The Wes Cecil Podcast

Q & A #8 - NEOLIBERALISM Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture VIII: Neoliberalism (the rise and fall-ish) Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON  to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An Improved Audio version of a lecture on Martin Heidegger. Heidegger was one of the most influential and controversial philosophers of the 20th century. This lecture explores his life and work and attempts to frame his philosophical ideas within the context of his many ethical failings.  A link to the lecture notes Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON  to get your questions answered by Wes! P...

Q & A #1 - READING JUNG'S THE RED BOOK Wes and Jeremy take questions from Patreon Members on Episodes 1 & 2 Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON  to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Q & A #1 - HOUSE OF THE INTELLECT Wes and Jeremy take questions from Patreon Members on Episodes 1 & 2 Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON  to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HOW TO KILL THE HERO: The power of Jung’s approach becomes a little more clear as we move into these later chapters. Jung is quite explicitly at war with his inherited cultural values. While it is one thing to recognize this, it is very much more difficult to try and reimagine one’s values - and hence one’s understanding of the self. Jung tries to murder the image of the hero - casting himself as...

FREE YOUR MIND: Our culture's bias towards technology, specialization, and bureaucracy all mitigate against having a mind that is free to pursue one’s own ideas and to allow the time and predilection to participate in the House of the Intellect. Here I use the example of medical doctors who, over the course of the last 80 years, have been transformed from key participants in the House of the Intel...

LECTURE 8 - NEOLIBERALISM: THE RISE AND FALL(ISH) Is this at the end of the Reagan, Clinton, Obama, Bush era? This lecture explores the content, rise and decline of the political and economic philosophy of Neoliberalism. Premised on the idea that free markets that reduce trade barriers between nations creates a wealthier world that encourages personal liberty, reduces poverty, and aids in the rise...

Karl Marx is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of the world. This lecture reviews his background and some of the events that formed his thinking as a means of putting his core ideas into a historical frame. A hopefully much more listenable version of this early recording.  Karl Marx 1847  A link to the Economic and Philosophical manuscripts of 1847 which is perhaps the...

Q & A #7 - LIBERTARIANISM Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture VII: Libertarianism Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON  to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wow, so I did mention this is a crazy, difficult text didn’t I? So Jung’s conscious attempt to break from the thought processes and values of his society created an intellectual and emotional crisis that shaped the creation of the Red Book. The most significant note for contemporary readers is that he is trying to return in some way to the approaches to knowledge and wisdom that shaped the first 4...

LECTURE 7 - LIBERTARIANISM Is it healthy to pretend that you're doing it on your own? The notion that the best world is one in which each individual is maximally free and operates independently of all other individuals has been a powerful force in American cultural and political history. The expressions of libertarianism we see today are founded on a deep ethos that rejects all forms of government...

DIGNITY AND INTEGRITY: It may seem a bit abstract, which I imagine it is, however I feel the disappearance of the concepts of Dignity and Integrity from the world of education, art, philosophy and culture generally is one of the greatest challenges to a sense of intellectual community today. Recognizing our own dignity allows us to appreciate the value of our contributions to the world of ideas an...

MAJOR THINKERS - NIETZSCHE - EP. 1 An intellectual biography of Nietzsche kicks off this series discussing the life and philosophy of a series of major thinkers. I explore some of the key ideas and influences that shaped Nietzsche’s thinking including his loathing of Christianity and the influence of classical literature in shaping his ethical outlook. This is an improved audio version of a lectur...

A work that I think embodies, quite consciously on the part of Jung, many of the contradictions, challenges, and paradoxes of the modern mind trying to come to grips with a world that simply does not cohere with our general materialist, rationalist worldview. I hope to use this as both a great text to explore and an example of how  one can read in a very different manner. It was working with...

ADDENDUM - CALVINISTIC MATERIALISM VS. NIHILISTIC MATERIALISM Does America practice a particular type of Nihilism? A follow up to clarify the notion of why Nihilism - the belief that there is no order or meaning in the world - is fundamental to the type of materialism practiced in America. Perhaps the clearest example is the rise of off-site storage where people pay to store material goods that, b...

Q & A #6 - THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION: 1935 - 1949 Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture VI: THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON  to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

INTELLECTUAL HOMELESSNESS: This series will explore the contemporary state of the world of arts and ideas and how we can begin to build lives centered around culture and philosophy. We are often misled as to the nature and purpose of intellectual pursuits. I hope to clarify the history and cultural forces that shape our understanding of and participation in the house of the intellect. Unfortunatel...

LECTURE 6 - THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION - 1935 - 1949 The twin catastrophes of the Great Depression and World War II utterly transformed America. In just 20 years, the structure of government, focus of the economy, tax policy, and America’s global position fundamentally altered. A country with a tiny tax base, miniscule military, isolationist politics and nascent federal government became a global su...

Q & A #5 - AMERICAN CALVINISM Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture V: American Calvinism Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON  to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

LECTURE 5 - AMERICAN CALVINISM In this lecture I explore the deep and abiding influence of Calvinism on the American cultural outlook. Whether Christian or not, Americans believe in purity, the centrality of moral judgements, visible signs of success and more. These attitudes are rarely traced back to their true origin - the specific beliefs and social forms developed by John Calvin. America is a...

Q & A #4 - NIHILISTIC MATERIALISM Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture IV: Nihilistic Materialism Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON  to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

LECTURE 4 - NIHILISTIC MATERIALISM That American culture is materialistic is an accurate but often unhelpful distinction as it is our particular kind of materialism that America manifests that is important to understand. In this lecture, I explore the peculiar Nihilistic elements that shape American materialism. Significantly, all the standard critiques of materialism - that material goods will no...

Q & A #3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture III: American Individualism Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON  to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

LECTURE 3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM: This lecture explores the evolution of the American conception of the individual and why it has become so dominant within American culture. Devoid of a deep history and often in strange surroundings with strange people, many Americans have, for generations, felt thrust out on their own. What for most societies was considered a severe punishment - banishment - be...

Q & A #2 - NO HISTORY FOR YOU! Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture II: No History for You! Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON  to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.