Delphic Podcast by Michael R D James

Aesthetic activity is embedded in a matrix of Greek ideas which include arché, areté, epistemé, diké, psuché, logos, and phronesis. Ricoeur refers to the arc of operation spanning over the creator, performer and appreciator of aesthetic objects. Tragic plays rest upon an ontology of actions that are brought about and suffering that happens to one. Fear of terrorism is a possible defining feature o...

Muthos and Logos obviously relate in Aristotles Philosophy to the "Many Meanings of Being". Ricoeur, however does not approach mythology in an Aristotelian spirit, preferring dialectical logic to the principles of noncontradiction and sufficient reason. Socrates is an example of the new hero  preferring the examined life to the religious life where Gods are capable of monstrous things. h...

Augustines conception of Time may well be solipsistic whereas Kant's account appears to be in accordance with the Aristotelian definition of time in terms of being a "measurement of motion in terms of before and after." Sensibility is a receptive "power" of the mind whereas understanding and reason are more "active" powers connected to Aristotles "First Phil...

Fear is a local response of the body to objects of fear whereas anxiety is more of a threat to ones whole being, to one's freedom. Wittgenstein distinguishes between the object of ones fear and the cause and characterises the response in terms of an instinctive response which is not the case with  anxiety. Psychoanalytical therapy addresses anxiety in its various forms encouraging the operati...

Ricoeur discusses the possibility of a universal culture from a largely Hegelian perspective which denies  the relevance of Aristotelian-Kantian rationality. Scientific/Technological universalisation is regarded as one of the forces of globalisation but Ricoeur fails to appreciate the logical status of what Wittgenstein regarded as the "possibility" of phenomena and their underlying cond...

Ricoeur argues paradoxically that the greatest evil originates from the illusion of rationality and attempts to defend a phenomenological account of power and responsibility on this relativistic basis. Rousseau, the Romantic Philosopher, is identified with Aristotle the classical Philosopher in spite of their fundamentally different positions on many ethical and political questions. http://michael...

Grammatical moods or modes are connected to the ontological categories of judgement which in turn are connected to categories of existence. The work and the word are characterised phenomenologically by Ricoeur with reference to Marxism and Christianity. Wittgensteinian and Kantian thought would oppose the economic materialism and the spiritual dualism of both these positions.  http://michaelrdjame...

The eschatological hope for unity under the idea of God is the only abstract unity Ricoeur believes can be justified. He claims that both Aristotle and Kants rationalism is a search for unity whch is illusory. Marxism, one of the sources of totalitarianism, is  an example of the kind of concrete political Philosophy that s praised in this work http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

Ricoeur subscries to a cynical view of our social institutions which he argues suffer from a bureaucratic disease which prevents the spreading of the Christian imperative "Love thy neighbour". He criticises the fact that there can sometimes be an absence of sound judgement operating in the activities of these institutions and uses this as a motivation for condemning these institutions as...

Hegelian Phenomenological  Philosophy  and Marxist sociology , focussing on "facts" such as the workers do not own the means of production have replaced the Aristotelian concentration on "First Principles and Kantian A Priori Truths. Idealistic Metaphysics has turned Kantian Critical Metaphysics on its head and prepared the way for  a reductionist view that the world is just the tot...

The phenomenological pursuit of singularity verus Aristotelian and Kantian "Principles" and "First Philosophy". The mystery of the Body and Hegels Aboslute Spirit and methodology of "Negation".  http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

The legend of Icarus is a transcendental analogy with a message for humanity relating to the inherent hubris of man. Knowing oneself involves knowing ones limitations and  valuing ones mortality. Deus Absconditis , the "new men" and their inventions. http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

The History of World Mythology and Europes legacy of Ancient Greece, The Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Pelagius and the Free Will versus Original Sin. Loss of belief in the clergy, brutal burnings at the stake and the legacy of Romanticism for the Modern Period where new men roamed the world and Europe in the 20th century became a continent of killing fields. http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic...

Europe and the Levant.  Aristotle influential in both but Arabic commentaries narrowed the focus of Aristotles Metaphysical and Political/Ethical writings. The rise of Islam on the basis of  the revelations and visions of one illiterate prophet did not appeal to those Western men schooled in Ancient Greek and critical Philosophy and used to a certain amount of secular freedom http://michaelrdjames...

The Celtic Culture of slaves, Druids, Knights and romantic tales of the afterlife. Gnostic Immantism and "The Kingdom of God is not coming it is here, now and within you" Aristotles Influence counteracting supernaturalism. The cross of light and Johns conversation with God http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

Alexander the Great installed a new European spirit in regions of the World beyond. He used  Aristotelian Golden Mean principles and oracular proclamations to do this. Relationship between religious and Literary Texts. Freudian analysis of religious discourse. http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

The tumultous upheavals of the Persian Period: internationalisation, interracialisation. Cyrus the King of Kings and the  period of restoration. Eros is not a divinity but a means for man to live in friendly relations in a polis http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

Oriental religion versus Ancient Greek Philosophy. The age of the new hero: Socrates, Plato and Aristote and the life of contremplation. The road of Zoraster and the corruption of the world. The Will and its decisions. http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

The Displacement of the goddess tradition by the warrior gods and the elevation of the patriarchal society. The mission of Philosophy to stay neutral and transcend all forms of dialectical opposites through firstly hylomorphic theory and secondly, Kantian Critical Theory http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

The Law of Moses and its factual legitimacy. Platos idea of Absolute transcendence versus Aristotles idea of immanent transcendence. Christian lamentation "Dust thou art and unto dust thou shallt return" http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

The deep song of Mythology versus the deep song of Philosophy that perhaps began with the balanced temperate Ancient Greek Mythological spirit of sythesis rather than opposition. Psychoanalyst Otto Rank and the likeness of mythological thought to a neurotic day dream. http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

Oriental v Occidental Mythology--The differing Garden plots. The role of Philosophy in the universalising of particular perspectives http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

Concluding reflections, The Kantian Imperative and answer to the question "What can we Hope For?" The mythological appeal of Art and the Renaissance. Michelangelo and putting truth to work. http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

The problems of self-actualisation when transcendental supports are removed http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast

The  contrast between mythological, Philosophical and Scientific forms of understanding the realm of the sacred. http://michaelrdjames.org Delphic Podcast