Young Heretics

Misogyny is a real thing, even though the word has lost all meaning. But what does it really mean to be pro-woman, and what are the highest womanly virtues? In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan introduces Christine de Pizan, a Medieval advocate for the excellence of women who puts modern feminists to shame. -- To get access to live chats, the Young Heretics mailbag, and more exclusive...

With his country hemorrhaging money and its leadership too weak to function (sound familiar?) William the Marshal, a man of seventy, had to lead English forces against the French at the Battle of Lincoln. In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan discusses the courage that took, and how we can learn from it today. To get access to live chats, the Young Heretics mailbag, and more exclusive...

Headlines across America have been unanimously proclaiming the death of chivalry for decades—10 out of 10 tastemakers agree, it's sexist, hippocrytical, and probably somehow racist to aspire to manly excellence. So why won't chivalry stay dead? Using the biography of England's greatest knight, William Marshal, Spencer Klavan uncovers the true meaning of chivalry, and its enduring importance for to...

Last week, Spencer Klavan explored the crucial role of first principles in debates of every kind. This week on Young Heretics, he applies those ideas to one of America's most heated public discussions—the discussion about abortion. Why can't we stop fighting? A look at the first principles involved shows why. To get access to live chats, the Young Heretics mailbag, and more exclusive content, use...

American public discourse is breaking down. On abortion, on coronavirus, on war, we just seem to be talking past each other—why? Using the abortion debate as an example and Aristotle as a guide, Spencer Klavan gets at the philosophical heart of America's first principle problem in this episode of Young Heretics. To get access to live chats, the Young Heretics mailbag, and more exclusive content, u...

Why can't we come to terms with the horrors of Gulag? Why were so many of us taught about the Holocaust, but not about Stalin? In this next installment of his series on Solzhenitsyn's masterwork, Spencer Klavan describes the dark shadow-religion that swept over Russia and created concentration camps in the archipelago. -- How can you learn Latin, Ancient Greek, or Biblical Hebrew in order to read...

Shakespeare's As You Like It is a reflection on social roles: how they work, and what happens when they don't. Escape with Spencer Klavan to the Forest of Arden, where you can be free from the expectations of society, MAN. Or can you? -- Public Goods is the one stop shop for sustainable, high quality everyday essentials made from clean ingredients. Receive $15 off your first Public Goods order at ...

In The Apology of Socrates, Plato exposes the pretensions of self-styled experts and authorities. Socrates was the only man in Athens who admitted he was not wise—and neither was anyone else. This didn't make him very popular, but he was willing to die rather than give up the truth. -- Celebrate the moments that matter most with a professional, hand-painted portrait from Paint Your Life. Get 20% o...

The fight for life is a crucial issue that touches on the deepest principles of the West. Without the right to life, there are no other rights. In a Young Heretics special, Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins joins Spencer Klavan to discuss her bold new campaign to restore and preserve the most fundamental right for the most vulnerable members of society. It's the Final Fight for Freedom....

Experts hate to be laughed at, especially when they have something to hide. Aristophanes, the genius of Old Attic Comedy, shows us how it's done in Clouds, his goofy satire of an education system in decline. In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan explores the question, was Socrates part of the problem—or part of the solution? -- Indeed is the hiring partner where you can attract, interv...

It's the year of our Lord 2022 and Spencer Klavan is here to spoil your fun. Not really, but since the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become such an enormous cultural touchstone, it makes sense to ask: where do its ideas come from? In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan takes a deep dive into the multiverse, an ancient concept that is now gaining currency in art and physics alike. -- How...

As the new year rolls in, most of us think about how to be better—but what does that even mean? Luckily, our journey through Plato's Republic has taken us to the perfect book for thinking about excellence of all kinds. In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan discusses the cardinal virtues and how to cultivate them. NEW YEARS SALES ARE HERE: Become a Young Heretics VIP at a limited-time d...

The final installment in the Space Trilogy, "That Hideous Strength," is a perfect allegory for our Fauci-worshiping times. In this episode of "Young Heretics," Spencer Klavan describes the logic which Lewis reveals in his myth of megalomania and satanism—a logic which is still at work today. NEW YEARS SALES ARE HERE: Become a Young Heretics VIP at a limited-time discounted rate between now and Jan...

In the second book of the Ransom trilogy, C.S. Lewis imagines what it would have been like if Eve got a second chance in the Garden of Eden. In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan reads from this rip-roaring tale of demonic possession and space travel to tell a Christmas story about the cosmic power of one human choice to change the world. NEW YEARS SALES ARE HERE: Become a Young Hereti...

Sometimes to see earth clearly, you have to look down on it from mars. C.S. Lewis's space trilogy is a classic of sci-fi literature but it's also, weirdly, the perfect thing to read at Christmas. In "Out of the Silent Planet," Lewis takes his place alongside Dante and Milton with a Christian vision of the worlds beyond our world. CHRISTMAS SALES: Become a Young Heretics VIP at a limited-time disco...

We say "never forget"...but do we really mean it? We deceive ourselves if we think that murderous tyrants like Stalin are uniquely evil in some way that we ourselves could never be. Reading through Volume 1 of the Gulag Archipelago, Spencer Klavan shows how ordinary people can consent to terrible things. CHRISTMAS SALES: Become a Young Heretics VIP at a limited-time discounted rate between now and...

In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan begins a journey through Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's masterwork, "The Gulag Archipelago," which exposed the horrors of Lenin's and Stalin's Russia to the West. Describing how Russia's Empire was overthrown and replaced with a socialist state, Spencer explains the nightmare philosophy behind it all and reveals what really made Stalin's rule so gruesome...

You've heard about the "first Thanksgiving," but have you heard about the miraculous sea crossing that made it possible in the first place? In this Young Heretics Thanksgiving special, Spencer Klavan talks about the journey of faith that gave birth to the American spirit. -- The Magnus Fellowship is the college to end colleges and serves as a tuition-free alternative for those who need an online r...

Are video games art? What about a urinal? And how about splotches of paint on a wall? We all have instinctive answers to these questions, but it can be hard to articulate the logic behind them. In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan discusses one of the West's oldest and most sophisticated books on the topic and how it can help us solve modern problems about censorship and cancel cultur...

If you want a perfect state, you have to seize the means of artistic production. That's something that both the Right and the Left now instinctively understand... which is why we're fighting so hard over things like Netflix. Plato saw to the heart of the matter in the third book of his Republic, which is why that book has caused, shall we say, quite a bit of trouble. In this episode of Young Heret...

Everyone's talking about mob rule these days—but why is it happening now? In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan explains insights into mob rule from the French anthropologist, philosopher, and literary critic René Girard. Using Girard's brilliant exposition of the Gospels, Spencer explains everything that's going on in our politics... and what to do about it. -- How can you learn Latin...

W.W. Jacobs was a one-hit wonder, but his one hit is a Halloween masterpiece: The Monkey's Paw. In this Young Heretics holiday special, Spencer Klavan reads the story and reveals the theological truths behind it—without which, many of our modern ghost stories are doomed to fall flat. -- Public Goods is the one stop shop for sustainable, high quality everyday essentials made from clean ingredients....

In an age when everyone wants us to think we are bound to our time, our race, and our place, Henry James's story "The Great Good Place" reminds us of the brotherhood of man. In this episode of Young Heretics, Spencer Klavan reads from this gem of a story and joins it with the witness of Machiavelli, Raphael, and DuBois to show that we are more than the here and now. -- Ned offers a natural remedy...

Your right to make your own choices is under assault. But where does that right come from anyway? Conscience is one of the oldest and deepest ideas in the Western tradition, developed by millennia of thought stemming from both Athens and Jerusalem. Spencer tells the story of conscience and defends your right to choose. -- Celebrate the moments that matter most with a professional, hand-painted por...

In this episode of Young Heretics, we follow St. Thomas More to his death, and ask how it can be that he managed to find the strength for martyrdom. Spencer Klavan offers comfort and guidance from the great Saint for a moment when the powers of the world seem both powerful and threatening. -- Ned offers a natural remedy for some of life's most common health issues. To get 15% off plus a FREE De-St...