Chasing Leviathan

What happens to our character when being dishonest becomes easier and more rewarding than ever before? 

Wake Forest University philosophy professor Dr. Christian Miller joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the "honesty crisis" and how modern technology reshapes our most fundamental virtue. 

Dr. Miller explores the findings of The Honesty Project and his book The Honesty Crisis: Preserving Our Most Treasured Virtue in an Increasingly Dishonest World. They examine the psychological and philosophical boundaries of honesty to reveal how motivation is just as important as truth-telling. 

In this conversation they explore: 

• Why honesty requires more than just accurate behavior and must include selfless or dutiful motivations. 
• The flaws of a "mixed bag" character where people act honestly in some settings but reliably cheat in others. 
• How the rise of AI and the internet created a "double-fold" crisis by increasing the incentives to lie while making it easier to avoid detection.
• The specific moral dangers of sermon plagiarism and why using AI to generate religious messages compromises the integrity of the speaker.
• Why celebrity culture creates a negative feedback loop that encourages protecting a public image through deception. 
• Practical strategies for maintaining honesty through community accountability and frequent moral reminders. 

This is a conversation for anyone interested in psychology and ethics who wants to understand the hidden forces eroding our integrity and how to build a more honest life. 

Make sure to check out Dr. Miller's book: The Honesty Crisis: Preserving Our Most Treasured Virtue in an Increasingly Dishonest World 👉 https://a.co/d/03WsKT5Y

Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com 

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.

Timestamps

0:00 Introducing Dr. Christian Miller
2:06 Honesty: Beyond Simply Not Lying
9:03 How Philosophy and Psychology Research Honesty Together
16:01 Six Honesty Crisis Case Studies Driven by Technology
19:26 What Makes Sermon Plagiarism Dishonest
30:00 When Executives and Professionals Secretly Outsource Thinking to AI
39:07 Turning AI-Generated Sermons Into Books and Prestige
41:34 How Celebrity Status Directly Incentivizes Lying and Spin
45:57 Lance Armstrong, Coverups, and Protecting a Public Image
52:28 Can We Realistically Stop Student Cheating With AI
54:48 Deepfakes, Accountability, and Rebuilding Honest Character Today

How does recognizing our deep physical and social connections change the way we understand human nature?

University of Cincinnati philosophy and psychology professor Dr. Anthony Chemero joins host PJ Weary to challenge traditional Western philosophy and explore the embodied nature of cognition.

Dr. Chemero unpacks his book Intertwined Creatures: The Embodied Cognitive Science of Self and Other. Together they discuss the intersection of cognitive science and feminist theory to show how deeply our environments and social circles shape who we are.

In this conversation they explore: 

• How feminist critiques of traditional philosophy reveal that our earliest experiences as infants are shared rather than isolated. 
• The flaws of the Cartesian worldview that treats the self as a hidden mind sparsely connected to a mechanical body. 
• Using the pub crawl from the movie The World's End to explain why viewing other people as unthinking blanks is a fundamental failure of understanding humanity. 
• What flushing toilets and far-from-equilibrium thermodynamics teach us about the self-organizing nature of human behavior. 
• The physical and social constraints that effortlessly coordinate our actions when we move a sofa or dance with another person. 
• The concept of shared public moods and how our emotions are often collective rather than purely internal.

This is a conversation for anyone interested in psychology and philosophy who wants to break free from the illusion of isolation and embrace a deeply connected human experience.

Make sure to check out Dr. Chemero's book: Intertwined Creatures: The Embodied Cognitive Science of Self and Other 👉 https://cup.columbia.edu/book/intertwined-creatures/9780231223195/

Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com 

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.

Timestamps
0:00 – Introduction
1:13 – Grad School, Feminism, and the Limits of Analytic Philosophy
2:10 – From Chomsky to Dennett to Feminist Cognitive Science
3:16 – Discovering Feminist Political Theory and Embodiment
4:22 – Embodiment, Social Interaction, and What People Really Are
4:45 – AI as Blanks and The World’s End Analogy
5:33 – Why No One Around You Is a Blank
6:16 – The Problem of Other Minds
7:26 – Philosophy, Real Life, and Promoting Social Change
8:46 – What Is a Person? Traditional Views vs Feminist Critique
9:50 – Mothers, Infants, and Shared Experience
10:30 – Minimal Self, Narrative Self, and a Three Year Old’s Identity
11:32 – From Newborn Coexperience to Semi Autonomy
12:20 – Robinson Crusoe, Technology, and Minds Without Others
13:11 – Culture, Chairs, and How Social Norms Shape Perception
15:00 – Are Some Cultures More Communal Than the West
15:58 – How Roles and Rooms Quietly Shape Our Choices
16:38 – What Are Dynamical Systems in Cognitive Science
18:01 – Far From Equilibrium Thermodynamics and Living Systems
19:19 – Bringing Dynamics into Neuroscience and Cognition
20:11 – Frisbee Catching and Why Minds Extend Beyond the Skull
20:39 – Self Organization, Constraints, and Everyday Common Sense
22:28 – Toilets, Whirlpools, and How Order Emerges Without a Leader
24:23 – Actions as Self Organizing Rather Than Commanded
25:00 – Social Constraints, Bowls, and How Groups Shape Behavior
25:27 – Carrying a Sofa Together as Joint Action
27:19 – Moods as Public and Shared Rather Than Private
28:37 – Personality, Moods, and Emotions Across Timescales
29:10 – Shared Emotions and the Feel of Being in an Argument
29:34 – Power, Hierarchy, and Antagonistic Coupling
30:11 – Belittling, Culture, and How Reactions Are Learned
30:59 – Novels, Violence, and How Books Shape Collective Mood
31:59 – Beyond Cartesian Mind Reading
32:37 – Conversations, Grumpiness, and Shared Affective Fields
36:03 – Truth, Activism, and Why Theory Choice Is Moral
37:02 – Chomsky, Nativism, and Morally Dubious Pictures of Persons
38:17 – How Intertwined Selves Reshape Parenting and Gender
39:44 – Emotional Connectedness as the Human Default
40:01 – Individual Health as Community Health
40:28 – Environment, Regulation, and Why the World Matters for Persons
41:22 – Inverting Harmful Policies Through Interdependence
41:50 – Descartes, Souls, and the Myth of Radical Independence
42:47 – Relationships as Systems With Their Own Integrity
45:00 – Microbiomes, Air Quality, and the Fragility of Thought
47:09 – Jeff VanderMeer, Area X, and Transformative Environments
50:00 – Violence, Mobs, and When Social Dynamics Go Wrong
51:25 – Concluding Thoughts

Are we powerless against the march of modern technology, or can we reclaim our agency to foster true human connection? 

Writer, cultural historian, and photographer Dr. Dan Turello joins host PJ Wehry to rethink our relationship with technology and explore its potential to improve the human condition. Turello, a technology and humanity fellow at the Center for Future of Mind, AI, and Society at Florida Atlantic University, unpacks his book, Connection: How Technology Can Make Us Better Humans. 

Together they discuss moving past tech-pessimism and determinism to understand how our tools and social structures shape our lives.

In this conversation they explore: 

• Why we need to view technology not just as screens and algorithms, but as the fundamental ways humans relate, negotiate, and build community
• The surprising lessons on counterculture, wealth, and institutional bureaucracy we can learn from 13th-century Franciscan monks like St. Francis and Jacopone da Todi
• How an autonomic nervous system crisis forced a shift from a purely intellectual "neck-up" mindset to a deeply embodied way of living
• Reclaiming our agency over our devices—like choosing a flip phone—to dictate how and when we connect with the world
• Why portrait photography acts as an unpredictable, embodied dance of trust and authentic expression rather than a cerebral pursuit
• Acknowledging the cognitive impact of social media by giving readers permission to consume books in a non-linear, "choose your own adventure" style

This is a conversation for anyone exhausted by tech-anxiety who wants to build healthier, more intentional relationships with their devices and their own bodies.

Make sure to check out Dr. Turello's book: Connection: How Technology Can Make Us Better Humans 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXNQQX17

Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com 

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.

Timestamps
0:00 Introducing Dan Trello
1:36 Three Origin Stories Behind the Book
3:43 Franciscans, Battlestar Galactica, and Fear of Tech
5:37 When the Body Revolts and Embodiment Practices
10:01 Climbing, Poetry, and Non-Logical Knowing
11:33 Emotions, History, and the Wolf Story
13:43 What Franciscans Teach About Technology
17:44 Medieval Finance and Franciscan Resistance
19:33 Jacopone’s Radical Poverty and Paradox
24:36 Asceticism, Institutions, and Technology
26:52 Bodies, Nature, and Harmonious Tech Use
28:03 The Mammoth Fable and Relational Technology
32:35 Facebook, Phalanx, and Social Arrangements
35:10 Flip Phones, Smartphones, and Agency
35:54 Embodiment Practices and Photography
38:47 Can We Still Read Long Books Deeply
43:33 How Academics Read and Partial Reading
47:13 Living Embodied in an Overconsuming Culture
49:11 Concluding Thoughts

What comes after the endless critiques of postmodernism? 

Williams College professor Dr. Jason Ananda Josephson Storm joins host PJ Wehry to rethink the trajectory of the human sciences and chart a course for the future of academic theory. 

Dr. Storm, the Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Religion and Chair of Science and Technology Studies, unpacks his book, Metamodernism: The Future of Theory. Together they discuss how scholars can move past deconstruction and begin building again. 

In this conversation they explore:

🔷 Why starting with critique is necessary but terminating in critique fails to move conversations forward. 
🔷 How academic disciplines systematically dismantled their own core categories like art, religion, and society. 
🔷 The frustrating cycle of scholarly "turns" that repeat past mistakes without interdisciplinary awareness. 
🔷 Reclaiming the liberal arts as a practical guide for living a life worth having lived. 
🔷 The shift from academic destruction to compassionate philosophy after the birth of his daughter. 
🔷 Critical virtue ethics and the importance of struggling together to build a better world despite pervasive suffering. 

This is a conversation for anyone exhausted by constant skepticism who wants to find constructive ways to engage with society and scholarship. 

Make sure to check out Dr. Storm's book: Metamodernism: The Future of Theory 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/022678665X

Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com 

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.

Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
5:00 Beyond Postmodernism
10:00 Humanities, Jobs, and Lives Worth Having Lived
15:00 Teaching “The Meaning of Life” and Guiding Students Toward Flourishing
20:00 Epistemic Communities, Self-Deception, and Critical Virtue Ethics
30:23 How Categories Like “Art,” “Religion,” and “Society” Fall Apart
38:38 What Metamodernism Tries to Build
44:11 Academic Incentives, Jargon, and Trying to Do No-Bullshit Philosophy
53:05 The Impact of Fatherhood
1:02:07 Critical Virtue Ethics

What do Hegel and Heidegger have to do with the struggles faced by liberalism today? 

Duke political philosopher Dr. Michael Allen Gillespie joins host PJ Wehry to rethink the philosophical foundations of modern history and the crisis we're living through now.

Dr. Gillespie, Professor of Political Science at Duke University, revisits his landmark book, Hegel, Heidegger, and the Ground of History, to examine what these two towering figures reveal about the trajectory of Western civilization.

In this conversation they explore:

• Why Fukuyama's "end of history" never arrived and what replaced it
• Hegel's master-slave dialectic and what it tells us about how consciousness drives history
• Heidegger's warning: the "forgetfulness of Being" as the root of modern nihilism
• What it means to ask for the ground of history and why that question remains urgent
• The tension between human freedom and natural causation at the heart of modernity
• Heidegger's destruction of Western metaphysics and what he was trying to clear space for
• Why Heidegger may have misread Plato, and what we lose because of it

This is a conversation for anyone who suspects something has gone deeply wrong in the modern world and wants to understand why.

Make sure to check out Dr. Gillespie's book: Hegel, Heidegger, and the Ground of History 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226293777/

Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com 

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.

Can beauty actually reveal God? Oxford theologian Dr. Mark McInroy joins host PJ Wehry to explore Hans Urs von Balthasar's radical claim that beauty is not decoration, but the very structure of divine revelation.

Dr. McInroy, Associate Professor of Contemporary and Systematic Theology at the University of Oxford, unpacks his book Balthasar on the Spiritual Senses: Perceiving Splendor, a guide to one of the most important (and most difficult) Catholic thinkers of the 20th century.

In this conversation they discuss:

• What Balthasar means by "spiritual senses"
• How beauty functions as a transcendental property of being itself
• Why God's self-disclosure in Christ is fundamentally sensory, not merely rational
• The concept of "splendor"
• Why beauty, truth, and goodness are inseparable
• How perceiving divine beauty is available to all Christians, not just mystics

If you've ever felt that a great work of art, a piece of music, or a moment in nature pointed toward something beyond itself, Balthasar has a theology for that experience.

Make sure to check out Dr. McInroy's book: Balthasar on the Spiritual Senses: Perceiving Splendor 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199689008

Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com 

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.

In this episode of Chasing Leviathan, host PJ Wehry sits down with Dr. Yuval Avnur, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Humanities Institute at Scripps College. They dive into Dr. Avnur's new book, Why Read Pascal Today?, and explore why Blaise Pascal remains one of the most vital voices in the philosophy of religion.

Dr. Avnur challenges the traditional understanding of Pascal's Wager. Rather than a cold, calculated bet designed to force belief, Avnur explains that Pascal viewed human nature fundamentally as a "heart with a belief-forming mechanism attached to it."

Together, PJ and Dr. Avnur discuss:

• Pascal’s Augustinian roots and his skepticism toward "pure reason"
• Why the condition of our hearts dictates the evidence we are willing to see
• The "crisis of desire": Why endless distraction leaves us unsatisfied

What does a 17th-century philosopher have to say about our modern lives? Dr. Avnur breaks down why we can have every comfort at our fingertips yet remain entirely empty, and how a "Pascalian" approach can help us engage with one another more humanely—seeking to understand the heart rather than just winning the argument.

Make sure to check out Avnur's book: Why Read Pascal Today? 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1009321447/

Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com 

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.

In this episode of Chasing Leviathan, PJ sits down with Dr. Michael Sawyer, Professor of African American Literature and Culture at the University of Pittsburgh. They dive deep into the philosophy behind Dr. Sawyer's latest book, The Door of No Return: Being as Black.

Dr. Sawyer challenges traditional academic boundaries, arguing that Black aesthetic practices—from the novels of Toni Morrison and Ralph Ellison to the musical performances of Bob Marley and Aretha Franklin—are profound philosophical statements in their own right.

Together, PJ and Dr. Sawyer discuss:
🔷 The limitations of W.E.B. Du Bois's "double consciousness"
🔷 How Hegel's dialectic outlines the anti-black world
🔷 Toni Morrison's vision of a non-dialectical "third world" of sovereign blackness

What does it practically mean to push past the Middle Passage and imagine a world beyond anti-blackness? Dr. Sawyer explains how this speculative philosophy translates to a day-to-day reality where systemic tragedies like the death of Breonna Taylor simply do not happen.

Make sure to check out Sawyer's book: The Door of No Return: Being-As-Black 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1439925577
Use the code: 25FNBK at tupress.temple.edu/books/the-door-of-no-return for a 25% discount!

Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.

In this episode of Chasing Leviathan, PJ is joined by Dr. Paul Moser to discuss his book, God on Trial: Testing for the Divine. They explore why traditional philosophical arguments often fail to reveal the true nature of God and why the search for the divine requires a shift from intellectual spectacle to moral participation. 

Dr. Moser challenges the "spectator" approach to theology, arguing that God is not interested in satisfying human curiosity with miraculous signs or undeniable logic. He contends that God’s primary goal is not merely to be believed in, but to be trusted and partnered with, specifically through the "Gethsemane struggle" of aligning human will with divine love. He advocates for a shift from demanding evidence from God to becoming evidence for God through righteous character. 

The conversation also covers the crucial difference between "gift-giver" theology and true relational intimacy, the role of the "fruit of the Spirit" as the tangible personality traits of God, and why effective prayer is less about asking for favors and more about becoming a "fellow worker" in God's redemptive plan.

Make sure to check out Moser's book: God on Trial: Testing for the Divine 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DST8MH5Y

Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.

In this episode of Chasing Leviathan, PJ is joined by Dr. Barbara Rosenwein to discuss her book, Generations of Feeling: A History of Emotions, 600 to 1700, and the decade-long research process required to bridge the traditional academic silos of the medieval and early modern periods.

Dr. Rosenwein introduces her concept of "emotional communities," explaining how groups throughout history, much like modern political parties, have maintained distinct norms and values regarding what is felt and expressed . She challenges the linear view that modern society has reached a "pinnacle" of emotional development , arguing that historians have often "read out" emotions from the past , and advocates for understanding historical figures on their own terms rather than through modern judgment.

The conversation also covers the evolution of friendship from the virtue-based models of Aristotle and Cicero to modern romantic ideals , the shifting biological theories of emotion from the heart to the brain , and why expanding our emotional vocabulary is essential to becoming fully human.

Make sure to check out Rosenwein's book: Generations of Feeling: A History of Emotions, 600 to 1700 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1107097045

Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.