Athens Corner

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This is a recorded X/Twitter space where I discuss many of the richest depths of Aristotle from the perspective of Book 6 of his Nicomachean Ethics.  In sharp contrast to the traditional separation of Aristotle's so-called "theoretical" and "practical" writings, I discuss how no such clear separation exists.  Rather, as I discuss, ethics, psychology, politics, and so-called "ontology" are all interconnected, and interconnected of necessity, as they appear in, and unfold from, Book 6 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. 

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This is a recorded X/Twitter space where I discuss the importance of friendship in philosophy, which is to say friendship as a philosophical concept. 

Here I discuss the significance of friendship in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, which is to say his logos of happiness: the purpose of friendship as the foundation of politics, the good life, and the philosophical life.

In order to do that, I discussed the following philosophical texts in which friendship is of the highest philosophical significance, and in the following order:

(1) Xenophon: “Memorabilia”

(2) Nietzsche: “Human, All Too Human,” and “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”

(3) Plato: the “Laws”

(4) Aristotle: “Politics,” and “Nicomachean Ethics”

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This is the fourth in a series of four X/Twitter spaces in which I discuss the rise of the Modern university and its relationship to Biblical interpretation.  Here I introduce the premises of Modern science, the transformation of “reason” in Modernity, the consequent transformation of “truth,” and how all of it relates to the interpretation of the Bible and Christian “apologetics.”

Emphasis is placed upon:
(1) Plato
(2) Aristotle
(3) Augustine
(4) Thomas and Bonaventure 
(5) Descartes
(6) Kant

Due to the current crises in education, I believe this topic is important enough to make all four spaces in the series free, the others being: (1) Hermeneutics and Philology," (2) "Intro to Hegel," and (3) "From Luther to Heidegger." Further, the combination of this recording along with those recordings are introductory for an entire series I will be releasing soon for subscribing customers entitled "The Reception of German Philosophy in America."  In that series, I go into much more extensive depth on all the thinkers and texts mentioned, as well as many more, for my subscribers. 

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This is the second in a series of four X/Twitter spaces on the rise of the Modern university and its relationship to Biblical interpretation. Here I introduce Hegel's thought by way of his system instead of the more traditional approach of focusing upon his Phenomenology of Spirit.  In this discussion I introduce all the basic fundamentals of Hegel’s understanding of philosophy with emphasis on the rational and mystic interpretations of his teaching on logic and temporality. I also discuss:

(1) Hegel in Catholicism
(2) Hegel in America
(3) Hegel on Kant

Due to the current crises in education, I believe this topic is important enough to make all four spaces in the series free, the others being: (1) Hermeneutics and Philology," (3) "From Luther to Heidegger," and (4) "Reason, Science, Truth, and the Bible." Further, the combination of this recording along with those recordings are introductory for an entire series I will be releasing soon for subscribing customers entitled "The Reception of German Philosophy in America."  In that series, I go into much more extensive depth on all the thinkers and texts mentioned, as well as many more, for my subscribers. 

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This is the first of a two-part recording of an X/Twitter space in which I introduce Plato's longest dialogue, the Laws.  I provide a broad overview of the dialogue for the series I'm about to release for subscribing customers on the entire dialogue.

Here I discuss how “law [nomos]” as a concept unfolds in Plato as the best entryway into what we might otherwise refer to as “metaphysics” or “ontology” and the divine.  In other words, at issue in Plato's dialogue the Laws is simply everything of significance in the life of man. 

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This is the first in a series of four X/Twitter spaces in which I introduce "hermeneutics" and "philology" from the perspective of the rise of Modern Biblical interpretation, and in particular the historical and literary approach from the Protestant Reformation into the 20th Century.

I believe this topic is important enough to make all four spaces in the series free, the others being: (2) Hegel, (3) "From Luther to Heidegger," and (4) "Reason, Science, Truth, and the Bible." Further, the combination of this recording along with those recordings are introductory for an entire series I will be releasing soon for subscribing customers entitled "The Reception of German Philosophy in America."  In that series, I go into much more extensive depth on all the thinkers and texts mentioned, as well as many more, for my subscribers.

Subscriber-only episode

This is the second of a two-part recording of an X/Twitter space in which I introduce Plato's longest dialogue, the Laws.  I provide a broad overview of the dialogue for the series I'm about to release for subscribing customers on the entire dialogue.

Here I discuss some additional aspects of the dialogue regarding the first part and how “law [nomos]” as a concept unfolds in Plato as the best entryway into what we might otherwise refer to as “metaphysics” or “ontology” and the divine.  In other words, at issue in Plato's dialogue the Laws is simply everything of significance in the life of man. 

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This is the introduction to my latest addition for the "Technology and Nihilism" series on my AthensCorner.com website.

In moving from Thucydides to Aristotle and Heidegger, here I discuss the importance of Plato and Aristotle for any and all accounts of the things we all too casually refer to as "technology" and "science" as if we fully understand them.

At issue in this discussion is the unfolding of what it means for man to be the creature of speech, the creature of logos, and what that means for our pursuit of knowledge which we refer to as "science" and its counterpart "technology." This unfolding entails, among other things:

(1) The significance of rhetoric for philosophy in Plato, Aristotle, and Heidegger

(2) The contours of what is meant by the beautiful, the just, and the good with respect to the soul of man and its relation to, first, being and, second, the possibility of articulating that relation of soul and being for the flourishing of political community.

(3) The unity and diversity of so-called "practical" and "theoretical" knowledge in the various fields of knowledge.

(4) The hierarchy of pleasures attendant in the distinguishing of mind and passion in the soul of man attendant upon any clarified understanding of the beautiful.

(5) The significance of number in both Plato and Aristotle for virtue in the attempt to clarify the good life.

(6) The way in which all of the above informs the various "return" movements to the Greeks in postmodern philosophy, whether of Nietzsche, Heidegger, or Leo Strauss

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This discussion is a recording of a talk (a "space") I provided on Twitter (from my @Athens_Stranger account there) regarding a question I often receive from friends on how to begin the study of philosophy.  More specifically, the question is: Given the enormity of books available that introduce people to philosophy in addition to the enormity of the primary texts (i.e., the "Great books") of the philosophers from our Western tradition, where should one begin if one has no background in philosophy and wants to begin learning it?

I address that question by first attempting to clarify what is even meant by the word "philosophy" because of how one's understanding of what philosophy is significantly determines the possible answers to the question of where to begin in studying it.

I also address the obstacles involved in the study of philosophy as a result of the various ways in which philosophy is taught in colleges, universities, and various classical academies.

This is my entire discussion of the opening to Thucydides's Peloponnesian War for the Technology & Nihilism series on my website (AthensCorner.com).  In this recording I read in its entirety, and discuss in very meticulous detail, the first twenty-two paragraphs of Thucydides's Peloponnesian War (commonly referred to as "the Archaeology" of the text).  At issue is just how much we as default postmoderns still have so very much to learn from what Thucydides has to teach us, particularly regarding his thematic treatment of what we think of today as technology and, just as importantly, how technology relates to and defines man in political community.  In presenting this teaching, I go into great detail about the following, along with quite a bit more (!!!):

1.) The relationship between Thucydides, Nietzsche, and Heidegger, which itself unfolds into a discussion of the relationship between Thucydides and Homer, Thucydides and Plato and Aristotle, and Thucydides and Plutarch. 
2.) The difference between Thucydides's understanding of history, our own current understanding of scientific history, so-called philosophies of history, and how what we refer to as technology is definitive of the difference between Thucydides and our postmodern understandings of each of those latter two conceptions.
3.) The meaning and the significance of greatness and Greekness for Thucydides, and how it is to be understood in distinction from barbarism.
4.) The meaning and significance of the achievement of Athens in relationship to the rest of Greece and especially Sparta for Thucydides.
5.) The relationship between custom or law ("nomos") and nature ("phusis") in the meaning of the Greek accomplishment for Thucydides as it unfolds into the relationship between images and mind for the Greeks as seen in, for instance, the art of the Parthenon Frieze. 

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