The Veritas Forum

For the twelfth season of The Veritas Forum Podcast, we're exploring some of life's biggest questions: “What’s the purpose of my work?” “How do I know if I’m successful?” “Am I living a meaningful life?” Each week, starting Thursday, February 2nd, we'll share the best Veritas content on meaning and purpose — Forums you love and engaging interviews with top scholars — that will help you wrestle with the big questions in your life. If you think a friend of yours would benefit from this season of the podcast, share this trailer with them — and, please, subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

In this Winterlude episode, we interview Dr. Lydia Dugdale — a physician and medical ethicist at Columbia University — about the historic medical pledge, the Hippocratic Oath, and how it is not required by medical schools in the United States. (Surprising, right?) Listen to hear what's replacing it, what the Christian tradition might offer medical ethics, and how you can become a better patient. Dr. Dugdale's recent Plough piece on the Hippocratic oath, here. Her recent book, The Lost Art of Dying, here. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

In this Winterlude episode, we interview Dr. John Inazu, the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. He gives us an insider's view of how we might engage with the university — not as consumers but as participants who faithfully serve, start conversations that matter, and seize the fleeting time students have on campus. Dr. Inazu's Substack, Some Assembly Required, here His recent book with Tim Keller, Uncommon Ground, here Sign up for our newsletter here Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

This season we've asked: "What does it mean to be human?" And not too far downstream from this question is one you probably ask on a regular basis: "Who am I?" Both questions can be overwhelming. What if your answer isn’t right? Do you even know if there is a right answer? Can you change your mind? And is there a point when you have to have it all figured out? In our final episode of the season, we address that anxiety — that burden. Perhaps “having to figure it all out” is too much pressure. What if you don’t have to come up with all the answers?  In this episode, we are going beyond the forum with Dr. Alan Noble. He’s an English professor and author, and we talk about the struggle that comes with making sense of what it means to be human. His most recent book is entitled, "You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World." Order Alan's book, You Are Not Your Own, here. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

You — like most of us — are likely fed up with social media. The apps that promised us more social connection and genuine communication instead gave us doom-scrolling, photoshopped vacation photos, and hordes of influencers. But in our quest for authentic community, have we looked in the wrong places? Can we express our true selves on social media platforms like BeReal or Instagram? And is *real* authenticity — whether online or in person — even possible? We explore these questions through a Forum from April 2022 at the University of Chicago. In it, a fashion designer and philosopher contemplate selfhood. What does it mean to “be ourselves”? The first speaker is Dr. Fiona Dieffenbacher, an Associate Professor of Fashion at Parsons School of Design. The second speaker is Dr. Benjamin Callard, a philosopher professor at the University of Chicago. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on our Youtube. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

We live in a culture saturated with technology. From a helpful autocorrected text to a friend to the suspiciously targeted ads in your Instagram feed to the deepfakes that can create your likeness without your consent. Given technology's prevalence today, how should we think about our relationship with it? What does this relationship mean for what it means to be human? And is it possible for our tech to become *more* human than we are? Our conversation today centers around these questions. In this Forum event from April 2022, you’ll hear first from Dr. John Lennox, emeritus professor of mathematics at Oxford. He’s the author of 2084: ​​Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity, and he discusses topics from this book with Dr. Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist at Arizona State University. Dr. Lennox and Dr. Davies explore the ever-expanding impact of artificial intelligence on our lives, the plausibility of creating human-like technologies, and the importance of ethical guidelines and agreements in these morally fraught developments. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on Youtube. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

Last week, you heard from Dr. Jennifer Frey about how you need other people to know who you are. That sounds great when these "other people" are kind, generous in dialogue, and want the best for you. But in our quest to discover what it means to be human, we will encounter other people whose ideas challenge us, expose us to new viewpoints, and uncover significant areas of disagreement. So what do we do? How can we engage with others across ideological divides? What would it look like to bring our unique insights to conversations — and see others’ contributions as meaningful, too? Today’s Forum is entitled “How to Disagree” — and it dives into the limits and virtues of intellectual charity. This conversation was hosted by the Veritas Forum at Harvard Law School in April 2022. The first speaker is Diana Hess, the Dean of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The second speaker is Randall Kennedy, a professor at Harvard Law School. And the third speaker is Steven Harris, the Senior Director of Academic Programs at the Center on Faith and Justice for Georgetown University. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on Youtube. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

We're going *beyond the forum* with Dr. Jennifer Frey, our guest from last week. Dr. Frey is a philosopher at the University of South Carolina, and she teaches the philosophy of Aristotle, Plato, and other perennial philosophers. We look at happiness in our relationships with others and how friendship plays a role in what it means to be human. In our discussion, we explore Aristotle’s three types of friends, how friendship and justice relate, and what it means to be a good friend. Check out Jennifer Frey's podcast, "Sacred & Profane Love," here. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

If you're wondering if you'll get the "happily ever after" promised by fairy tales, you're not alone. For the past three decades, the General Social Survey has tracked a slow decline in happiness in the United States. Responses in 2021 suggest the lowest percentage of "Very Happy" Americans (19%) since 1988. But, what exactly *is* happiness — or its lack thereof? Is it something that we can measure in a survey or promise at bed time? And, how does it contribute to what it means to be human? In today’s episode we dive into happiness — what it is, how we get it, and its purpose for us today — in a Forum entitled, "What Good Is Happiness?” This Forum event was hosted at the University of Chicago in February 2020. The first speaker is Jennifer Frey, professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Frey is in dialogue with Jonathan Masur, an economist at the University of Chicago. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on Youtube. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

How would you answer the question, "How much are you worth?"? Based on your body's iron, magnesium, oxygen, etc., you could sell your body for around $18. Or you could check your transcript and report your 4.0 GPA. Or with the help of social media, you could tally up your followers on Instagram and Twitter. But $18, a 4.0, and 3,000 followers are poor approximations for you and the worth of your life. How, instead, should we approach this question? Today, we’re exploring what it means to be human — holistically. How can we approach our humanness with an understanding of our bodies, minds, and souls? By the end of this episode, you’ll gain a better understanding of how you are worth more than the sum of your parts. This Forum event was hosted at Dartmouth in 2022. The first speaker is Praveen Sethupathy, the director for the Center for Vertebrate Genetics at Cornell University. The second speaker is Lori Alvord. She’s a General Surgeon at Astria Health. The conversation is moderated by Ross Douthat, opinion columnist at the New York Times. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on Youtube. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.