The New Thinkery

As school kicks into gear as summer is winding down, the guys take the opportunity to talk about the extent to which the common man can be benefitted or harmed by liberal education, using Herbert Storing's famous essay as a starting point. 

In this week's installment of  The New Thinkery , the guys are joined by Michigan State's distinguished professor emeritus Jerry Weinberger. The group discuss Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, its importance, and whether and to what extent Fraknlin is an esoteric writer.

This week, the guys return to the meat and potatoes of philosophy: Plato and Socrates. They discuss the first half of Plato's Republic Book IV, the logic of continuing an empire in decay, and the Machiavellian nature of some of Socrates' advice. Plus: don't miss Greg's hot take on country music.

This week, the guys analyze the film classic  Ford Apache . They're joined by Hillsdale College's Professor Adam Carrington, who has written about the film. The group talk about the portrayal of Native Americans, the hubirs of an aristocratic mindset, and more!

This week, the guys return to Strauss to look at a pair of his lesser known, but still important essays touching on historicism, science, and the trajectory of the West. The two provide an excellent primer to The City and Man for those who are interested in reading Strauss.

This week, the guys are joined by Eric Adler, Professor and Chair of Classics at the University of Maryland. Together, the group discuss Plutarch's  Life of Romulus and the history of Roman historians more generally as they compare to Greek historians.

After last week's discussion of Hiero, the guys are back this week with fare that is lighter in some ways, and heavy in others: Clint Eastwood's  Million Dollar Baby. From light analysis of the boxing movie trope to the weighty topic of euthanasia, the guys cover it all. Plus: Greg was actually in a real fight once. You'll never guess where.

This week, the guys reconvene to discuss Xenophon's  Hiero . Greg has published translations of Xenophon, and is especially in his element. The core question the guys focus on is the same as that of this minor work: is the life of a tyrant more pleasant than that of a commoner?

This week, the guys re joined by Hillsdale professor and David's colleague, Michael Anton. The group discuss Montesquieu's philosophy and the ways in which it proves correct, and some ways it comes up short. Plus: Professor Anton talks about Jaffa and Machiavelli. 

As we leave the Televisual Age behind and enter into the Digital Age, it might seem like a paper proposing the banning or severe limiting of TV hasn't aged all too well. But Anastaplo's paper proposing just that has aged like a fine wine, and is more applicable now than ever. The guys analyze Anastaplo's paper from top to bottom.

This week, the guys are joined by one of Alex's colleagues: Dr. Paul Diduch. The group discuss whether unfettered technological progress is in fact "progress" and what we, especially in the modern age, ought to think about before we call technology an absolute good for humans and our souls.  They focus on some texts from Plato, Aristotle, and Bacon.

This week  The New Thinkery  celebrates its 100th episode! To mark the occasion, the guys invite on Producer Jake to chime in for an analysis of Aristotle's  Nicomachean Ethics , Books 8 and 9, which focus on the nature and types of friendships.

This week, the guys dive into another of Plutarch's lives. Unlike some of the other lives Plutarch describes, Theseus' is surrounded by an unusual amount of mythologizing, leaving us to speculate about why he is different from the others.

This week the guys assemble to visit a very short work of Nietzsche's that deals with extra-moral truth and lies. Specifically, the guys analyze whether or not telling the truth is always right from a philosophic perspective, and what that may show us about human nature.

Was Aristotle's view of slavery evil, idiotic, a combination, or something else entirely? The guys sit down to talk about how Aristotle viewed slavery and how that view might look today.

This week, the guys attended a panel where they interviewed Joshua Parens on the peculiar nature of Strauss' views on natural law and the philosopher. The group analyzes Strauss' wisdom-filled writings.

This week, the guys take a break from philosophy to visit the Wild West as they analyze the film  Winchester 73 . Revolving around who gets to own a nearly perfect Winchester rifle, the guys look at the key lessons and plot points.

This week, the guys take a look at one of the most memorable concepts from Plato's Republic , that of the noble lie. They analyze the usefulness of noble lies, and whether it should affect the way we view Plato. Plus: your mailbag questions get answered!

This week, the guys are joined by author, political commentator, and policy scholar Steven F. Hayward. The group take a look at the underlying themes of Max Weber's Politics as a Vocation , as well as some potential consequences of the line of logic used in the book. 

This week, the guys take a trip back to ancient Greece to discuss the first two books of Homer's Iliad . Plus: a cameo appearance from David's son!

With Easter around the corner, the guys are joined by Dr. Catherine Zuckert, the Reeves Dreux Professor of Political Science at Notre Dame, to take a look at the first Western Christian autobiography ever written: St. Augustine's Confessions . The cast discuss the timely themes and important underlying messages, as well as talk about Dr. Zuckert's educational biography.

This week, the guys continue their running series on Shakespeare. On the docket is one of Shakespeare's early comedies, Love's Labour's Lost . To help them with the analysis, Dr. Lee Ward, Professor of Political Science at Baylor University, joins the crew to shed light on the major themes and events of the play. Shoutout to ALI for sponsoring!

In this episode of  TNT , the guys are joined by distinguished professor and student of Leo Strauss, David Lowenthal. Together, the group talk about Lowenthal's academic and military career, Orwell's 1984 , and Dr. Lowenthal answers lightning questions. Plus: Dr. Lowenthal explains why he was a Marxist for a little while.

This week, the guys take a break from focusing on one text to host a more personal episode. Each co-host presents a question to the others for their thoughts, and then they answer your mailbag questions! If you like this episode format, let us know on Twitter and we'll make more like it.

In this week's episode, the guys are joined by Professor James Carey. The group wade outside of TNT's philosophic comfort zone by talking with Professor Carey about Indian philosophy. Specifically, they discuss whether Indian philosophy is monolithic, and, whether it is or not, what concepts grab the attention of Indian philosophy.