GWF Hegel is one of the most difficult philosophers in the western canon, but today we’ attempt to demystify him. In this episode, we’ll break down Hegel’s phenomenology, the dialectic, and the Hegelian understanding of desire. Our concrete entrypoint into the thought of Hegel is his famous chapter, The Master-Slave Dialectic. Deleuze argued that Nietzsche’s ... Show More
Nov 18
125: Reviewing John Kaag's Hiking with Nietzsche
<p>My review of Kaag's book about Nietzsche, the Swiss Alps, and the many other philosophers who have spent time in Sils Maria. Overall a good experience, but more of a beginner read. John Kaag provides a relatively faithful analysis of Nietzsche's philosophy in his book, ... Show More
1h 8m
Nov 4
124: Pierre Klossowski's Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle, pt 3 - The Most Beautiful Inventions of the Sick
Our series on Pierre Klossowski concludes with a look at some of the later chapters concerning Nietzsche's state of mind leading up to his breakdown in Turin, what Nietzsche's juvenalia reveals about him, and what insights we can glean from his family history. Above all, in this ... Show More
1h 15m
Dec 2020
Hegel's Philosophy of Right
What links Beethoven & Hegel's philosophy of freedom? Anne McElvoy talks to New Generation Thinker Seán Williams, Christoph Schuringa, Gary Browning, and Alison Stone about Hegel's discussion of freedom, law, family, markets and the state in his Principles of the Philosophy of Ri ... Show More
44m 8s
Jun 2022
Hegel's Philosophy of History
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ideas of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 - 1831) on history. Hegel, one of the most influential of the modern philosophers, described history as the progress in the consciousness of freedom, asking whether we enjoy more freedom now than those w ... Show More
52m 25s
Jun 2022
Hegel's Philosophy of History
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ideas of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 - 1831) on history. Hegel, one of the most influential of the modern philosophers, described history as the progress in the consciousness of freedom, asking whether we enjoy more freedom now than those w ... Show More
52m 25s
Feb 2022
Dialectics: From Hegel To Marx
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was one of the greatest minds that humanity has ever known. His development of the dialectic, placed on a materialist basis by Marx, provides key insights into the logic of all change, development and transformation in nature, society and the human m ... Show More
38m 22s
Jan 2009
The Consolations of Philosophy
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the consolation of Philosophy. In the 6th century AD, a successful and intelligent Roman politician called Boethius found himself unjustly accused of treason. Trapped in his prison cell, awaiting a brutal execution, he found solace in philosophical ... Show More
42m 20s
Nov 2020
Genealogy of Morals | Friedrich Nietzsche
<p>This episode summarises Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals in 10 minutes. It is among Nietzsche’s most sustained and cohesive works consisting of three essays: “Good and Evil, Good and Bad”, “Guilt, Bad Conscience and the Like” and “What is the Meaning of Ascetic Ideals?”< ... Show More
9m 59s
Aug 2022
Simon Truwant, "Cassirer and Heidegger in Davos: The Philosophical Arguments" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
The 1929 encounter between Ernst Cassirer and Martin Heidegger in Davos, Switzerland is considered one of the most important intellectual debates of the twentieth century and a founding moment of continental philosophy. At the same time, many commentators have questioned the phil ... Show More
58m 50s