Becoming Human

The simulation theory is all around us, putting somehow the meaning of our very existence into question. Do we really exist? What does it mean that we question our own existence? A true philosophy of existence must answer these questions, and explain why we ask them, guiding us towards a more conscious, free, and scientific way of life. This is the purpose of the Becoming Human Project: to realize...

If you can get one thing you want, what is the one thing that will give you everything else? Is it power, wealth, or wisdom? Philosophy as a spiritual way of life teaches us how to develop our human potential, leading to a radical vision of human enhancement. The idea of number is the first step to understanding the coded Messengers of spiritual traditions and how they guide us to a more scientifi...

We all want to do good, but we rarely think about how we can know what the good is. In this video, I discuss Verse 8 of the Tao and its highly logical and practical insights into what is good in any situation and how we can know that we are doing what is good for ourselves and others. SERIES: Tao Te Ching Instructor: Samuel Loncar, Ph. D. | Yale University Episode 3, Tao Te Ching

Tolkien's works have sold over 100 Million copies worldwide because they address the deepest questions humans can ask: Why is there evil and death in the world? Would Immorality be a good thing? Where did the world come from, and where is it going? Tolkien reveals a new and deeper way to engage humanity's search for meaning and hope.  SERIES Apocalypse: A Philosophy of Angels, Ep. 4 

The topic of UAP (UFOs) is important yet difficult to discuss coherently. Why? Because the topic requires the best tools of science and scholarship but does not agree on what those are or how they should be applied. My philosophy of science and religion provides clues to navigating profound changes in human's cosmic understanding, including the UAP phenomenon. The rise of the concept of agency in...

Did you know Hanukkah and Christmas encode deep philosophical ideas about Enlightenment, becoming Superhuman, and the Future of Humanity? The stars and the gods once governed the night sky and the dreams humans had of themselves. The Human story was thus told as a mystery of light, the evolution of the universe, and the fate of the stars.   Apocalypse: A Philosophy of Angels, Ep. 2

Can yielding and flowing really be the Way to attain the good? Bruce Lee thought so. "Be Water," he famously said, channeling a central insight of the Tao Te Ching, one of great works of Chinese Philosophy.     

The idea of Angels, whether we believe in them or not, reveals secrets about human consciousness and how to transform it. In this episode, I use the German poet Rilke to connect deep patterns across Judaism, Islam, and Christianity and other traditions, found in their shared understanding of angels as messengers that lead to revolutionary transformations of human consciousness. Ultimately, we disc...

What is the Way? The Way, or Tao, is the central mystery of life, according to the Tao Te Ching, one of the greatest works of Chinese philosophy.  So how do we find the Tao? What does the Way look like? This video answers that question by introducing the Tao Te Ching, and the mystery of Return... Join me at the Becoming Human Project today!

Chef Arturo Franco Camacho is the Culinary Director and Executive Chef of three of New Haven's best restaurants: Geronimo's Southwestern Kitchen, Shell & Bones Oyster Bar, and Camacho Garage. His restaurants are not only a destination for great food but fantastic atmosphere. Trained at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), the world's premiere culinary college, he has worked as a chef at restau...

Science is the only tradition that actively admits its own errors, gaining deeper knowledge by overcoming its tendency to orthodoxy. This happens when scientific revolutions shatter existing paradigms. The process begins with anomalies, potential facts that do not fit the paradigm. The physicist Sabine Hossenfelder sees many anomalies in current physics, and argues that physics today has lost its...

According to Thomas Kuhn, the most mature sciences have only a limited tolerance for novelty. Contrary to the common image of scientific progress as a continuous series of discoveries, Kuhn shows it's actually the progress of paradigms towards ever greater precision. Progress in normal science thus does not aim at novelty but the enrichment of the depth and concreteness of the theory. Drawing on t...

The longing for a complete science is one of the great dreams of modernity. Is such a complete science possible, and can Kuhn's idea of a paradigm help us realize it? This episode explores the origins and power of the search for completeness and unity in Western science, and reveals the unexpected spiritual origins of this ideal. Ep. 4, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: An Introduction

Thomas Kuhn coined the concept of a paradigm to describe the unique achievement of science. Since Kuhn, the terms "paradigm" and "paradigm shift" have entered into popular culture, but what really is a paradigm? How does it connect to normal science? And can it help us distinguish real science from pseudo-science? All these questions, and more, are explored in this episode of my series on Kuhn. Ep...

Thomas Kuhn argued that history would change our image of science, causing a revolution we are still unprepared to face. This Kuhnian revolution challenges traditional epistemology by arguing we must look to science itself to understand how knowledge develops, and looking to science demands facing history. This episode of my course on Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions explores these i...

What is Science? What happened in the Scientific Revolution? How does Science progress? Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is the most influential book in the history and philosophy of science, addressing these and other key questions. This public series offers an introduction to this major work and includes a discussion of Kuhn's core ideas: paradigm shifts, normal and revoluti...

On Nov. 11, 1855, after an astoundingly rich yet brief life, Søren Aabye Kierkegaard died. He requested his epitaph read simply: "That Individual." The "single individual" is the soul of Kierkegaard's work, but what does it mean to become an individual? This final episode of Kierkegaard: The Poet of Existence, explores the mystery of freedom and true individuality, and how they relate to the Etern...

As a philosopher and scholar who writes about Christian-Jewish relations and modern German thought, I offer in this lecture an analysis of antisemitism as a philosophical problem, show its global scope, and explore its historical and existential significance as a threat to any vision of universal human flourishing. Referenced Materials Becoming Human: Origins Christianity's Shadow Founder: Marcion...

Kierkegaard's theory of the three stages of life, the aesthetic, ethical, and religious offers profound insight into the existential realities of human life. Building on the prior two episodes on the aesthetic and ethical stages, this episode explores the meaning of the religious phase by exhibiting existential ontology in relationship to sexual and erotic desire, consumer capitalism, and humans'...

Fear and Trembling is the most famous book by Kierkegaard, but to understand it we have to understand his theory of stages. This episode explores the ethical stage and illustrates it through Fear and Trembling and Judge Wilhelm of Either /Or . Additional topics covered include esotericism in philosophy, romantic marriage, the erotic sphere, the religious stage, and Kierkegaard's concept of the Sel...

Kierkegaard is famous for his theory of the three stages on life's way, the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious. Though much discussed, the stages are enigmatic and confusing to many readers. This episode outlines the nature of the theory of stages in its profound significance, and it introduces the aesthetic phase and its emphasis on possibility and seduction. Series Description Søren Kierk...

On Sept 29 1841, Søren Kierkegaard defended a genre-bending dissertation at the University of Copenhagen. Both rigorous scholarship and dazzling literary genius, Kierkegaard's The Concept of Irony, with Continual Reference to Socrates is the first major work in Kierkegaard's authorship. Laying the foundation for his future pseudonymous works, the dissertation explores the importance of irony in hi...

Welcome to Episode Three:  Kierkegaard and Existentialism: A Spiritual Revolution, where I explore the complex character of Existentialism as a spiritual revolution connected to ancient philosophy. Often called the "Father of Existentialism," Kierkegaard is essential for understanding the rise of Existentialism, its nature, and why it has so deeply shaped our culture. Our culture has accepted Exis...

Welcome to Episode Two: The Genius of Kierkegaard, where I explore the idea of genius, our discomfort and fascination with it, and why genius is important for understanding Kierkegaard. Series Description Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher and religious thinker, created one of the most consequential bodies of writing in human history.   One of the greatest literary writers, he is also widel...

Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher and religious thinker, created one of the most consequential bodies of writing in human history.   One of the greatest literary writers, he is also widely regarded as the most important philosophers and theologians to create much of the 20th century: movements like existentialism, modern theology, and even forms of modern nihilism can be traced back to the...