Think It Through: the Clearer Thinking Podcast cover image

Think It Through: the Clearer Thinking Podcast

Episode 14: Kirk, Spock, McCoy and...Aristotle? An Interview with John Champion

Mar 16, 2021
46:20

Send us a text

In this episode, April and her friend John Champion,  co-host of "Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast," get all nerdy and philosophical about the ways in which the Trek triumvirate of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy epitomize the Aristotelian proofs of ethos (appeal to authority), logos (appeal to logic), and pathos (appeal to emotion). Plus they reminisce about the good old days when Star Trek: the Experience was the coolest thing ever. Sigh...

Episode 14 Show Notes

Here are the episode numbers for the Star Trek: The Original Series episodes we referenced:
"Balance of Terror"--Season 1, Episode 14
"City on the Edge of Forever"--Season 1, Episode 28
"The Empath"--Season 3, Episode 12
"Requiem for Methuselah"--Season 3,  Episode 19

Here are the IMDB listings for the movies we referenced:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture--https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079945/
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan--https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084726/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier--https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098382/

You can find many Star Trek television shows and movies on https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/star_trek/
You may also be able to find some on Hulu, Prime Video, FX Now, and Fubo

Here's the link to all Roddenberry podcasts, including Mission Log:
https://podcasts.roddenberry.com/

If you want to search for specific Mission Log episodes, here is their archive:
https://www.missionlogpodcast.com/archive/

Some of McCoy's best smart-ass/heartfelt/profound wordplay: https://impertinentremarks.com/rhetoric-lessons-from-star-treks-dr-mccoy/

An interesting take on the friendship between the Trek triumvirate: https://www.startrek.com/article/the-importance-of-friendship-in-star-trek

Here's Michael Shermer's explanation on why Kirk is such a great leader:
SHERMER, MICHAEL. “The Captain Kirk Principle.” Scientific American, vol. 287, no. 6, 2002, pp. 39–39. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26060080.  (If you don't have access to JSTOR, you can probably find this article online in Scientific American's archives.)

Oh, and you may have noticed that John and I use different pronunciations for "ethos," "pathos," and "logos." Well, mostly "pathos."  That's perfectly acceptable, as this article explains: https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/ethos-logos-pathos.html

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode