The Ralston College Podcast

In the inaugural episode of the Sophia Lecture Series, Ralston College President Stephen Blackwood and distinguished Cambridge Professor Douglas Hedley explore "The Spirit of Play", delving into the enigmatic nature of play, its historical and philosophical significance, and its intricate connection with human culture and imagination. This discussion highlights that concept's relevance in today's society, its role in fostering a comprehensive understanding of human experience, and its importance in addressing fundamental questions of human existence. By examining the playful foundations of philosophical inquiry and the significance of imagination, this conversation encourages listeners to embrace a richer, more nuanced view of the world, ultimately challenging our understanding of human culture and intellectual pursuits. Douglas Hedley is a distinguished philosopher at the University of Cambridge, celebrated for his extensive research in the philosophy of religion and Platonism. He is the author of multiple influential works on imagination and religious experience. Resources Ralston College  Website:  https://www.ralston.ac/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RalstonCollegeSavannah X: https://twitter.com/RalstonCollege Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ralstoncollege/ Douglas Hedley https://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/directory/douglas-hedley https://www.ralston.ac/people/douglas-hedley Living Forms of the Imagination -Douglas Hedley  Sacrifice Imagined: Violence, Atonement, and the Sacred - Douglas Hedley  The Iconic Imagination - Douglas Hedley  Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture - Johan Huizinga Truth and Method - Hans-Georg Gadamer  Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Praise of Folly. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Quotes "The concept of play...straddles evolutionary history, psychology, ethics, aesthetics, even religion." - Douglas Hedley [00:01:24] "Play, perhaps surprisingly, has quite a significant role in the history of philosophy." - Douglas Hedley [00:02:53]  "Metaphysics is our spiritual oxygen." - Douglas Hedley [00:17:35]  Chapters  [00:00:00] - Introduction to Professor Douglas Hedley and the Sophia Lecture Series   [00:01:20] - Discussion on the choice of “The Spirit of Play” as the lectures' topic [00:02:00] - Explanation of play's multifaceted nature [00:04:40] - Importance of play in understanding human experience [00:05:00] - Recommendation of Johan Huizinga's Homo Ludens [00:07:00] - Connection between play and the history of philosophy [00:08:20] - Kant, Schiller, and Gadamer's perspectives on play [00:09:20] - Ralston College as a vision of Christian humanism [00:10:40] - Philosophy as a way of life and the importance of friendship [00:11:20] - Learning through imitation and the educational experience [00:12:40] - Joy from immersion in the philosophical tradition [00:13:20] - Challenges to traditional humanities in contemporary culture [00:14:20] - The richness of the Christian Platonic tradition [00:15:20] - Discussion on ultimate questions independent of social constructs [00:16:40] - The significance of beauty in the cosmos [00:18:00] - Conclusion and appreciation for Hedley's contributions

Ralston College presents a lecture by University of Cambridge Professor Douglas Hedley on the influential and mysterious pre-Socratic philosopher Pythagoras. Given in the very cave in Samos in which Pythagoras taught, this brief lecture touches on the philosopher’s influence on the Western tradition and the importance of the cave as an imaginative motif. Professor Hedley explores this recurring symbol as a place of birth and rebirth, of contemplation and illumination, and of tremendous inspiration to later figures such as Plato and many early Christian thinkers.   The lecture took place during the first term of Ralston College's inaugural MA in the Humanities in autumn of 2022. Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode Eusebius Werner Jaeger Ralph Cudworth Kabbalah Pythagoras The Lyceum Lloyd P. Gerson St Ambrose Johannes Reuchlin St Augustine Metempsychosis Orphism Empedocles Plato’s Cave Socrates Mithraism Cave of the Apocalypse in Patmos Parmenides Aristotle Pindar Immanuel Kant Gottlob Frege Links of Possible Interest Douglas Hedley’s Cambridge Profile https://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/directory/douglas-hedley  Living Forms of the Imagination https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0567032957/breviaryinfo-21 Dr Stephen Blackwood  https://www.stephenjblackwood.com Dr James Bryson  https://www.ralston.ac/people/james-bryson Ralston College (including newsletter) https://ralston.ac    Ralston College Short Courses  https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses

Ralston College presents a lecture by Marie Kawthar Daouda on the infamous French poet, Charles Baudelaire. Baudelaire published one collection of poems in his lifetime, 'Les Fleurs du mal,' which was met by outrage and led to a scandalous lawsuit because of some poems’ graphic content. The problem with Baudelaire was not so much that he was writing about sex, drunkenness, and violence; it was that he wrote about ugly things—at times horrible things—while using the classical perfection of the French verse, and merged the longing for a lost ideal with the modernity of Haussmanian Paris. As such, Baudelaire's art is not about gruesome indecency, but about acknowledging horror as a non-negotiable part both of the human condition and of the creation of the self. Dr Daouda’s lecture focuses on two particular sonnets, 'À une passante' and 'Recueillement,' which offer emblematic examples of Baudelaire’s poetic technique and his philosophical heritage, and help to explain why, although he died in utter misery, he was one of the most influential artistic figures of the century that followed.   This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on June 23rd, 2022.   Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode Charles Baudelaire Eugene Delacroix, 'La Liberté guidant le peuple' Chateaubriand Benjamin Constant Alphonse de Lamartine Victor Hugo, 'Les Miserables' George Sand Jean-Jacques Rousseau Voltaire Victor Hugo, 'Les Chansons des rues et des bois' Édouard Manet Blaise Pascal Joseph de Maistre Edgar Allan Poe Platonism Neo-Platonism Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Imp of the Perverse' Charles Baudelaire, 'L’art romantique' Charles Baudelaire, 'Les Fleurs du mal' Carlos Schwabe, 'Spleen et idéal' Oscar Wilde Charles Baudelaire, 'À une passante' Petrus Borel, 'Champavert' Charles Baudelaire, 'Recueillement' Charles Baudelaire, 'Le Spleen de Paris' Michael Edwards, 'Bible et poésie' Vladimir Jankélévitch, 'La Mort' Carlos Schwabe, 'Les Noces du poete et de la Muse ou L’Ideal' Gustav Maureau Lord Byron Links of Possible Interest Dr Marie Kawthar Daouda's biography https://www.ralston.ac/people/marie-k... Dr Stephen Blackwood https://www.stephenjblackwood.com Ralston College https://ralston.ac Ralston College Short Courses https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-sho... Ralston College Humanities MA https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma

Ralston College presents a lecture by Arif Ahmed on David Hume’s conception of self in Book I of his ‘Treatise of Human Nature.’ The idea of ‘the self’ or ‘soul’ as an enduring subject of experience seems very natural, indeed almost inevitable. Hume, however, argues that it is a mistake; and he gives a novel account of what it means for you or me to exist at any one time or across different times. In his lecture, Dr Ahmed assesses Hume's central argument and discusses whether it sheds any light on related questions concerning responsibility, the morality of life and death, and the nature and rationality of 'self-interest.' This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on May 19th, 2022.

Ralston College presents a lecture by Alan Charles Kors on Voltaire's great work 'The Philosophical Letters.' Profoundly impressed by the English scientific and philosophical revolutions of the seventeenth century, Voltaire sought to explain and to popularize new British thinking to his French readers. He argued that sound and innovative thinkers were more important to humanity than its political or military heroes and that preferring the philosophers of one’s native land over those of another nation was a barrier to truth and knowledge. In this second part of a broader lecture on Voltaire's thought, Professor Kors expands upon Voltaire’s observations of the relative political and economic freedom in England at the time and its connection to an underlying philosophical worldview. This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on April 28th, 2022.

Ralston College presents a two-part series of lectures by Alan Charles Kors on Voltaire's great work 'The Philosophical Letters.' Profoundly impressed by the English scientific and philosophical revolutions of the seventeenth century, Voltaire sought to explain and to popularize new British thinking to his French readers. He argued that sound and innovative thinkers were more important to humanity than its political or military heroes and that preferring the philosophers of one’s native land over those of another nation was a barrier to the advance of truth and knowledge. In this first lecture, Professor Kors explores the reasons for Voltaire's fascination with the English empirical tradition, which is exemplified by Francis Bacon, John Locke, and Isaac Newton. This lecture and discussion were recorded with a live online audience on April 21st, 2022.

Ralston College presents a lecture delivered on March 17th, 2022 by Theodore Dalrymple (aka Anthony Daniels) on H. G. Wells’s extraordinary 'scientific romance,' 'The Time Machine'.  A brilliant seer and prophet with a very pessimistic view of humanity, Wells was, nevertheless, a naive and shallow political thinker. The two sides of his mind—the artistic and the ideological; the 'unofficial' and the 'official'—were in conflict. In his writings and personal life, Wells embodied the cultural and philosophical schisms underlying the most important political and sociological questions of our time.  Wells's prescient insights, and troubling self-contradictions point to deep questions at the heart of human nature.

Stephen Blackwood speaks with the Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, Vernon L. Smith. They begin by defining and exploring commonly misunderstood economic terms—markets, capitalism, equilibrium—and then unpack the discoveries of Dr Smith’s pioneering experiments in economics, which—against widely held assumptions—revealed the operation of beneficence and non-zero-sum reciprocity at the heart of free exchange. ‘Self-interest’ is thus profoundly re-evaluated. Paradoxically, the only way to self-realization is through concern for others.  Also, Vernon recommends for further reading, especially on the topic of his experimental games, which are described but not entirely comprehensible in the podcast, the following: Vernon L. Smith (1991) Papers in Experimental Economics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Ralston College presents a lecture delivered on October 26th, 2021 by Dr Iain McGilchrist followed by a discussion with Dr Stephen Blackwood and questions from the audience. In his lecture Dr McGilchrist deals with certain themes that are treated at greater length in his recent book The Matter With Things. He focuses especially upon the coincidence of opposites (coincidentia oppositorum), which he explores (providing an extraordinary range of illustrative examples) in such a way as to make manifest both its universality and its particular relevance to our present historical moment.

Ralston College presents a conversation between Stephen Blackwood and award-winning architect and author Marwa Al-Sabouni, followed by an audience Q&A. A voice of penetrating clarity and prophetic power, Al-Sabouni discusses the role of architecture in cultivating or undermining our social fabric, arguing that the seeds of the devastating Syria Civil War were sown by the choices of architects and city planners. Though born of particular and painful experience, Al-Sabouni's insights on the nature of human life and community are universal, and offer consolation and hope amidst the civic alienation and aesthetic degradation facing so many of us today. The event took place online on June 24th, 2021.