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This is the inaugural discussion of my series on fathers and sons reading Great books together.  Here I discuss the reasoning behind the series, encompassing everything from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, to Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Poetics, Xenophon, Plutarch, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Melville, Bloom's Closing of the American Mind and, of course and definitively, the Bible.  At issue is an assessment of we ourselves as educators of the youth and the meaning of greatness in the education fathers seek to cultivate in their sons. 

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Broadly speaking, the theme of the series that I provide in philosophy on my website center around the various relationships in which philosophy and divine revelation have existed together in the Western philosophical tradition, whether for the Greeks, the medieval Scholastics, the Moderns with their "Modern" science, or the Postmoderns with their technology and nihilism.  In this discussion, I provide a broad overview of what we even mean when we say the "Moderns" or "Modernity."  I do that in the following way:

1. I begin by setting the boundaries of the discussion with two specific passages about natural law and conscience: one from Thomas Aquinas and the other from John Locke.

2. I then provide a brief introduction to a few of the most influential schools of interpretation that students are likely to encounter in the secondary literature on our question concerning the origins of Modernity.

3. I then introduce the question of the origins of Modernity as the question of the relationship between divine revelation and philosophy which, in our case, is Christianity and the tradition of Greek philosophy.  Specifically, I discuss how the famous phrase of "faith seeking understanding" is not new to the Christian Medievals but, in fact, alive and well in both Plato and Augustine.

4. I then meticulously examine specific passages of Augustine's teaching on how Christianity is to properly understand itself in relationship to philosophy.  The reason for this is to allow Augustine to serve as a helpful segue into the teaching of Thomas Aquinas which is otherwise very often so foreign and difficult for students of philosophy to appreciate as still relevant today.

5. I then end with a preview of how the teaching of Augustine on the proper relationship of Christianity and philosophy is so radically transformed by "Modern" science.  Here I emphasize how our own tendency to read the Bible through the lenses of "Modern" science is in radical tension with the tradition of theology beginning with Augustine even and especially despite its claim to not be in such a tension.

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In preparing to begin an entire series on Plato's longest dialogue the "Laws,” I use an almost casual comment by Aristotle in his discussion (or logos) on slavery in the Politics to discuss the way in which inquiry into the art of politics unfolds, and almost immediately (!), into the entirety of philosophy.  Among other things, I place great emphasis on the following in this discussion:

1.) The status of political philosophy in relation to philosophy or, alternatively, the most informative way of how the field of study known as political philosophy should be understood in comparison to the field of study known as philosophy.

2.) The meaning and significance of the life of man according to logos as Aristotle presents it, keeping in mind that the most definitive claims Aristotle makes about the nature of man is that (a) man is the only animal in possession of logos, (b) man is by nature a political animal, (c) man is by nature the most imitative of all the animals and, lastly, (d) man is by nature a coupling animal.

3.) The premises and, ultimately, the status of the analogy used by Aristotle to inquiry into slavery and, in particular, the existence of natural slaves along with what is required in order to justify rule over natural slaves either according to nature or contrary to nature.

4.) The subtleties of Aristotle's logos on slavery that allow for, and even invite the reader with dry comedy (!) to recognize, how it is that any discussion of rule unfolds into the enormous and fascinating question of a principle of order and possibly even harmony (!) within the entire cosmos and issuing most importantly from the relationship of both body and soul as seen in the most excellent of men.

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Continuing our discussion of the all-important third speech of part 1, at issue here is Zarathustra's turn from the critique of the hinterworldly to the metaphysical concept of ‘being’ and, for Zarathustra, the psychology at the core of both (i.e. all gods and all traditional understandings of philosophy).  In his turn toward this psychological foundation for all grounding concepts, Zarathustra broaches the definitive topic of poetry that becomes thematic in the text and crucial for understanding Zarathustra and his political project.

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At issue in Zarathustra's speech here is everything encompassed in the phrase ‘the transvaluation of all values’ (or ‘the revaluation of all values’).  That is to say, this speech by Zarathustra marks the beginning of Nietzsche's experiment as a political founder in postmodernity.  I emphasize how the issue of Zarathustra's understanding of ‘the hinterworldly’ is the question of the possibility of another ‘Enlightenment,’ and it is precisely this question that constitutes the ultimate status of the teaching on the Overman in the text.  Here in particular is to be found a large part of the meaning of Nietzsche’s atheism. This speech by Zarathustra is the true beginning of the possibility of ‘Enlightenment,’ which is itself the possibility of the Overman.  Accordingly, it marks the true beginning of Zarathustra's fundamentally political project, which is to say the possibility of what man as such can become.

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Zarathustra’s insurgency having begun, he now enters into the academic institutions in order to discover what the youth are being taught.  At issue is the way in which Zarathustra’s wisdom differs from that being taught by the academics and, more broadly, how Zarathustra’s understanding of the teaching corresponds to Nietzsche’s critique of the entire Western tradition of philosophy since Plato and culminating in the Modern Enlightenment.

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Having discussed the opening paragraph, I now turn to the second paragraph which marks the beginning of the text traditionally referred to as ‘the Archaeology’ (paragraphs 2-20).  Here is where we begin to see our theme in the series of technology.  At issue is the emerging way in which Thucydides understands the role of techne in the life of man and what that reveals about the possibility of political community.  As I show, this unfolds into a way in which the entire text can be understood as an inquiry into the greatness and the limitations that technology imposes upon the possibility of statesmanship.  In other words, Thucydides is a kind of political philosopher that is primarily concerned with the greatness man is capable of achieving when the nature of man is properly understood and harnessed by political rule.

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In this recording my good friend Ancient (@AncPhi) discusses the role of logos in the thought of Heidegger.

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This is the first of two discussions where I discuss Pierre Manent’s writings on Leo Strauss. Here I discuss Manent’s analysis of the relationship between Nietzsche and Strauss, which unfolds into a broad introduction to the thought of Leo Strauss beginning with Rousseau and going back though Machiavelli and Hobbes into the Medieval Islamic and Jewish thinkers before returning to a critique of Hegel and entering into a discussion of Nietzsche.

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Continuing my exploration of Manent’s writings on Leo Strauss, here I discuss Manent’s analysis of Strauss and Heidegger, which unfolds into a discussion of the meaning of history.