Mahon McCann

This is the third part of a series unpacking Plato's Republic. This episode dives into Book Three, focusing on the critique of Greek literature, the educational program divided into music and physical training, the introduction of the rulers from the warrior class, and the famous 'Noble Lie' that establishes the city's caste system. Discover how Plato criticises the Homeric myths, redefines moral...

Fr Conor McDonough (@thewhitestone) is a Dominican Friar and Phd Student in the national university of Galway on “The Letters of St Paul in Early Irish Christianity”. He is an educator and communicator of the Catholic faith and frequently features in videos from the Irish Dominicans youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@irishdominicans In this podcast we explore the current state of Irish Cath...

This easter Saturday I will be baptised as a Catholic in Dublin! This baptism is really the fruition of a spiritual journey which has taken my whole thirty years of life thus far, but in this talk I tried to condense that journey into a testimony to share some of the main points along the way. Essentially, all the work on this Substack and the Youtube has been leading up to this decision: Charting...

In this conversation, Mahon McCann and Matthew David Segall (@footnotes2Plato) explore the ongoing metaphysical revolution in science, particularly in physics and biology. They discuss the evolving understanding of causality, the philosophical implications of Kant and Plato's ideas, and the significance of the good as a foundational principle for knowledge. The dialogue culminates in a discussion...

In this third instalment of the series on Plato's Republic, we will be diving into Book 2 of The Republic! The lecture explores the foundational questions posed by Glaucon and Adeimantus about the nature of justice and its value compared to injustice, Glaucon's myth of 'the ring of Gyges' and its implications on human behaviour are discussed, along with the comparison to Tolkien's narrative in 'Th...

This might be my favourite podcast of all time, no messing around! Dc Schindler has returned for the third time and we are discussing Plato’s critique of the images in the Republic and particularly how this applies to the internet and modern digital culture? Daring to ask the question, has the internet literally put us in Plato’s Cave? We discuss the nature of truth and manipulation in world ever...

Dr Peter Larsen is a lecturer in Philosophy at Dublin City University, specialising in ancient philosophy and particularly the cognitive psychology of Plato and Aristotle. In this conversation, we discusses Plato's Timaeus, exploring its themes of cosmology, the nature of the cosmos, and the relationship between natural science and ethics. We emphasizes the importance of understanding both divine...

In this episode, we delve into Book 1 of Plato's Republic. The focus is on understanding what justice is not, through detailed analyses of dialogues and key themes. From Socrates' descent to the Piraeus symbolizing a philosophical journey into the world of appearances, we examine the contrasting definitions of justice provided by Cephalus, Polemarchus, and Thrasymachus. The philosophical tension b...

Donald is a Scottish-born cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist and author, known for his work in integrating modern cognitive-behavioral therapy with Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, particularly Stoicism. He is the CEO and founder of the Plato’s Academy Center in Athens and the author of several best-selling books such as “How to Think Like a Roman Emperor” and “Stoicism and the Art of Happine...

The first lecture of the Plato's Republic course. This will be the first of eleven lectures, the following lectures tracking each of the ten books of the Republic 🏛️ This lecture is an introduction to Plato and his Republic through the lens of John Vervaeke’s concept of a Meaning Crisis. Expect to learn about: 👉 Plato's context: the Peloponnesian war, natural philosophers and the Sophists. 👉 The...

Brandon Griggs is the author of the Tech For Life Substack (check it out here https://www.techforlife.com/ ) exploring the central question: How do we get good at godlike technology? In this podcast, we delve into the multifaceted relationship between technology and society, exploring the ethical implications of digital advancements, the challenges faced by digital natives, and the necessity for a...

Ben graduated from the University of Edinburgh’s flagship Mind, Language, and Embodied Cognition MSc. He is a Leverhulme-funded PhD candidate at the University of Sussex under Andy Clark's mentorship, where his research focuses on neuroscience and digital technology. Read Ben's research here Summary In this conversation, we explore the concept of the meaning crisis, its implications for human agen...

Alicia Juarrero is President and co-founder of VectorAnalytica, Inc., and Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Miami. She is the author of Dynamics in Action (MIT Press) and recently, Context Changes Everything: How constraints create coherence (2023). Grounding her work in the problem of causation, Alicia challenges previously held beliefs that only forceful impacts are causes. Constrai...

New podcast with Colin Deyoung & Adam Safron on their integration of Cybernetic Big five Personality theory and the Active Inference Framework to model persons for therapeutic purposes and possibly the creation of better AI. Colin Deyoung is a personality psychologist, personality neuroscientist, the creator of the Cybernetic Big Five Personality theory and the associate professor of psychology at...

Ben White graduated from the University of Edinburgh’s flagship Mind, Language, and Embodied Cognition MSc. He is a Leverhulme-funded PhD candidate at the University of Sussex under Andy Clarke's mentorship, where his research focuses on neuroscience and digital technology. Mark Miller is a philosopher of Cognition: Prediction, Well-Being, and Technology and a Research Fellow at Monash University'...

We are back with a final conversation in this AI series, bringing together John Verveake and Sam Tideman to discuss the limits of artificial intelligence. For me, this conversation is a watershed moment in the AI debate. Based on John’s work (read the paper here ), there is a fundamental difference between the AI/computer science paradigm and human intelligence, which the current genre of artifici...

Sam Tideman is the host of Transfigured, a profound religious and philosophical thinker, and a Google data engineer. Check out Sam's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@transfigured3673 In this podcast, we are talking about the limits of artificial intelligence, social media, evolution and the cult of trans-humanism. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and Skepticism of AI's Capabilities 09:12 The Challeng...

D. C. Schindler is professor of metaphysics and anthropology at the John Paul II Institute, Washington, DC. He is the author of eleven books, including Freedom from Reality: The Diabolical Character of Modern Liberty (University of Notre Dame Press, 2017) (get his books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/D-C-Schindler/e/B001JRTOAU) The podcast discusses the ontology of stories, fact vs fiction, materi...

John is a professor of cognitive science and cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto and the creator of "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis." (check out his channel here and the PP and RR integration talk here ). In this podcast, we are discussing * predictive processing * John’s integration of predictive processing and relevance realisation * the nature and function of attention * Attent...

Adam Safron, Ph. D., is a Cognitive Scientist and psychologist who studies the nature of preferences and motivation from mechanistic, developmental, and evolutionary perspectives. Recently, he has proposed a model of embodied agency and free will and is working on a unified mechanistic account of psychedelics. This podcast discusses free will and embodied agency, the key role of attention and imag...

Rick Repetti is a philosophy professor, meditation teacher, and author of several publications on free will (find more of Rick's work below). Rick’s website: https://www.rickrepetti.com/ Awaken to meaning: https://awakentomeaning.com/ American Philosophical Practitioners Association: https://appa.edu/ In this podcast, we are critiquing Sapolski’s “determined” steel manning his case with the philos...

Jelle Bruineberg is an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Media, Cognition and Communication. Read his paper ‘Adversarial Inference: Predictive Minds in the Attention Economy’:  https://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2023/1/niad019/7251284 In this podcast, we discuss the attention economy, the psychology and cognitive science of attention, predictive processing, AI and...

Matthew David Segall, Phd, is a transdisciplinary researcher, writer, teacher, and philosopher applying process-relational thought across the natural and social sciences and to the study of consciousness. He is the Associate Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Program at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA and the Chair of the Science Advisory Commit...

The fourth dimension of meaning in life is not reported in the psychological literature but was added by Cognitive Scientist John Veraveke, and this dimension is called ‘ depth ’. He describes depth as the felt sense of being connected to ‘ what is most real ’. Read the full essay at www.mahonmccann.com Get full access to Raising the Cross at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe

Dr Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher, literary scholar, and the world’s foremost expert on brain hemispheric differences. He has written several significant books, such as The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (2009) and the recent The Matter with Things (2021). Connect with Iain 👇 https://channelmcgilchrist.com/...