History of Philosophy Audio Archive

What happens when an unstoppable force (Arab Nationalism) meets an immovable object (US Economic Dependency on Saudi Oil)? Will we achieve independence from foreign oil as Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump have all unfailingly promised in the past? Tune in to Dr. Roy's lecture this holiday season and find out! Happy "Independence" Day, dear listeners, enjoy my cartoonish and amateurish album art: what it lacks in style it more than makes up for in substance. Peace. -//- YouTube Original https://youtu.be/_JrWYc4pavE?si=pIdIOJmLhdBlFwCx

This year (2024) Dr. Cornel West was invited to give the annual Gifford Lecture Series at the University of Edinburgh. He shook things up - rather than outlining a theory or justifying a method for doing philosophy, he traced a new approach rooted in the language of jazz, blues, and the black freedom struggle in America. (00:00:00) Philosophic Prelude (00:49:55) Metaphilosophic Andante (01:43:07) Folly Presto (02:33:36) History Adagio (03:26:47) American Allegro Molto Vivace (04:25:41) A Love Supreme (A Way Through) I've published these lectures before on this podcast, but have now remastered them and combined them into one super-episode. I really hope you enjoy this special presentation. -//- Original YouTube Source: https://youtu.be/cAXjezpNKIU?si=McXhN_cSraLEOu0J

In 1993 Rick Roderick. professor of philosophy at Duke University and elsewhere delivered a capstone eight-part series reviewing philosophers who posed the deepest and most contemporary challenges to our conventional (Western) concept of "the self". They were: Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud ("The Masters of Suspicion"), Martin Heidegger, Jean Paul Sartre, Herbert Marcuse, Jürgen Habermas, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Jean Baudrillard. (00:00:00) The Masters of Suspicion (Marx, Nietzsche, Freud) (00:48:46) Heidegger and the Rejection of Humanism (01:34:01) Sartre and the Roads to Freedom (02:14:13) Marcuse and One-Dimensional Man (02:59:48) Habermas and the Fragile Dignity of Humanity (03:47:35) Foucault and the Disappearance of the Human (04:33:34) Derrida and the Ends of Man (05:18:01) Fatal Strategies: Baudrillard In this super-episode I've combined all eight episodes into one with chapters for easy navigation. The Marcuse episode was previously syndicated as the second half of the "Herbert Marcuse Double Episode" but it's well worth a second listen. Enjoy. -//- Original information found here: https://rickroderick.org/300-guide-the-self-under-siege-1993/

In 1988 veteran journalist Bill Moyers sat down for a series of six interviews with leading scholar of comparative religion and mythology Joseph Campbell. In their wide ranging discussion, televised to millions, they discuss the origins of human storytelling, the unitary character of religious motifs, and how mythology from around the world can serve as a blueprint for personal spiritual growth and bliss. For this format, I have taken all six and condensed them down into a single podcast, edited for clarity and accessibility and have included chapter titles and timestamps below: (00:00:00) The Hero's Adventure (00:56:46) The Message of the Myth (01:51:21) The First Storytellers (02:47:25) Sacrifice and Bliss (03:42:27) Love and the Goddess (04:38:30) Masks of Eternity Enjoy. -//- The playlist I used was provided by Kino Lorber. Original playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiYnNom7SVRMjsi2WSpIGBlo1UDhlXyvz&si=iH5HZ6tzgvzS5hUk Source channel: https://www.youtube.com/@kinolorber

In this 2015 talk, philosopher Wendy Brown, author of "Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution" and "Regulating Aversion" gives a fascinating overview and analysis of the phenomenon of cultural decay under neoliberalism and offers a fascinating perspective on the early days of the US-Iraq War, especially the "leadership" of a certain Ian Bremmer, who as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority managed to destroy both the Iraqi state bureaucracy AND the standing Iraqi military, leading to the creation of, you guessed it, the 2004 Iraq Insurgency and of course Al-Qaeda in Iraq, later to become a little something called ISIS. Original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlLPxNdYYWo Enjoy.

Do animals deserve rights in the same way that human beings do? How can those rights be determined, and do they differ from animal to animal based on complexity? In this presentation at the University of Chicago in 2021, Professor Nussbaum walks us through different intellectual and political approaches to animal rights, and some of the controversies that exist in this poorly explored and under-realized area of applied ethics. Original video here: https://youtu.be/DM8LHc2TkoI?si=6KpdqmorEaLzAsPT Episode art is the cover for Professor Nussbaum's book "Justice for Animals" - NB that this is episode is NOT the audiobook. Enjoy.

Herbert Marcuse was one of the leading intellectuals of the 1960s, and did more than perhaps any other philosopher to shape the intellectual foundations of the counterculture. In this episode, I include first an interview between Bryan Magee and the man himself, and then afterwards and always punchy analysis by the fantastic Rick Roderick. The original videos can be found here: Rick Roderick on Marcuse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNAKr1TQ0xc Bryan Magee Interviews Herbert Marcuse (1977) https://youtu.be/U23Ho0m_Sv0?si=hRqCzQoaFrTrtKLg Enjoy.

Presentation by Robert C. Solomon Existentialism began not in philosophy but primarily in literature - Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground and Kafka's Metamorphosis along with Hesse's Steppenwolf were the clearest and earliest expositions of existentialist themes and ideas. In this presentation, Solomon walks us through Dostoevsky's The Idiot, selections from Kafka, and finally to Hermann Hesse's "Magic Theater" in Steppenwolf. Enjoy.

Julian Assange is one of the few heroes to have lived and worked in my lifetime. It is clear that he will never receive a fair trial, never exercise his right to face his accusers, or be treated humanely during the series of ordeals that have comprised his exile, capture, and torture under conditions of solitary confinement. We must demand amnesty for Julian Assange - without journalists like him, we will be wrapped in darkness and lies. Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HX7A2aCrBU Original article: https://scheerpost.com/2024/03/27/chris-hedges-the-crucifixion-of-julian-assange-2/ Image by Mr. Fish, cartoonist. https://clowncrack.com/

I've committed a grave sin - coining a new term - and that terms is soterioactive. The soterioactive is all forms of human activity that serve primarily and expediently to liberate, deliver, or emancipate human beings from a condition of ignorance, vice, or hate. In this talk, I lay out what that looks like in the realms of public discourse, art/aesthetics, and in history. Enjoy.