Creative Retrieval

We talk about Zossima's claim he is guilty before all and for all, and worse than all.

I talk about "the sensualists."

We discuss why it is only active love that can convince one of God and immortality, why I think Ivan is NOT an atheist, etc.

I discuss Book 2, chapters 1-4 of the Brothers Karamazov .

An introduction to "A Nice Little Family " which is the title of book 1.

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Theo-Logic , v.1 - Truth of the World (ch. 3, pt. 2)

Balthasar, Theo-Logic, v.1 - Truth of the World (ch. 3, pt. 1)

This finishes up chapter two - "Truth as Freedom" of Balthasar's The-logic, v.1: Truth of the World.

Ch. 2 of Theo-Logic ; "Truth as Freedom"

In this lecture I discuss the second half of the first chapter of Balthasar's Theo-Logic . I talk about the relationship of knowledge to creation, and how knowledge requires a knowing of another as other even in its receiving of the other into itself.

I discuss the first half of chapter 1 ("Truth as Nature") of Hans Urs von Balthasar's book Theo-Logic, v.1: Truth of the World . In this lecture I focus on the first two sections ("A. The Preliminary Concept of Truth" and "B. The Subject"). I contrast Balthasar's approach to truth with Kant's Transcendental Idealism. The main thesis is that to be a knower...

Sienkiewicz and Jaeger talk about the dynamism of intellect and will towards the Infinite as found in the metaphysical thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.  We talk about how man is self-determining in virtue of those capacities and how his mystery is a revelation of the Mystery towards which he yearns.

In this last episode of our series on Plato's Republic , I discuss book 10, and the notion of imitation.  I argue that the perversion of imitation lies in the fact that it presents reality as an external image which is divorced from reality's internal logos, this ultimately leads man into a pseudo-reality (a false world), enticing him to run and escape from reality by turning to pseudo-rea...

In this episode I discuss the nature of the tyrannical soul.  The tyrant is lawless in the sense that he is unwilling to submit to any order (in this sense, he tries to live beyond good and evil), and for this reason he becomes enslaved to his own passions.  I discuss the notion of creating needs which enslave us (e.g., social media can be experienced as a created need which we feel ensl...

In this episode, I move into Book 8 of Plato's Republic, and discuss the way in which injustice is a perversion of justice wrought by the separation of the external and the internal.  Once the appearance is cut off from the reality there is no longer ONE end/goal, and hence what was a single life is now split into two.  I also argue that, for Plato, all deviations of aristocracy are diff...

In this episode I discuss the notion of liberal education, and why this is something of a redundancy for Socrates since all education is liberating.  I also show why without 'summoners' (a perception that strikes the relevant sense at the same time as its opposite) education would be impossible; hence, perplexity is a grace of Truth, since it awakens the soul to itself.

In this episode, I discuss Plato's allegory of the cave at length, show its significance as an allegory of education as freedom.  I compare the Platonic notion of education (which leads to a type of blindness) with St. John of the Cross's " Dark Night of the Soul " and show their similarities.    

We discuss the analogy of the sun and the way it is an image of the Good by being what gives knowables to knowers, and existence to "exist-ables."  Moreover, the way the sun is beyond sight is also analogous to the way the Good is beyond knowledge and being.

In this episode we talk about how - in one way - philosophy is powerless over sophistry, in that it cannot overpower and convince the sophist (on his own terms) about the value of philosophy and why the ruler should be philosophical.

In this episode we talk about what the philosopher is, and why the philosopher must be the ruler of a just polis.  We also talk about the fact that the philosopher is the one who can properly see the world they live in, because they are open to loving "the whole" and not just a part.  This will play a key role in understanding Plato's allegory of the cave later in the dialogue.  I f...

Please subscribe and like to get notifications about future episodes in this series!  Comments and questions below in the comment section!  In this episode I discuss why the role of reproduction and the need for the many to share everything they have in order to share a single life...this is basically the description of polis as a political marriage bond.    Questions and...

In this episode I discuss why justice requires a common good, which entails that there must be a common happiness.  To live in a polis is to share a single life - and hence a single happiness - with the other members of the polis.     Questions and objections and thoughts welcome!

In this episode I discuss how physical education (or training) is an image of and participation in musical education...both of which are about the harmonizing (or the making good) of that which would otherwise be discordant.  This ultimately leads one to see that the body is an icon of the soul, and thereby they must be intrinsically (rather than extrinsically) related.  

In this episode I discuss what I call "Platonic Hylomorphism."  Often Plato is thought to be a substance dualist, however, I argue that this is not the case.  Rather, he should be thought to be in line with hylomorphism.  Many know hylomorphism from Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas's works; however, I believe the basic idea of hylomorphism (the unity of two - body and soul - into a o...

I discuss the second half of book 2 of Plato's Republic.  We will get into the question of the relationship between the individual and the city as images of each other - man is a microcosm of creation.  I also discuss the often misunderstood passage about the noble lie and the role it plays in the education of the guardians.