“Today, we are supercompetent when it comes to efficiency, utility, speed, convenience, and getting ahead in the world; but we are at a loss concerning what it’s all for,” Leon Kass writes in his 2017 book “Leading a Worthy Life.” “This lack of cultural and moral confidence about what makes a life worth living is perhaps the deepest curse of living in our in ... Show More
Oct 27
Nate Silver Predicts a ‘Momentous’ Midterm
“If the election goes roughly as the polls say it will go, then in some ways it would mark the end of the Trump era,” Nate Silver told me.The midterms are a week away, and it looks entirely possible that Democrats will win not just the House, but also the Senate. Democrats are po ... Show More
55m 5s
Jul 2022
Super Soul Special: David Brooks: The Quest for a Moral Life
Original Air Date: May 20, 2019New York Times best-selling author, columnist and political commentator David Brooks discusses his book, The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life. David explains there are two metaphorical mountains we must climb to live a moral life. He desc ... Show More
1h 11m
Nov 2021
The Quest for a Moral Life
Note: This is a rebroadcast. This episode originally aired June 2019.Do you ever feel like you’re spinning your existential wheels in life? That outwardly, you seem to be doing ok, but inwardly, you feel kind of empty? My guest today would say that you’ve got to move on from trek ... Show More
48m 56s
Jun 2021
Nicholas Christakis — How We’re Wired for Goodness
Elemental human capacities like friendship and love, teaching and learning, have tremendous, constant, practical force. We don’t think of these in terms of what has given our species the grit to endure through hard times and even evolve in the long run. They’re lived social intel ... Show More
50m 45s
Dec 2023
How To Know a Person with David Brooks
David Brooks is one of America’s leading writers and commentators. He is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times and appears regularly on PBS NewsHour and Meet the Press. He is the bestselling author of The Second Mountain, The Road to Character, The Social Animal, Bobos in Par ... Show More
49m 50s
Oct 2023
Social Skills as the Road to Character
If you've wanted to develop your character, you've probably thought about strengthening virtues like courage, humility, and resolution. But my guest would say that practicing social skills is another way of increasing your moral strength, and the moral strength of society as a wh ... Show More
46m 10s