Nature and the Nation

In this episode I engage in an extra-long two-hour examination of the basic philosophy of Martin Heidegger, as described in Michael Inwood's study, Heidegger. Inwood focuses primarily on Heidegger's magnum opus, Being and Time. In this episode I pay particular attention to Heidegger's discussion of the state of being he calls 'ready-to-hand,' as well as authenticity and being-toward-death.

In this episode I revisit Niccolo Machiavelli through the lens of Erica Benner's biography of the Renaissance Italian thinker, Be Like the Fox. I examine Machiavelli's dedication to the ideals of the Florentine Republic and his opposition to leaders who come to rule by the blessings of Fortune.

In this episode I return to Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey's History of Political Philosophy, to look at Strauss' own examination of Machiavelli. I focus on Machiavelli's strategic deployment of virtue and vice, and his comparison of Christianity and Paganism.

In this episode I look again at the Sophists with a focus on their dedication to rhetoric, as described by classicist Bernard Knox in his collection of essays, The Oldest Dead White European Males.

In this episode I examine sexual selection and basic mating strategies, plus a look at the possibility of escaping the our evolutionarily acquired behaviors as described in Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution is True.

In this episode I review the basic elements of Aristotle's philosophy, discussing his conception of nature, the four causes, and the four elements. I also continue the discussion from the previous two episodes regarding eudaimonia, phronesis, ethics, and politics.

In this episode I review Aristotle's political and ethical premises with a focus on eudaimonia, arete, and the mixed regime, as described by Carnes Lord in Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey's essay collection, History of Political Philosophy.

In this episode I examine various forms of happiness, the difference between happiness and eudaimonia, and the basics of Aristotelian virtue ethics as described by Edith Hall in Aristotle's Way.

In this episode I cover Marc Fasteau and Ian Fletcher's new, massive, authoritative tome on industrial policy, Industrial Policy for the United States. I look particularly at the qualities of advantageous industries, England's initiation of industrial policy under Henry VII, and Sematech's creation and development.

In this episode I look at how birthrates and population prompt replacement migration, and how it all ties to feminism as described in another Pat Buchanan masterpiece, The Death of the West.

In this episode I examine Evola's impression of the nation and it's constrast to the state, as well as his discussion of population and birth rates, as described in his primary political work, Men Among the Ruins.

In this episode I look at the immigration crisis is terms of population control and the environment, as well as the long failure of politicians to respond to the overwhelming opposition of the American public to the ongoing flood of both legal and illegal immigration, as detailed in Immigration and the American Identity from Chronicles Magazine and Thomas Fleming.

In this episode I look at the Goldwater campaign, the battle over human nature in academia, and the revival of antiestablishment fusionism among the paleocons and paleolibertarians, as described by Paul Gottfried in The Conservative Movement.

In this episode I look at the birth of National Review, its controversies, and the resolution provided by Fusionism, all described in George Nash's expansive Conservative Intellectual Movement in America SInce 1945.

In this episode, I look at the Old Right, its birth in the lead-up to World War 2, and its death at the hands of Wall Street Republicans, Dwight Eisenhower, and National Review as described in the fantastic book,  The Betrayal of the American Right by Murray Rothbard.

In this episode I continue my exploration of William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience, with a focus on the conversion process and the subconscious mind.

In this episode I dive into the healthy mind and the sick soul, the foundational concepts of William James' masterpiece, The Varieties of Religious Experience. This is the first of a two-part series.

In this episode I explore the early nationalism of the Republican Party from the New Deal to the Cold War, as described in Michael Miles' Odessey of the American Right, with particular attention paid to US foreign policy at that time.

In this episode I look at the contrast, ruptures, and uncertainties among three early Pragmatists: Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey, as detailed in Louis Menand's bestselling The Metaphysical Club. I also examine Randolph Bourne's use of Pragmatism to justify cosmopolitan immigration and the unaccountable bureaucracy of the American Association of University Professors.

In this episode I look at the two writers Oswald Garrison Villard and John Flynn, and their associations with the America First Committee as depicted in Ronald Radosh's Prophets on the Right.

In this episode I look at Jean-Paul Sartre's Existentialism and Human Emotions with a focus on the failure of existentialism to acknowledge human nature.

In this episode I dive deeper into William James' lecture series Talks to Students with the essays On a 'Certain Blindness in Human Beings' and 'What Makes a Life Significant' as presented in Ralph Barton Perry's collection of James' essays, Essays on Faith and Morals. I look particularly at the practicality of this blindness and the balance between ideals and practicality.

In this episode I arrive at Richard Weaver's classic statement of post-war Conservatism, Ideas Have Consequences, in particular the the traditionalist, hierarchical, formal aspects of enduring culture.

In this episode, I discuss William James' consequential essay Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results and his lecture to students, The Gospel of Relaxation, as collected in The Heart of William James, edited by Robert Richardson.

In this episode I continue my examination of Darwinism and Human Affairs, this time exploring the connections between cultural evolution and genetic evolution. I focus on ways that cultural evolution both aligns with and betrays our genetic drive to reproduction.