This third lecture presents Prof. West’s consideration of early modern philosophy, focusing on Erasmus’s The Praise of Folly (1511), as a response to an era that saw devastating religious warfare, plagues, and famines, and the onset of European imperial conquests. The great public intellectual, Erasmus of Rotterdam, directed his classic work to the sheer absurdity, indeterminacy and frailty of human societies. Also discussed is Montaigne, whose self-explorations, including his essays “Of Cannibals” (1580) and “Of Coaches” (1588), were among the first philosophic reflections on the barbaric European colonization of the New World. As Prof. West argues, Erasmus and Montaigne were both path-blazing exemplars of blues, swing and improvisation in philosophy, facing dark folly with a free-style soul-craft.

The original video can be found here, and the description given above was written by the producers of the lecture series at the University of Edinburgh and provided in the video description.

---

As always these talks are syndicated for educational and nonprofit purposes in accordance with Fair Use. They are produced ad-free, because I listen to my own stuff on here and like you, I hate ads.

If you are able, donations to support the project, which is a labor of love for me, ⁠⁠are available through Spotify. ⁠⁠Anything helps and is felt.

Furthermore my historical and philosophical writing, which is also entirely free is available at my blog, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Hemlock⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Substack.

The music of the intro and outro (Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major) is licensed under non-commercial attribution, and can be ⁠⁠⁠⁠found here⁠⁠⁠⁠ and has been remixed by me.

Enjoy.