

The Living Philosophy
The Living Philosophy
The Living Philosophy is all about the exploration of philosophy's big ideas and big characters from the Ancients to the Postmoderns with a side of Psychology and seasoned with a dash of Integral.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 25, 2024 • 15min
Why Leftists Should Have Loved Rich Men North of Richmond (But Didn't)
 
If an alien arrived on this planet having read only the writings of Marx, Proudhon and other great leftist socialist thinkers, they would be very surprised by the reaction to Rich Men North of Richmond. Oliver Anthony's song was loved by some and hated by others with the usual weird subtextual energies of the Culture Wars infusing both. This episode looks at why, from a historical theoretical it could have been otherwise. And why it wasn't. 
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📚 For Your Further Perusal:
- Oliver Anthony's Rich Men North of Richmond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqSA-SY5Hro&pp- Nicholas Kristof's article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/30/opinion/oliver-anthony-liberals.html- Time article: https://time.com/6308121/oliver-anthony-country-music-divide-essay/- Guardian "Punching Down" article: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/16/rich-men-north-of-richmond-oliver-anthony- The Independent's article: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/rich-man-north-of-richmond-lyrics-oliver-anthony-b2394954.html- Keith Woods's video "The Great Awokening": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOh_Ng0v1WE
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🎼 Media Used:
1. Anguish — Kevin MacLeod2.  Evening Fall Harp — Kevin MacLeod3. Mind Scrape — Kevin MacLeod4.  Alone With My Thoughts — Esther Abrami
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction2:42 Why the Left Should Love Rich Men North of Richmond5:08 Why the Left Hated Rich Men North of Richmond7:42 The Chthonic Populists and Pure Woke11:31 What to do about the Oliver Anthonys? 

Aug 11, 2024 • 13min
Self-Actualisation is Not Enough
 
In this video we are going to tackle a challenging question: what is self-actualisation isn't what we should be doing; what if instead it is a big cope — a way of burying our head in the sand (rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic; playing our fiddle while Rome burns — choose your preferred analogy) while the world burns.
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📚 Further Reading:
Penny, L. (2016). I'm With The Banned: https://medium.com/welcome-to-the-scream-room/im-with-the-banned-8d1b6e0b2932
Penny, L. (2016). Life Hacks of the Poor and Aimless: https://thebaffler.com/latest/laurie-penny-self-care
Penny, L. (2018). No I Will Not Debate You: https://longreads.com/2018/09/18/no-i-will-not-debate-you/
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⭐ Support the channel (thank you!)
▶ Patreon: https://patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy▶ Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/thelivingphilosophy
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💬 More from The Living Philosophy
▶ Discord https://discord.gg/XNd4gTpfu9▶ 📨 Subscribe with email: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/
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🎼 Media Used:
Juniper  — Kevin MacLeod
Anguish — Kevin MacLeod
Dreams Become Reality — Kevin MacLeod
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic
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⌛ Timestamps:0:00 Introduction2:58 Non-Leftists: Desperate Narcissism6:33 Leftists: Crushing Misery 

Jul 28, 2024 • 18min
Enlightenment, Non-Attachment and Other Toxic Spiritual Con Jobs
 In this episode, we look at why you should listen to South Park's Butters over modern Buddhist gurus. We talk about the sales pitch used by spiritual gurudom to get people hungry for Enlightenment while hiding the truth about the awful reality of that path. Fun fun fun. 
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📚 Further Reading:
- Mingyur, R.Y. and Swanson, E., 2010. _Joyful wisdom_. Random House.
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⭐ Support the channel (thank you!)
▶ Patreon: https://patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy
▶ Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/thelivingphilosophy
_________________ 
💬 More from The Living Philosophy
▶ Discord https://discord.gg/XNd4gTpfu9
▶ 📨 Subscribe with email: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/
________________
🎼 Media Used:
1. Anguish — Kevin MacLeod
2. Allegro — Emmit Fenn
3. Evening Fall Harp — Kevin MacLeod
4. Alone With My Thoughts — Esther Abrami
5. Dark Times — Kevin MacLeod
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
3:32 Everything is S ** T
6:08 The Horrors of Spiritual Attainment
8:40 Who's Falling for It?
10:31 Who It's Really For
12:37 Spiritual Bypassing 

Jul 14, 2024 • 13min
Books Saved My Life
 In this episode I talk about the books that rescued me in my darkest times by giving me the breath of heroic inspiration I needed to get moving out of the dark pit I'd found myself in. I talk about what these books had in common and why we need them. 
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📚 Further Reading:
- _I’m Not There_. (2008). [Movie].
- Dumas, A., *The Three Musketeers*
- London, J., *The Call of the Wild*
- Conan Doyle, A., *The Lost World*
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⭐ Support the channel (thank you!)
▶ Patreon: https://patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy
▶ Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/thelivingphilosophy
_________________ 
💬 More from The Living Philosophy
▶ Discord https://discord.gg/XNd4gTpfu9
▶ 📨 Subscribe with email: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/
________________
🎼 Media Used:
1. Promising Relationship  — Kevin MacLeod
2. Alone With My Thoughts — Esther Abrami
3. Letting Go
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic 

Jun 30, 2024 • 15min
How to Think Like Nietzsche
 The aphoristic style of Friedrich Nietzsche is a wellspring of inspiration. In this episode, we explore the connection between this style and Nietzsche's hiking (10 hours of hiking a day, if he is to be believed). It is Nietzsche's walking that gave birth to the aphorisms in a passive form of thinking that stands in stark contrast to the thorough linear thinking of philosophers like Kant and Hegel. 
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📚 Further Reading:
- Nietzsche FW (2000) _Basic Writings of Nietzsche_. translated by Walter Kaufmann. New York: Modern Library.
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⭐ Support the channel (thank you!)
▶ Patreon: https://patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy
▶ Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/thelivingphilosophy
_________________ 
💬 More from The Living Philosophy
▶ Discord https://discord.gg/XNd4gTpfu9
▶ 📨 Subscribe with email: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/
________________
🎼 Media Used:
1. Juniper  — Kevin MacLeod
2. Fresh Air — Kevin MacLeod
3. Anguish — Kevin MacLeod
4. Letting Go
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
3:48 The Walking Philosopher
6:20 The Walking Muse
10:41 How to Think Like Nietzsche 

Jun 16, 2024 • 10min
Karl Marx: Capitalism's Weirdest Fanboy
 Karl Marx is the most (in)famous critic of Capitalism. Or is he? As with all stories, it's not so simple. Marx isn't a reactionary dreaming of a tribal communal paradise but more of a sci-fi visionary looking to the society that will transcend Capitalism using its foundation as a jumping off point to a much more interesting, much better world. 
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📚 Further Reading:
- The British rule in india: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/06/25.htm
- Predictions of revolution: Robert Payne, Marx. p. 338 
- Other quotes: Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1848) *The Communist Manifesto* https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/
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⭐ Support the channel (thank you!)
▶ Patreon: https://patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy
▶ Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/thelivingphilosophy
_________________ 
💬 More from The Living Philosophy
▶ Discord https://discord.gg/XNd4gTpfu9
▶ 📨 Subscribe with email: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/
________________
🎼 Media Used:
1. Allegro  — Emmit Fenn
2. Anguish — Kevin MacLeod
3. Alone With My Thoughts — Esther Abrami
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:08 The Hegelian Marx
5:42 Why Marx Loved Capitalism 

Jun 9, 2024 • 17min
Our Tragic Hero - the Mistborn Jordan Peterson
 Following on from the last episode on Jordan Peterson's brilliant 2005 essay on "Peacemaking" this time we look at what went wrong and at JBP's arc as that of the classical tragic hero. And having a bit of fun with this we compare him to the villain in one of my favourite fantasy series Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. 
We look at Aristotle's definition of tragedy, and at mapovers between Peterson and Mistborn's Lord Ruler and also Dune's Paul Atreides. 
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📚 Further Reading:
- Herbert, F. (1965). *Dune*. London: Penguin
- Peterson, J.B. (2005). _Peacemaking Among Higher Order Primates_ in _The Psychology of Resolving Global Conflicts_ ed. by Mari Fitzduff, Chris E. Stout. Michigan: Praeger Security International
- Sanderson, B. (2015). *Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set: Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages*. London: Gollancz
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⭐ Support the channel (thank you!)
▶ Patreon: https://patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy
▶ Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/thelivingphilosophy
_________________ 
💬 More from The Living Philosophy
▶ Discord https://discord.gg/XNd4gTpfu9
▶ 📨 Subscribe with email: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/
________________
🎼 Music:
1. Juniper  — Kevin MacLeod
2.  Allegro — Emmit Fenn
3. Density & Time — Ether Real
4.  Fresh Air — Kevin MacLeod
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic
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📸 Mistborn Images: 
Ruin and Preservation: reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/k9dg2a/ruin_and_preservation_again_but_this_time_in_a/
Kredik Shaw: https://www.deviantart.com/somnicide/art/Kredik-Shaw-315216988
Mistborn Mistbank Wiki Fandom: https://mistbank.fandom.com/wiki/Mistborn?file=Mistborn.jpg
Lord Ruler: https://medium.com/@inkimpressionsss_30394/mistborn-unveiling-the-allomantic-symphony-a-journey-through-brandon-sandersons-great-trilogy-17c18f230604
The Skaa: https://readingseconds.com/the-skaa-explained-mistborn/
Rashek: https://www.tumblr.com/runmienn/709526582105112576/mistborn-spoilers-another-compilation-of?source=share
The Deepness - Reading Seconds: https://readingseconds.com/the-deepness-explained-mistborn/
The Well of Ascension: https://medium.com/@jazznyul/the-mistborn-trilogy-the-well-of-ascension-part-one-my-book-review-57f7dfedefe2
Alendi and Rashek: https://adonalsium.tumblr.com/post/186149488793/sometimes-i-worry-that-im-not-the-hero-everyone
Luthadel with Kredik Shaw, Mist and volcano in bg: https://mistborn.fandom.com/wiki/Mist?file=Kredikshaw_luthadel01.jpg
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
2:16 Summary of Peacemaker
5:54 Mistborn
11:02 The Mapover with Peterson 

May 19, 2024 • 21min
Jordan Peterson's Bizarre (and Brilliant) Manifesto
 
In 2005, long before he became a household name, Jordan Peterson wrote an article with the title "Peacemaking Among Higher Order Primates" and it is amazing — partly for its own beauty and pathos and partly for the contract it provides with The Daily Wire Peterson we have today. It is a brilliant ode to what peace looks like and how it might be achieved and a stark reminder of the potential pitfalls for even the best-intentioned.
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📚 Further Reading:
- Peterson, J.B., (2005). Peacemaking Among Higher Order Primates in The Psychology of Resolving Global Conflicts ed. by Mari Fitzduff, Chris E. Stout. Michigan: Praeger Security International
- Peterson, J.B., (2002). Maps of meaning: The architecture of belief. Routledge.
________________
⭐ Support the channel (thank you!)
▶ Patreon: https://patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy
▶ Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/thelivingphilosophy
_________________ 
💬 More from The Living Philosophy
▶ Discord https://discord.gg/XNd4gTpfu9
▶ 📨 Subscribe with email: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/
________________
🎼 Media Used:
1. Anguish — Kevin MacLeod
2.  Promising Relationship — Kevin MacLeod
3. Disquiet — Kevin MacLeod
4.  Alone With My Thoughts — Esther Abrami
5. Dark Times — Kevin MacLeod
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
3:50 Peacekeeping Among Higher Order Primates
7:40 What Separates Them
9:50 Different Localities as Different Paradigms
11:56 As Sowellian Visions
13:53 Patreon Aside
14:26 The Peacemaker
16:41 Reflections 

May 5, 2024 • 19min
The Edge of the Inside — How to Change the Superstructure
 Why it Matters is back (kind of). This video revisits the Prophet archetype with a bit more passion and a little less bookishness. It is great to have the previous video as a foundation but as with the old Why it Matters videos the point of this video is to get into why I care so much about this topic and why I think you should as well. 
We're going to be looking at the Prophet through the lens of Richard Rohr's description of the Prophet's position as being at "the edge of the inside" and we are going to look at some examples of this Prophetic archetype like Karl Marx, Jordan Peterson, Contrapoints and Donald Trump. 
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📚 Further Learning:
- The original video on the Prophet archetype: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnaYn6WpwuA
- Jonas Ceika/Cuck philosophy video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHtvTGaPzF4
- Szakolczai Á (2003) _The Genesis of Modernity_. Routledge studies in social and political thought 36. London ; New York: Routledge.
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⭐ Support the channel (thank you!)
▶ Patreon: https://patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy
▶ Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/thelivingphilosophy
_________________ 
💬 More from The Living Philosophy
▶ 📨 Subscribe with email: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/
________________
🎼 Media Used:
1. Allegro  — Emmit Fenn
2.  Anguish — Kevin MacLeod
3. Alone With My Thoughts — Esther Abrami
4.  Dark Times — Kevin MacLeod
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:14 What is a prophet?
5:27 Ad spot
7:21 The Marx example
10:17 Jordan Peterson
10:42 Derrick Bell
12:30 Reflection
15:57 Personal reflection 

Apr 21, 2024 • 10min
Subconscious vs. Unconscious
 In approaching the underworld there are a couple of terms that people use. Sometimes it can get a bit confusing who's using what and what we should be using. In this episode we look at the term subconscious vs unconscious and what the meaning and background is of each. As we'll see it wasn't always so clear cut — the French psychological heritage from Pierre Janet started with one term then with Freud it bounced to another and Jung and Adler followed in their direction now using unconscious instead of subconscious. 
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📚 Further Reading:
- Freud, S., 1969. _Questions Of Lay Analysis_. WW Norton & Company.
________________
⭐ Support the channel (thank you!)
▶ Patreon: https://patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy
▶ Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/thelivingphilosophy
_________________ 
💬 More from The Living Philosophy
▶ Discord https://discord.gg/XNd4gTpfu9
▶ 📨 Subscribe with email: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/
________________
🎼 Media Used:
1. Overture  — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
2. Fresh Air — Kevin MacLeod
3. Dreams Become Real — Kevin MacLeod
4. Juniper — Kevin MacLeod
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:51 The Origins: Janet and Freud
4:03 A Tale of Two Usages
8:41 Which one is right? 


