The Ralston College Podcast

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.

In Part II of their discussion Stephen Blackwood and Alexander Stoddart speak about the transhistorical community of past, present, and future. Stoddart explicates his Schopenhauerian view of art as life-denying and thus paradoxically able to help us relinquish our own will to power. He contrasts this view with that of a shallow presentism, a self-absorbed modernist outlook that views the present as inherently superior to both past and future, cutting off its own vital resources and neglecting its fundamental obligations. Stoddart shows another way. Artists, Art, and Writings Mentioned in this Episode: Homer; Palmyra; Br'er Rabbit and the Tar-Baby; Arthur Schopenhauer; Jean-Paul Sartre; Michel Foucault; Friedrich Nietzsche; Walter Scott; Richard Wagner; Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; Charles Dickens; Walter Pater; Gian Lorenzo Bernini; Buddhas of Bamiyan; Trajan's Forum; The Colosseum; Bartolomeo Colleoni Monument; The Shard of London; Albert Speer's Volkshalle ("People's Hall"); T. S. Eliot: "Four Quartets"; Gone with the Wind, House of Tara (Antebellum architecture); Richard James Wyatt; Lincoln Memorial; John Flaxman: Am I Not a Man; Thomas Banks profile of Thomas Muir of Huntershill (https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/thomas-banks); Edgar Degas; Paul Cézanne; Pierre-Auguste Renoir; The Acropolis; Tyche; Statue of Tyche and Plutus in Istanbul; Statue of Liberty; Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro; Mount Rushmore

Ralston College presents a conversation between Stephen Blackwood and Alan Dershowitz, followed by an audience Q & A. The discussion begins with Professor Dershowitz describing the early influences that awakened his appreciation for civil liberties—particularly free speech—and the origins of his fiercely independent thinking. The subsequent conversation and response to questions touches on the decline of meritocracy, the principles of the Civil Rights Movement, the role of universities and intellectuals in revolution and tyranny, and the ways in which a culture of free inquiry is fundamental to human flourishing. The event took place online on April 28th, 2021. Works and Artists mentioned: H.N. Bialik, "The City of Slaughter," Adolf von Hildebrand

Have we killed Homer for good? Stephen Blackwood and historian-farmer Victor Davis Hanson examine the state of the contemporary West by returning to its ancient Greek origins. They explore the richness of its first principles, including self-critique, the elevation of rational understanding, the democratization of learning, and the unification of thought and action. They also bring to light our current cultural crisis: the uncritical rejection of the inherited past, an intellectualism divorced from reality, and a surrender to relativism at the cost of true self-reflection. They close by reflecting on the lateness of the hour, and offer a vital call to seek and speak truth, to ignite the fire of independence of mind, and to remember that while we may know more than those who came before, they are, as T.S. Eliot said, that which we know.