Montana Classical College

1.      Introduction The re-emergence of genuine rightwing thought has coincided with the reemergence of philosophy. In the Modern West, i.e., in the Liberal West, politicians and men of action have treated philosophy as outdated; perhaps philosophy was historically necessary for the advent of modern natural science. Since most men of action are satisfied that science has brushed aside religious c...

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a masterpiece and I learned a tremendous amount from a recent re-read of it. Because of that, I decided to record a short lecture on it as an extra part of the Introduction to Literature Course (which has grown to 10 lectures!) Here is an outline of the talk : An Introduction to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: I. How to Approach Great Books: The Problem of P...

I am joined by my friend Kruptos! He is the author of the website Seeking the Hidden Thing, the leader of a powerful group chat called the Christian Ghetto, and an illuminating twitter effort thread poaster. He has been on more podcasts than I can count, but I will link a couple that I particularly enjoyed. It was great to discuss building a parallel polity and the tradeoffs attending technology....

Leo Strauss re-invigorated the quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns within the history of political philosophy. Nobody reveals the fruits of his investigation into the quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns in the history of poetry. He traces key developments from epic, to Chaucer, to the Romantics, to today, and much in between. You will want to read poetry more than ever before aft...

In book 8, the Achaeans found themselves on the back foot and the resurgent Trojans are feeling so much confidence that they camp outside of their mighty walls. This leads Nestor to pick out an embassy of Odysseus, Phoenix, and Ajax to try and persuade Achilles to return. They are only partially successful: Achilles will only return to fighting once Hector begins to gut the ships with fire. As The...

Lance is a former military man who has learned a lot about war, the classical world, and the possible bridge we should build between vitalist men and Christian men. The conversation was a lot of fun and I think that you will learn a lot from Lance! Links to Lance’s materials : Twitter: @LancesLegion Substack: Lance's Legion Publishing outfit: DVX Publishing Company Here are the questions that I se...

Book nine is simply extraordinary. As Malcolm Willcock says, “In many ways it is the finest in the Iliad and is a self-contained whole.” To look at Book Nine from a bird’s eye view, we see Nestor propose that Agamemnon make amends with Achilles; Ag agrees and puts together a staggering shining ransom; Odysseus, Phoenix, and Ajax are selected to be part of the embassy that asks Achilles to return....

If ever there was a post to like, share, and comment on, this would be it! I draw on the essays I’ve written over the last three years that focus on my vision for what the in-person school should be like. Essays on MCC’s mission and vision for the future: An Introduction to Montana Classical College Should the Right Create “Activist” Universities? Education in Great Tasks There is No Such Thing as...

Cool things that Jeremy has done related to our conversation: Twitter: @jeremycarl4 Website: https://www.jeremycarl.com/ He has a new book on anti-white racism that is coming out soon! Keep an eye out for it. Articles and Talks: Open Borders and the Refugee Crisis under the Biden Administration (talk at the Danube Institute) A Nation of Settlers Parks and Devastation Christian Nationalism or Godle...

Other cool stuff that SAM has done so far: Substack: Jungle Bunker Telemetric Funk Twitter: @spaceageherr Articles: For Space Age Maximalism (see page 48), The Hierarchy of Power An appearance on the Meta Prime Project Here is the set of questions that I initially sent SAM: 1.     Your third podcast episode is called “Advanced Eschatology and Influences Remix.” You reflect on your project as a who...

William Wheelwright joined me to discuss agriculture, education, and Homer! Here is a sample of some of his wonderful essays: A Recipe for the American Dream (Ice Cream Nationalism) Agriculture as Art (the quote on Left-wing environmentalism is here) Dear Mr. Thiel (on a plan for a school) Deification of the Woke Self He has appeared on many good podcasts; the two appearances that I’ve enjoyed the...

Phocaean joined me for a second conversation on recovering an aristocratic understanding of Christianity. Here are his essays that we discussed: What Motivates Christians Christianity and Power An Aristocratical Christianity Other links: Our first conversation on the subject: Nietzsche and Aristocratic Christianity My previous “ Classical Conversation ” with David Azerrad Below are the core questi...

Hello and welcome to Montana Classical College! Today we will pick up our series of lectures on the Iliad with Book 8. Robert Fagles gives a title to this book: The tide of battle turns. Zeus becomes proactive about answering Thetis’ supplication—Achilles will be honored through the slaughter of Achaeans; and so, the Trojans bring the fight to Achaeans in a way that makes the Achaeans deeply feel...

Hello and welcome to Montana Classical College! Today we will be discussing Book Seven of Homer’s Iliad . We will focus on two things: 1)    Nestor, who comes to sight not as a stodgy old blustering traditionalist, but as a man a great of great prudence who is able to make the necessary thing seem like the pious thing. 2)   The duel between between Hector and Ajax which reveals something about the...

Hello and welcome to Montana Classical College! Today we will be discussing Books 5 and 6 of Homer’s Iliad with a focus on three things: 1)    Diomedes;’ aristeia, which is to say, his moment of excellence in which he attempts to transcend human limitations 2)    Diomedes’ discussion with Glaucus and what it means for the generations of men to be like generations of leaves 3)    Finally, we will c...

Here is the fourth and final discussion of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine . We consider whether or not Doug has actually qualitatively changed in light of his education in loss. If to philosophize is to learn how to die, how philosophic has Doug become? Has he accepted his mortality? First Session Second Session Third Session This marks the completion of our summer projects! On Wednesday, we finish...

King Bolingbroke and I put a bow on our King Lear series! Previous discussions are linked below. He recently started a substack as well. You should read and subscribe to it! Act One Act Two Act Three Act Four I was compelled to head out of town last week, so the re-launch is off to a late start. Nevertheless, here is the first of regularly scheduled Wednesday / Saturday posts for the next month! T...

Here is part one on chapters 1-10 and part two on chapters 11-20. In this discussion, on chapters 21-30, Bradbury orients us toward thinking about whether the world is enchanted or disenchanted. Which of these accounts is true? What does it mean to be mature in the strictest sense? Is love about the body or the mind? Is action higher or is knowledge higher? These questions are weaved into a cohere...

Here are our earlier conversations: Act One Act Two Act Three King Bolingbroke and I walk through each scene and try to show how even the short ones seemingly designed to “just move the plot forward,” are artfully constructed and highly revealing. We discussed Edgar’s different approaches to guiding Gloucester and Lear; whether Cordelia has improved; the difference between reading and watching Sha...

I discuss chapters 11-20. Bradbury explores happiness and its relationship to how different human beings understand the past. We discussed chapters 1-10 here . This is such a wonderful book! Summer isn’t over yet. Go read it! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit montanaclassicalcollege.substack.com/subscribe

Here are our discussions on Act One and Act Two . You might also enjoy a panel discussion that Bolingbroke contributed a lot to on Hamlet. Are you following his Shakespearean exhortations on twitter ? Whereas we focused a lot on Kent last time, this time we relentlessly focused on the psychology of Lear. We discuss competing views of nature that are brought out and the increasingly large intrusion...

Hello and welcome to Montana Classical College! I was joined again by the charming and intelligent King Bolingbroke who by this point holds the endowed chair of Anonymous Shakespeare studies at MCC. We discussed Kent’s arc of action in both Act One and Act Two. Here is the article that we often referred to—I highly recommend that you check it out. It makes a strong case for Kent being “no less tha...

Here are Phocaean’s essays that we discuss: “ The Mystery Behind Philosophy ” “ An Aristocratical Christianity ” I also quoted from this essay on Nietzsche. Outline: We start with a brief account of Nietzsche’s blame and praise of Christianity as a way to introduce a more aristocratic or noble vision of Christianity than we are used to seeing. 1. You say that, "Christian leaders face this conundru...

Here is the first of five sessions on King Lear ! This was conducted with the noble King Bolingbroke who you should follow. You can find a recent new interview of his right here . We discussed Much Ado About Nothing here . Here is an outline: * Bolingbroke exhorts you to read Shakespeare. * I summarize Act One. * We discuss the ways in which Lear may understand himself as a kind of god. * We read...

It was a pleasure to speak with Johann Kurtz! You can find his excellent substack, Becoming Noble, and the essay of his that we discuss here . You can find his discussion on the Exit podcast here. Here is an outline of the conversation: * Johann introduces his project and the challenge of thinking of practical solutions to our contemporary problems. * We discuss what respectability is and why it i...