Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Hugo Drochon about Nietzsche’s political thought. They talk about why Nietzsche’s political thought has been ignored, Nietzsche’s great politics, Nietzsche’s emphasis on culture, Plato and political philosophy, and how to build a culture. They also talk about philosophy of state, democracy, slavery, caste systems, Nietzsche’s politics in modernity, and many other topics.

Hugo Drochon is a political theorist and historian. He has his PhD from Cambridge and completed his postdoctoral fellowship there as well. He has also had fellowships at Yale, Princeton, and Royal Historical Society. His main interests are in Nietzsche’s politics, democratic theory, and liberalism. He is the author of, Nietzsche’s Great Politics.

Website: https://www.hugodrochon.com/

Twitter: @hdrochon

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Katja Hoyer about the history of East Germany. They discuss the culture of East and West Germany and how East Germany originated, East Germany and the relationship with the Soviet Union, and the political makeup of East Germany. They also talk about the significance of Ulbrecht and socialism, creation of the Berlin Wall, and the Stasi in East Germany. They discuss the failed economics in East Germany in the 1980s, similarities between unification in 1871 and reunification in 1990, Angela Merkel’s time in office, and how a unified Germany moves forward.

Katja Hoyer is a historian and journalist who is visiting research fellow at King’s College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is also Global Opinions contributing columnist for The Washington Post. Her main research area is the history of modern Germany. She is the author of Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871-1918 and Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany.

Twitter: @hoyer_kat

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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Diana Fleischman about a wide range of topics including polyamory and eugenics. They talk about how evolutionary psychology is a good framework for understanding relationships, patriarchal and matriarchal societies, history of monogamous and polyamorous relationships and jealousy and polyamory. They also talk about the difficult history of eugenics, decoupling bad from the good, polygenic scores, governmental differences with prenatal care, GWAS, and many more topics.

Diana Fleischman is an evolutionary psychologist and Associate Research professor at the University of New Mexico. Her research has focused on evolutionary psychology, disgust research, sex differences, animal rights, and eugenics.

Website: https://www.dianafleischman.com/

Substack: Dissentient

Twitter: @sentientist

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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with William Egginton about the nature of reality through the work by Borges, Heisenberg, and Kant. They discuss what connects these three men, role of interpretation, and different tools to ask big questions about space, time, and reality. They also talk about the origins of reality, change, Hume’s impact on Kant’s thinking, power of theory for understanding science, existence, and many more topics.

William Egginton is an author, literary critic, and Decker Professor in the Humanities and Director of the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute at Johns Hopkins University. His main interests are in poetry, literature, philosophy, history of science. He is the author of numerous books including his latest book, The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality.

Website: https://www.williamegginton.com/

Twitter: @williamegginton

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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Neil Theise about complexity in biology, physics, and consciousness. They talk about complexity with general systems theory, chaos theory, and fractals. They discuss complementarity with cellular biology and quantum mechanics. They also discuss consciousness, what it means to be human, and many more topics.

Neil Theise is a professor of pathology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. His main research interests are on adult stem cells and the anatomy of the human interstitium. He is the author of the book, Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being.

Website: https://www.neiltheiseofficial.com/

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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lauren Lassabe Shepherd about conservatives on colleges campuses in the 1960s. They talked about the organization of the book, presentism, the New Right being exported to mass media and politics, and how the New Right was very “Anti.” They discuss Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), movement from college campuses to politics, Libertarians split from conservatives, and the impact on current politics.

Lauren Lassabe Shepherd is a historian, writer, and teacher. She teaches in the Department of Education and Human Development at the University of New Orleans. Her research focuses on the history of higher education in the United States during the 20th century. She is the author of her first book, Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and the Campus Wars.

Website: laurenlassabe.com

Twitter: @llassabe

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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lev Parikian about flight in animals. They discuss convergent evolution for flight, four forces of flight, and early flight with mayflies and dragonflies. They talk about vision in dragonflies, beetles, bees and their different uses of their wings and pterosaurs. They talk about birds, flightless birds, speed of hummingbirds, bats, and many more topics.

Lev Parikian is an author and conductor. He has written for many publications on birds. He is the author of six books including the most recent book, Taking Flight. His orchestral work has been on BBC and he has put out two albums and various orchestral work.

Website: https://levparikian.com/

Substack: Lev Parikian

Twitter: @levparikian

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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Damion Searls about the philosophy of translation. They talk about decisions in translation, primacy of reading, and trusting the translator. They discuss language proficiency, fluency, dead vs. modern languages, and translating various authors. They also talk about translating Wittgenstein, translation process, how to select a translation, and many more topics.

Damion Searls is a translator, author, and philosopher. He has translated works by Proust, Rilke, Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, Jon Fosse, and many others. He is author of, The Inkblots, and is currently working on his latest book on the philosophy of translation.

Website: https://www.damionsearls.com/

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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Bence Nanay about mental imagery. They define mental imagery, hyperaphantasia and aphantasia, mental imagery as unconscious, predictive processing and representations. They discuss the role of the body, multimodal dimensions, EMDR, metaphysics, phenomenology of perception, and many more topics.

Bence Nanay is a philosopher and BOF Research Professor of philosophical psychology at the University of Antwerp. His main interests are on the philosophy and psychology of perception. He is well published with many peer-reviewed articles and is the author of numerous books, including the most recent book, Mental Imagery.

Website: https://bencenanay.com/

Twitter: @bencenanay

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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with David Edmonds about the life and philosophy of Derek Parfit. They discuss the enigma of Derek Parfit, impact of his religious family, his work with poetry, journalism, and photography, and his time in the USA and Oxford. They talk about personal identity and the self, Reasons and Persons, utilitarianism, non-identity, equality, On What Matters, and many more topics.

David Edmonds is a philosopher and author. He is Distinguished Research Fellow at Oxford University. His main interests are in moral philosophy and ethics. He is also the co-host (with Nigel Warburton) of the popular podcast, Philosophy Bites. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent book, Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality.

Website: http://www.davidedmonds.info/

Twitter: @davidedmonds100

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