

Young Heretics
Spencer Klavan
The classical education you never knew you were missing. Join scholar and writer Spencer Klavan on a tour through the great works of the West. In a world gone mad, we're not alone: the great men and women who went before us have wisdom to guide us. With their help, we can recover truth, beauty, and the stuff that matters.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 18, 2022 • 1h 4min
Ep. 127: Political Love
Okay, so we have a country—but isn't that a little mean? Drawing on Aristotle's definition of citizenship and politics, Spencer Klavan examines the question of open borders and asks what it really means to "love thy neighbor" in a political context. -- Public Goods is the one stop shop for sustainable, high quality everyday essentials made from clean ingredients. Receive $15 off your first Public Goods order at https://publicgoods.com/HERETICS. -- Stop throwing your tea into the harbor, and start celebrating America’s tea heritage with Gold River Trading Co.’s specialty blends. Get 10% off your order with promo code HERETICS: https://goldriverco.com. -- You’ll have more energy and feel healthier when you take Field of Greens. Get 15% off your first order and another 10% off when you subscribe for recurring orders. Use promo code HERETICS at https://fieldofgreens.com. -- Indeed is the hiring partner where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/HERETICS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 11, 2022 • 1h 5min
Ep. 126: In This House, We Believe
What is a citizen, and who gets to be one? With immigration all over the news, Spencer Klavan takes a Young Heretics look at the nature of citizenship, starting with Aristotle’s politics. From 3rd-gen Athenian philosophy to Martha’s Vineyard, all in 60 minutes! -- How can you learn Latin, Ancient Greek, or Biblical Hebrew in order to read the classics of the ancient western world, in their original language? Get 10% off of your Ancient Language Institute course with promo code HERETICS: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics. -- Indeed is the hiring partner where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/HERETICS. -- Rocket Money is the new app that helps you identify and stop paying for subscriptions you don’t need, want, or simply forgot about. Save thousands of dollars a year: https://rocketmoney.com/heretics. -- You’ll have more energy and feel healthier when you take Field of Greens. Get 15% off your first order and another 10% off when you subscribe for recurring orders. Use promo code HERETICS at https://fieldofgreens.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 4, 2022 • 1h 2min
Ep. 125: Words Without End
In this final installment of the series on Owen Barfield, Spencer Klavan explores how the first and last Inkling's ideas can help us understand the arguments over the multiverse, the creation story in Genesis, and the very fabric of reality. Plus he reads some of Barfield's poetry. And all in under an hour! -- Public Goods is the one stop shop for sustainable, high quality everyday essentials made from clean ingredients. Receive $15 off your first Public Goods order at https://publicgoods.com/HERETICS. -- Stop throwing your tea into the harbor, and start celebrating America’s tea heritage with Gold River Trading Co.’s specialty blends. Get 10% off your order with promo code HERETICS: https://goldriverco.com. -- Rocket Money is the new app that helps you identify and stop paying for subscriptions you don’t need, want, or simply forgot about. Save thousands of dollars a year: https://rocketmoney.com/heretics. -- You’ll have more energy and feel healthier when you take Field of Greens. Get 15% off your first order and another 10% off when you subscribe for recurring orders. Use promo code HERETICS at https://fieldofgreens.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 27, 2022 • 1h 6min
Ep. 124: World in the Mind
Owen Barfield's "Poetic Diction" is a book about etymology that turns out to shed light on much more than language. In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan describes his own life-changing experience discovering the book and explores how Barfield's vision of human perception can help unlock the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything. From scripture to science, the first and last Inkling has much to say to our modern predicament. -- Rocket Money is the new app that helps you identify and stop paying for subscriptions you don’t need, want, or simply forgot about. Save thousands of dollars a year: https://rocketmoney.com/heretics. -- You’ll have more energy and feel healthier when you take Field of Greens. Get 15% off your first order and another 10% off when you subscribe for recurring orders. Use promo code HERETICS at https://fieldofgreens.com. -- Public Goods is the one stop shop for sustainable, high quality everyday essentials made from clean ingredients. Receive $15 off your first Public Goods order at https://publicgoods.com/HERETICS. -- Indeed is the hiring partner where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/HERETICS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 20, 2022 • 1h 6min
Ep: 123: Splitting the Atom, Dividing the World
What kind of knowledge does science give us? Is it the "God's-eye view" of things—a third-person, objective understanding of reality's bedrock? Owen Barfield, one of the less well-known Inklings, argued powerfully that it is not. Heeding Barfield's words can help us break free of the false religion that holds scientific truth up as the only real knowledge and makes science into a kind of new religion. In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan introduces Barfield and embarks on a journey through quantum physics, Copernican cosmology, and the Book of Genesis. -- Public Goods is the one stop shop for sustainable, high quality everyday essentials made from clean ingredients. Receive $15 off your first Public Goods order at https://publicgoods.com/HERETICS. -- Indeed is the hiring partner where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/HERETICS. -- Stop throwing your tea into the harbor, and start celebrating America’s tea heritage with Gold River Trading Co.’s specialty blends. Get 10% off your order with promo code HERETICS: https://goldriverco.com. -- Rocket Money is the new app that helps you identify and stop paying for subscriptions you don’t need, want, or simply forgot about. Save thousands of dollars a year: https://rocketmoney.com/heretics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 13, 2022 • 1h 10min
Ep. 122: A Complete and Total Shutdown on Celebrities
We did it! The final installment of the Republic series is here. In this last and possibly most infamous book of his masterwork, Plato calls for a complete and total shutdown on artists until he figures out what the hell is going on. In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan discusses Plato's challenge to art, and the ways we might grapple with it today. -- Indeed is the hiring partner where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/HERETICS. -- How can you learn Latin, Ancient Greek, or Biblical Hebrew in order to read the classics of the ancient western world, in their original language? Get 10% off of your Ancient Language Institute course with promo code HERETICS: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics. -- Rocket Money is the new app that helps you identify and stop paying for subscriptions you don’t need, want, or simply forgot about. Save thousands of dollars a year: https://rocketmoney.com/heretics. -- Public Goods is the one stop shop for sustainable, high quality everyday essentials made from clean ingredients. Receive $15 off your first Public Goods order at https://publicgoods.com/HERETICS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 6, 2022 • 1h 7min
Ep. 121: Save the Republic, Turn Off Your Dang Phone
Drawing on Plato's highly sophisticated account of the relationship between psychology and politics, Spencer Klavan delivers an important message for the ages: turn off your dang phone! At least before bed. In Book IX of the Republic, Plato's Socrates explores what it means to be tyrannical—to be enslaved to your own desires—and how we can avoid that fate. -- Public Goods is the one stop shop for sustainable, high quality everyday essentials made from clean ingredients. Receive $15 off your first Public Goods order at https://publicgoods.com/HERETICS. -- Don’t let the stress of daily life weigh on your body. Make it through the day tension-free with Theragun. Try it for 30 days starting at $199: https://therabody.com/heretics. -- Indeed is the hiring partner where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/HERETICS. -- Rocket Money is the new app that helps you identify and stop paying for subscriptions you don’t need, want, or simply forgot about. Save thousands of dollars a year: https://rocketmoney.com/heretics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 30, 2022 • 1h 8min
Ep. 120: Starting With the Man in the Mirror
If your ship of state really is sinking, what can you possibly do about it? As we reach the conclusion of our series on Plato's Republic, psychology and politics converge upon some striking answers to this very pressing question. In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan talks through Socrates's survey of kinds of state and kinds of people, and reveals why you should turn off your durn phone if you want to save the world. -- Indeed is the hiring partner where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/HERETICS. -- Rocket Money is the new app that helps you identify and stop paying for subscriptions you don’t need, want, or simply forgot about. Save thousands of dollars a year: https://rocketmoney.com/heretics. -- Don’t let the stress of daily life weigh on your body. Make it through the day tension-free with Theragun. Try it for 30 days starting at $199: https://therabody.com/heretics. -- Stop throwing your tea into the harbor, and start celebrating America’s tea heritage with Gold River Trading Co.’s specialty blends. Get 10% off your order with promo code HERETICS: https://goldriverco.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 23, 2022 • 59min
Ep. 119: Art Reborn
In the 13th century, the world held its breath as it waited for a new kind of art to be born. Then came Cimabue—or was it Duccio? In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan walks through the fascinating and complicated history of early Florentine Renaissance art, asking along the way what it might mean for us to seek rebirth out of a dark age. -- Truebill is the new app that helps you identify and stop paying for subscriptions you don’t need, want, or simply forgot about. Save thousands of dollars a year: https://truebill.com/heretics. -- Public Goods is the one stop shop for sustainable, high quality everyday essentials made from clean ingredients. Receive $15 off your first Public Goods order at https://publicgoods.com/HERETICS. -- Stop throwing your tea into the harbor, and start celebrating America’s tea heritage with Gold River Trading Co.’s specialty blends. Get 10% off your order with promo code HERETICS: https://goldriverco.com. -- Don’t let the stress of daily life weigh on your body. Make it through the day tension-free with Theragun. Try it for 30 days starting at $199: https://therabody.com/heretics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 16, 2022 • 60min
Ep. 118: The Death of Art
How dark were the middle ages, really? And are we living through our own period of decline today? By studying the good and the bad of how art developed after the fall of the Roman Empire, Spencer Klavan reflects on our own time of fracture and uncertainty. It may be we are due for our own rebirth, and sooner than we think. -- Public Goods is the one stop shop for sustainable, high quality everyday essentials made from clean ingredients. Receive $15 off your first Public Goods order at https://publicgoods.com/HERETICS. -- Indeed is the hiring partner where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/HERETICS. -- Don’t let the stress of daily life weigh on your body. Make it through the day tension-free with Theragun. Try it for 30 days starting at $199: https://therabody.com/heretics. -- Stop throwing your tea into the harbor, and start celebrating America’s tea heritage with Gold River Trading Co.’s specialty blends. Get 10% off your order with promo code HERETICS: https://goldriverco.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices