"Liberty" and "liberalism" are overused words—but what do they even mean? Are all kinds of freedom good per se, or do we need boundaries like the kinds provided by religious teaching? There are profound and urgent debates raging on these questions right now. In this episode of "Young Heretics," Spencer Klavan navigates some of the major issues with his friend and fellow traveler, the academic Brandon Van Dyck. -- Learn a language and have fun doing it. Meet the Ancient Language Institute and receive 15% off with the code HERETICS: https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 31: How Free Should We Be? ft. Brandon Van Dyck

The classical education you never knew you were missing. Join scholar and writer Spencer Klavan on a tour through the great works of the West. In a world gone mad, we're not alone: the great men and women who went before us have wisdom to guide us. With their help, we can recover truth, beauty, and the stuff that matters.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Education

Training

Language Courses

Higher Education

K-12

Educational Technology

Is it OK to be white? Claremont Institute Senior Fellow is out with a provocative new book about anti-white discrimination in America, and what's to be done about it. We got into a really interesting discussion about race, culture, and politics--including questions like whether Western culture is "white" and what racial harmony in 21st-century America can and should look like. Take a listen, and then check out Jeremy's book: The Unprotected Class: How Anti-White Racism is Tearing America Apart: https://www.amazon.com/Unprotected-Class-Anti-White-Destroying-America/dp/1684514584 Find Jeremy on Substack: https://jeremycarl.substack.com Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my new joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com I maked this: "Civil LARP," a review of Alex Garland's Civil War:  https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/2963967/civil-larp-the-journalists-are-at-it-again/

Interview: Jeremy Carl, [Insert Youtube Warning Label Here]

Blue and black? Or yellow and white? For eons, mankind has grappled with this essential question. Wars have been fought. Families have been torn asunder. Brother has turned against brother and father against son. But now, at last, we can resolve this most important of debates with help from none other than--Ludwig Goethe? Turns out the whole affair brings up all the important issues we need to start moving from Marlowe's Faust to Goethe's, and on the way to pick up a whole new vision for the future of science. Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com I maked this: "Civil LARP," a review of Alex Garland's Civil War:  https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/2963967/civil-larp-the-journalists-are-at-it-again/

Say Yes to the Dress: Goethe, Newton, and the Internet's Biggest Fight Ever

It's not every podcast that comes with a disclaimer, but this one is just spicy enough that it needs a warning on the label. I got a great and fascinating question about how to translate a passage from John's Gospel...and the answer will take me into Mary's status in the church, the meaning of the word "the," and the cosmic significance of each of our lives. How's that for a Friday afternoon?* Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Subscribe to my new joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com *Words words words is a subsidiary of Young Heretics hosted by Spencer Klavan and represents exclusively the views of one dudebro books podcaster on exclusively those lexical matters he chooses to address. It has not been approved by the USCCB and is not intended to throw shade on or resolve disputes among Christians including but not limited to Catholics, Anglicans, evangelicals, baptists, anabaptists, katabaptists, parabaptists, pseudobaptists, and baptists with funny hats, regarding issues pertaining but not limited to the perpetual virginity of Mary, her immaculate conception, her experience of labor, her preference for the Browns over the Packers, or her views on the seasoning of fish. Side effects may include morphological fixation and fine grained knowledge of Biblical Greek; if either of these persist longer than a languid afternoon spent leafing through dictionaries and sighing like a character in a Victorian novel, consult your pastor.

Words, Words, Words 9: Mary Mary, Quite Contrary

Gather round, me hearties, and attend the tale of Pierre-Simon Laplace--a demon-haunted man. This is a story I've been itching to tell for a while, about the birth of quantum physics and the revenge of the Atomic Swerve. It stretches all the way back to Marcus Aurelius and all the way forward to the AI revolution, with some incredible tea to spill along the way (including a cameo from Napoleon). Buckle up, kids: this is a fun one. Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com I maked this: Gateway to the Stoics and Gateway to the Epicureans: https://a.co/d/cS72QtB https://a.co/d/2Kwu4Yu

Demons In My View: AI, Free Will, and the Quantum Revolution

In his new book, Pagan America, Federalist Senior Editor John Daniel Davidson argues that America is not only becoming, but functionally already is, a pagan society. We talk about what that means, why it's happened, and what can be done about it. It's a fascinating discussion touching on a lot of themes that have really been mainstays of the show this year. Also take a listen to my introduction for a wild tesetimonial to liturgical providence (and to find out what happened with my car). Read John's Book, Pagan America: The Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come: https://a.co/d/3UXz7VS Follow John on Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnddavidson Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my new joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com I Maked This: "After Chivalry" at Fairer Disputations: https://fairerdisputations.org/after-chivalry/

Ep. 31: How Free Should We Be? ft. Brandon Van Dyck

Download our free app to listen on your phone