps0:00 Introducing Dr. Colin Marshall1:17 Why Good People Avoid Persuasion After the 2016 Election4:32 Respect and Compassion in Kant and Schopenhauer6:16 Balancing Respect and Compassion in Difficult Conversations8:38 Thanksgiving, Arguments, and Creating Better Conversation Contexts9:09 Daryl Davis, Jane Addams, and Megan Phelps Roper as Persuasion Case Studies13:17 Curiosity, Compassion, and Seeing People You Disagree With15:57 Self Respect, Boundaries, and When to Disengage or Walk Away18:15 Mr. Rogers' Congress Testimony and Quiet Moral Confidence19:35 Manipulation Versus Civil Persuasion and the Marionette Metaphor24:32 Attention Friendly Contexts and Why Rushing Arguments Fails33:42 Moral Myopia and Missing Key Ethical Pieces in Arguments40:34 Respect Versus Trust and When Not to Trust Someone44:44 Warmth, Competence, and the Psychology of Building Trust47:53 Practical Ways to Build Trust and Show You Know What You are Talking About52:02 Closing Thoughts
Transcribe →Chasing Leviathan Goes on a New Schedule
3w ago00:01:07Tap to summarizeIn this quick update, host PJ Weary shares some news about the future production schedule of the podcast. Thank you all for your continued support. We continue to having you join us for the next conversation.Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.
Transcribe →Loneliness in World History | Dr. Katie Barclay
Jul 700:50:38Tap to summarizeWhat happens when a feeling we assume is a universal human experience is actually shaped, defined, and even created by our specific cultural language and material conditions? Macquarie University's Future Fellow at the School of Humanities, Dr. Katie Barclay, joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the overlooked complexities of a deeply human emotion. Dr. Barclay explores the history and cultural variety of this feeling in her book, Loneliness in World History. They examine how loneliness is frequently not just an internal psychological state, but rather a reflection of our relationships with our environment, our community, and the specific language we use to make sense of our world. In this conversation they explore: How the "language trap" challenges our ability to compare emotions across cultures, and why translating words for love and loneliness requires understanding their thick cultural context. The surprising nighttime weeping rituals of the Kaluli people in Papua New Guinea, where singing about loneliness serves as a cathartic communal release of pain. Why the historical narrative of human "modernization"—moving from supposedly primitive communal selves to modern individualized subjects—carries deeply colonial and problematic assumptions. The physiological elements of isolation, including "touch hunger" and how the modern internet trend of Mukbang satiates the deep-seated desire to eat alongside a community. How physical places and material architecture—from fairy-tale forests to utopian high-rise flats and car-centric suburbs—actively teach us to feel isolated and shape our emotional experiences. The paradox of the "lonely genius," revealing how the supposedly solitary pursuit of art and creativity is fundamentally dependent on an unseen network of community support and labor. This is a conversation for anyone interested in world history, anthropology, and the humanities who wants to understand the cultural weight behind our everyday emotions and how we can navigate our increasingly isolated, digital modern age. Make sure to check out Dr. Barclay's book: Loneliness in World History 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1032359811/ Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. Timestamps0:00 Introducing Dr. Katie Barclay0:48 Why a Love Historian Studied Loneliness2:07 How to Study Loneliness Across Cultures4:03 The Language Trap in Emotion and Translation5:34 Imperialism, Medicine, and Measuring Pain7:01 Thick Cultural Definitions of Emotion8:43 Humor, Culture, and Everyday Misunderstandings10:34 Defining Loneliness as Pain and Social Mismatch13:01 Questioning Modern Western Psychology on Loneliness14:07 Kaluli Ritual of Shared Grief and Loneliness16:44 Community Survival and Existential Loneliness20:15 Modernization Narratives and the Communal Self23:36 East/West Stereotypes about Self and Loneliness27:17 Philosophers, Hunger, and the Limits of Elite Theory30:45 Bodies, Touch, Hunger, and the Physiology of Loneliness32:22 Forests, Liminal Spaces, and Emotional Landscapes36:03 Colonization, Land Displacement, and Indigenous Loneliness38:12 Suburbs, High Rise Flats, and Designed Isolation44:48 Solitude, Creativity, and the Myth of the Lone Genius49:08 Closing Thoughts
Transcribe →The Psychology of Human Temporality | Dr. David Gilden
Jun 3001:19:17Tap to summarizeWhat happens when the simple act of slowing down a metronome reveals the exact limits of our attention, and how might our physical body size secretly dictate the way we experience rhythm and reality? Dr. David Gilden, a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas, Austin, joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the overlooked physical and biological laws shaping human perception. Dr. Gilden explores the human response to living in time in his book, The Psychology of Human Temporality. They examine how the world we experience is not rote or matter-of-fact, but actively created by our minds through relationships, and why those cognitive connections inevitably fall apart. In this conversation they explore: How our minds generate emergent properties—like transforming isolated claps into rhythm or sequential notes into a melody—to actively construct the world we experience. The phenomenon of "islands," demonstrating how introducing just a couple seconds of silence between beats or gestures destroys our ability to perceive continuity, leaving us lost. Why the traditional psychological view of memory as a storage container of facts falls short, and how a physics-based approach—where the past dynamically influences the future, much like weather systems or financial markets—better explains how we lose our train of thought. The metaphor of "cooling coffee" applied to the mind, illustrating how a sensory input temporarily heats the brain, creating a brief window for connection before the activation energy decays according to natural laws. The biological science of allometry and the radical hypothesis that a person's physical body size and surface area might actually dictate their cognitive decay time. Surprising experimental data revealing that taller people can actually maintain slower rhythmic connections than shorter people, suggesting the mind's shedding of activation mirrors the body's shedding of physical heat. This is a conversation for anyone interested in experimental psychology, theoretical physics, and music who wants to understand the hidden biological mechanisms structuring our everyday perception of the passage of time. Make sure to check out Dr. Gilden's book: The Psychology of Human Temporality 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/100940878X/Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. Timestamps0:00 Introducing Dr. David Gilden0:52 Why Dr. Gilden Wrote The Psychology of Human Temporality5:27 From Time Perception Research to Body and Biology7:21 Experimental Psychologist Versus Popular Science Writer11:54 Three Core Equations Behind Forgetting and Time12:25 How Minds Create Relationships and Emergent Properties15:01 Rhythm, Melody, and Emergent Feelings in Music18:41 Loss of Musical Connection21:30 When Temporal Separation Turns Patterns into Isolated Events22:51 Trained Musicians, Rehearsal, and Internal Subdivision24:58 Bitter Metronomes and the Two Second Limit of Connection29:48 From Duration of Events to the Problem of Memory32:23 Redefining Memory as Influence of Past on Present38:52 Why We Misunderstand Memory through Containment Metaphors44:56 Cooling Coffee as a Model for Mental Decay47:35 What Actually Decays When We Lose the Thread52:47 Exponential Decay and Newtonian Cooling in the Mind55:20 Human Attention Lifetime 58:18 From Formal Theory of Decay to Allometry1:02:20 Body Size, Metabolism, and Kleiber Style Scaling Laws1:05:38 Can Body Size Shape How We Experience Time1:09:31 Testing Rhythm and Body Size With Drumming Experiments1:11:48 Analyzing When People Lose the Beat Across Tempos1:13:05 Shared Law for Heart Rate, Body Size, and Attention Decay1:16:47 Surface Area, Heat Loss, and Cognitive Cooling Metaphor1:18:11 Closing Thoughts
Transcribe →Memory, Place, and the Monuments We Build | Dr. Janet Donohoe
Jun 2300:47:09Tap to summarizeWhat happens when we blindly accept the monuments in our built world, treating them as permanent fixtures of history rather than invitations to critique the traditions they represent? The University of West Georgia's Emerita Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Janet Donohoe, joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the overlooked dynamism of our built environment and how we interact with public memory. Dr. Donohoe explores the complex ties between physical spaces and tradition in her book, Remembering Places: A Phenomenological Study of the Relationship between Memory and Place. They examine how the removal of monuments is not an erasure of history but a rewriting of it, and how understanding our physical world can help us critically engage with the narratives we pass on to future generations. In this conversation they explore: How monuments function as a "palimpsest," where tearing them down doesn't remove the place but instead writes over it, leaving underlying traces of memory and tradition. Husserl’s concepts of the "home world" and "alien world," demonstrating how our childhood environments physically write themselves onto our bodies and set our normative baseline for experiencing new places. The striking contrast between the World War II Memorial, which uses its overbearing scale to dictate a narrative of American power, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, an open space that invites profound personal reflection and critique. Why rushing to memorialize tragedies, such as the push to immediately erect 9/11 monuments, often solidifies a narrative of victimization without allowing for the necessary time to process and understand the long-term impact. The dual meaning of the word "monument"—to remember and to be mindful—which calls us to actively critique our traditions rather than blindly perpetuating them. How the meaning of a monument is never truly "set in stone," but rather emerges dynamically in the continuous encounter between the viewer and the physical space. This is a conversation for anyone interested in philosophy, architecture, and history who wants to understand the profound weight behind our built environment and how we process the evolving, physical traditions of our modern age.Make sure to check out Dr. Donohoe's book: Remembering Places: A Phenomenological Study of the Relationship between Memory and Place 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0739187163Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. Timestamps0:00 Introducing Janet Donohoe0:54 Why Study Memory, Place, and Monuments2:32 Why We Erect and Remove Monuments as Palimpsests5:37 Digital Erasure, Physical Traces, and Afterlives Of Data7:53 Home World, Alien World, and Experiencing Home12:04 Smell Memory and Bodily Responses to Place15:10 Modern Writing Erasure and The Palimpsest Metaphor16:14 Marginalia Layered Reading And Material Texts17:38 From Individual Body to Collective Memory and Tradition21:19 Critique Freedom and How Monuments Shape Narrative23:15 Dynamism Tradition and Renewing the Built World26:40 Beyond Keeping or Tearing Down Monuments27:37 Monuments Disrupting Habitual Life and Calling Forth Thought28:21 Homeless Jesus Statue Orlando and Urban Disruption29:50 The National Mall Subversive Memorials and Vietnam Wall33:41 Hero Worship Mourning and the Hidden Costs of War38:51 Hegel, Gadamer, and how Meanings of Monuments Evolve42:42 9/11 Memorials, Grief, and Owning Public Memory45:23 Closing Thoughts
Transcribe →Music Perception & the Psychology of Enculturation | Dr. Marcus Pearce
Jun 1600:48:44Tap to summarizeWhy is it that an ephemeral arrangement of sounds can move us to tears, while the exact same sequence might sound like chaotic noise to someone from another culture?Reader in Cognitive Science at Queen Mary University of London and Honorary Professor of Neuroscience at Aarhus University, Dr. Marcus Pearce joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the overlooked significance of our brain's probabilistic predictions.Dr. Pearce explores the computational mysteries of how we process sound in his book, Learning to Listen, Listening to Learn: Music Perception and the Psychology of Enculturation. They examine how our pleasure in music stems from an ingrained psychological drive to predict the future, and how understanding this can help us map out cultural evolution.In this conversation they explore:How our brains act as statistical prediction machines, constantly building internal models to anticipate the next note for an evolutionary survival advantage.The surprising realization that the perception of consonance and dissonance is not biologically universal, as shown by differing reactions in cultures like the Chimane of Bolivia.Why the pleasure we derive from music relies on an "inverted U-shaped" relationship, where a balance between predictable patterns and complex surprises maximizes our enjoyment.The use of interpretable probabilistic AI models, rather than "black box" neural networks, to better understand how a listener's perception matures within a musical tradition.How music acts as a safe training ground for humans to vicariously experience complex emotional states and hone cognitive processes without real-world risk.The role of cultural evolution in music, explaining why groundbreaking, highly complex composers like Stravinsky were initially rejected by audiences before eventually becoming standard repertoire.This is a conversation for anyone interested in cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, and musicology who wants to understand the biological weight behind our favorite songs and how we process the beautifully complex structures of human sound.Make sure to check out Dr. Pearce's book: Learning to Listen, Listening to Learn: Music Perception and the Psychology of Enculturation 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0198848005/Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. Timestamps0:00 Introducing Marcus Pearce0:49 Why Music is Universal 1:38 How Music Perception Theories Miss Global Cultural Diversity4:19 Cultural Examples of Consonance, Dissonance, and Musical Pleasure7:28 AI Modeling of Music Perception through Statistical Learning10:48 Why Use Probabilistic Models Instead of Neural Networks14:47 The Markov Assumption and Limits of Local Musical Prediction17:26 Non-Local Musical Structure, Themes, Keys, and Listener Memory20:57 How Simple Probabilistic Models Explain Surprising Amounts of Listening22:57 Complexity, Predictability, and the Inverted "U" Of Musical Pleasure27:32 Learning Progress Theory and Why We Enjoy Moderate Uncertainty33:34 Cultural Evolution of Music From Stravinsky to Modern Film Editing38:07 Musical Training, Individual Differences, and Complexity Preferences41:44 How Music Evokes Emotion, Arousal, and Valence47:59 Closing Thoughts
Transcribe →The Medieval Culture of Disputation: Pedagogy, Practice, and Performance with Dr. Alex Novikoff
Jun 900:56:06Tap to summarizeWhat happens when we assume our modern educational institutions and traditions of debate sprung from a vacuum, dismissing the Middle Ages as an uncritical era blinded by faith? Kenyon College's Assistant Professor of History, Dr. Alex Novikoff, joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the overlooked intellectual vibrancy and argumentative spirit of the medieval world. Dr. Novikoff explores the history and impact of these practices in his book, The Medieval Culture of Disputation: Pedagogy, Practice and Performance. They examine how the scholastic love of debate wasn't just confined to the ivory tower, but became a performative, public spectacle that deeply shaped medieval culture and laid the foundations for how we learn, argue, and graduate today. In this conversation they explore: How the pervasive myth of the uncritical, tradition-bound "Dark Ages" ignores a historical reality where medieval thinkers used rigorous argumentation as tools to penetrate the universe's deepest mysteries. The intellectual genealogy of debate, tracing how the 12th century recovered and repurposed the dialectic and logic of ancient figures like Aristotle.The lasting pedagogical impact of charismatic teachers like Anselm of Beck, who utilized a question-and-answer dialogue format to shape a whole generation of students. The surprising realization that the modern university system, from the concept of a faculty guild to the pageantry of caps, gowns, and hooding ceremonies, is a direct inheritance of medieval clerical and scholastic culture. How the structure of scholastic disputation escaped the classroom to influence broader cultural expressions, from the dramatic tension in literature to the resolution of voices in early contrapuntal music.This is a conversation for anyone interested in intellectual history, pedagogy, and the humanities who wants to understand the ancient roots of our modern academic institutions and the enduring value of engaging with alternative perspectives.Make sure to check out Dr. Novikoff's book: The Medieval Culture of Disputation: Pedagogy, Practice, and Performance 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812245385Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. Timestamps0:00 Introducing Alex Novikoff0:43 Why Medieval Culture of Disputation Matters2:57 Debunking Myths About the Middle Ages7:24 Angels on The Head of a Pin Stereotype9:20 Dialectic Rhetoric and the Trivium12:29 Recovering Aristotle and the New Logic15:55 Faith, Reason, and Long Traditions of Debate18:48 Contrapuntal Music as Intellectual Debate20:56 Who Was Anselm of Beck and Canterbury24:27 Medieval Teachers and Intellectual Lineage28:03 Question and Answer Traditions Across Cultures31:27 Birth Of Universities and Academic Guilds34:53 Why Institutions and Regulation Still Matter38:08 Moral Panics, Technology, and Historical Perspective40:38 The Medieval Roots of Graduation45:10 Medieval Student Life47:48 Meaning of Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate Degrees49:32 What Cultural History Reveals About Debate52:08 Medieval Lessons for AI, Academia, and Our Future54:09 Closing Thoughts
Transcribe →Turning Away: The Poetics of an Ancient Gesture | Dr. Benjamin Saltzman
Jun 200:49:08Tap to summarizeWhat happens when our modern visual culture, which demands we constantly observe global atrocities on our phones, actually leads to apathy instead of a meaningful moral response? The University of Chicago's Associate Professor of English Language and Literature, Dr. Ben Saltzman, joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the overlooked significance of a common, deeply human reaction.Dr. Saltzman explores the history and meaning of this physical act in his book, Turning Away, The Poetics of an Ancient Gesture. They examine how looking away is frequently not a sign of disengagement, but rather an indication of deep emotional involvement, and how understanding this can help us navigate the horrors of the contemporary world.In this conversation they explore: How the book traces archaic scenes—like the ancient painting of Agamemnon's sacrifice of Iphigenia—by treating them as rocks tossed into a pool, following their cultural and artistic ripples across time. The surprising realization that turning away from a distressing event often signifies a deep engagement with the pain of the world, rather than simple indifference. Why our contemporary habit of scrolling through images of suffering on our phones can create a false sense of moral duty while actually fostering an empty act of looking. The concept of the divided soul, exemplified by Plato's tale of Leontius, which demonstrates how humans experience an inner conflict and oscillation between looking and turning away. How ancient rhetoric and art utilized the covered face to convey states of emotional extremity that existed entirely at the limits of representation. The relationship between covering one's eyes and the acquisition of painful knowledge, illustrated by figures ranging from a newly fallen Adam and Eve to a young girl watching a cruel scientific experiment on a bird.This is a conversation for anyone interested in literary studies, art history, and the humanities who wants to understand the historical weight behind our everyday instincts and how we process the painful realities of our modern age.Make sure to check out Dr. Saltzman's book: Turning Away: The Poetics of an Ancient Gesture 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226847225Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. Timestamps0:00 Introducing Ben Saltzman1:09 Adam, Eve, and Turning Away4:38 Noticing The Gesture of Turning Away in Life and Art5:54 What Poetics Means For This Ancient Gesture9:19 Greek Chorus Structure and The Rock and Ripples Metaphor10:38 Agamemnon, Grief, and The Limits of Representation16:27 The Moral Center of Turning Away Versus Indifference23:21 Plato’s Leontius and The Ambivalence of Looking And Not Looking32:43 Adam And Eve, Knowledge, and Death Across Art History38:22 Science, Suffering, and The Cost Of Knowledge44:22 Turning Away in the Digital Age and Our Inherited Iconography46:57 Closing Thoughts
Transcribe →A Philosopher at the Crossroads: Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola | Dr. Amos Edelheit
May 2600:42:01Tap to summarizeWhat happens when history remembers a brilliant young philosopher for his eccentric interests rather than the intellectual foundations he laid for the modern world?Maynooth University's lecturer and assistant professor, Dr. Amos Edelheit , joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the misunderstood legacy of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and his book, A Philosopher at the Crossroads: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Encounter with Scholastic Philosophy. Dr. Edelheit explores Pico's unique position bridging Renaissance humanism and Renaissance scholasticism. They examine how modern scholars have fundamentally distorted Pico's legacy by fixating on his fascination with Jewish Kabbalah, while neglecting his deep scholastic background, fails to understand Pico, as well as the very roots of modernity itself. In this conversation they explore:How Pico's youthful audacity led him to attempt an open, international debate in Rome with his 900 Theses. The scholarly distortion that hyper-focused on Pico's interest in Jewish mysticism , where he sought to find the origins of Christian mysteries. The fascinating evolution from medieval to Renaissance scholasticism, marking the moment formal philosophy stepped out of the university classroom and into public palaces and squares. The realization that the "Middle Ages" is actually a pejorative concept invented by Renaissance humanists to dismiss the centuries between themselves and antiquity. Pico's groundbreaking defense of philosophy as an independent discipline with intrinsic value and a distinct way of life. Why modern philosophy could not exist without scholasticism, and how thinkers from Descartes onward still had to battle with its established terminology. This is a conversation for anyone interested in intellectual history, Renaissance philosophy, and understanding the foundational forces that actually shaped modern thought.Make sure to check out Dr. Edelheit's book: A Philosopher at the Crossroads: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Encounter with Scholastic Philosophy 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/9004445099Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. Timestamps0:00 Introducing Dr Amos Edelheit0:54 Pico’s Life, Library, and Renaissance Curiosity6:18 Pico, Kabbalah, and Misreadings in Modern Scholarship9:28 What Renaissance Humanism and Scholasticism Really Mean19:36 Vernacular Writing, Urban Change, and New Audiences21:06 Pico’s Oration, Human Dignity, and the 900 Theses Debate24:29 Why Pico’s Scholastic Background Changes Everything28:34 Scholastic Language, Modern Philosophy, and Descartes32:10 From Scholasticism to Neo-Thomism and Modern Theology33:46 Oration on the Dignity of Man and Its Legacy40:00 How Pico Shapes Modern Ideas of Dignity
Transcribe →Vico's New Science of the Intersubjective World | Dr. Vittorio Hösle
May 1900:57:55Tap to summarizeWhat happens when a society's pursuit of pure rationality and radical individualism actually threatens to dissolve the trust that holds it together? Notre Dame University's Paul G. Kimball Professor of Arts and Letters, Dr. Vittorio Hösle, joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the overlooked genius of Giambattista Vico and the hidden dangers of modern rationalism. Dr. Hösle explores the philosophical foundations of the human sciences through his book Vico's New Science of the Intersubjective World. They examine why projecting modern thought onto ancient history fundamentally distorts our understanding of the past, and how recognizing the cyclical nature of civilizations can warn us against our own potential decay. In this conversation they explore: How Vico established a rigorous "new science" focused on the common nature of nations, effectively laying the groundwork for modern sociology and the human sciences. The profound realization that archaic humans experienced the world through sensual metaphors and mythic wisdom rather than abstract concepts or romantic love. The crucial discovery of the fallacy of anachronism—and why erudite scholars constantly make the mistake of projecting their own modern mindset onto the past. Why pure rationality and universal rational egoism, termed the "barbarism of reflection," can dissolve societal trust and lead to civilizational collapse. The sobering reality that historical progress is not guaranteed, and that the collapse of high civilization remains a persistent threat even today. Vico's method of conceptually understanding archaic societies by comparing epochs, even when directly empathizing with their foreign mindset is impossible. This is a conversation for anyone interested in philosophy, sociology, and history who wants to understand the foundational forces that shape human societies and the historical blind spots of the modern age. Make sure to check out Dr. Hösle's book: Vico's New Science of the Intersubjective World 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0268100284 Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. Timestamps 0:00 - Introducing Dr. Vittorio Hösle 0:38 - Why Write an Introduction to Vico's New Science? 6:20 - Gadamer’s Selective Reception of Vico 8:50 - What is The New Science? (Vico’s Sociological Project) 16:50 - What Did "Science" Actually Mean in Vico's Time? 23:25 - Vico vs. Wilhelm Dilthey: Grounding the Human Sciences 25:50 - Vico's Core Discovery: The Archaic Mindset 32:50 - The Three Stages of Culture (Gods, Heroes, and Men) 36:35 - Modern Relevance & The Danger of Civilizational Collapse 42:25 - The Function of Poetic and Mythic Wisdom 46:00 - The "Barbarism of Reflection" & Radical Individualism 47:50 - Vico’s Major Contributions to Modern Historiography 52:20 - The Fallacy of Anachronism 55:40 - Closing Thoughts
Transcribe →