Johnathan Bi

An interview with Robert Pippin on Nietzsche, Technology and Nihilism.

Subscribe to my newsletter if you want content updates, invitations to events, and to support my work: johnathanbi.com

Full transcript: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnathanbi/p/transcript-for-robert-pippin-interview?r=2mzsg

Get full access to Johnathan Bi at www.johnathanbi.com/subscribe

An interview with Fred Neuhouser on Rousseau's amour-propre.

Subscribe to my newsletter if you want content updates, invitations to events, and to support my work: johnathanbi.com

Read the full transcript: https://www.johnathanbi.com/publish/posts/detail/146339067?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fposts

Companion lectures & interviews:

* Rousseau's first discourse lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8ucJ29O1kM&t=224s

Professor Neuhouser's Book on Amour-Propre (affiliate):

* Rousseau as Author: https://amzn.to/3LdOoqd

* My book notes: https://www.johnathanbi.com/p/rousseaus-theodicy-of-self-love-by

Get full access to Johnathan Bi at www.johnathanbi.com/subscribe

An interview with Christopher Kelly on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's case for heroes.

Subscribe to my newsletter if you want content updates, invitations to events, and to support my work: johnathanbi.com

Full transcript: https://www.johnathanbi.com/p/transcript-for-christopher-kelly

Get full access to Johnathan Bi at www.johnathanbi.com/subscribe

An introductory lecture summarizing the key ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse on the Arts and Sciences

Subscribe to my newsletter if you want content updates, invitations to events, and to support my work: johnathanbi.com

Full Transcript & other links at https://open.substack.com/pub/johnathanbi/p/transcript-for-rousseaus-first-discourse

Get full access to Johnathan Bi at www.johnathanbi.com/subscribe

An interview with Professor Brian Leiter on Nietzsche's critique of free will.

Subscribe to my newsletter if you want content updates, invitations to events, and to support my work: johnathanbi.com

For the full video and transcript, visit: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnathanbi/p/transcript-for-brian-leiter-interview?r=l66v&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Get full access to Johnathan Bi at www.johnathanbi.com/subscribe

An introductory lecture to Friedrich Nietzsche’s On The Genealogy of Morality.

Subscribe to my newsletter if you want content updates, invitations to events, and to support my work: johnathanbi.com

For the transcript & other links, visit: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnathanbi/p/transcript-for-nietzsches-genealogy

Get full access to Johnathan Bi at www.johnathanbi.com/subscribe

Christianity exposed the injustice of scapegoating and, in doing so, robbed us of the cathartic tools which early human societies used to contain and resolve violence. Today, the Katechon which prevents violence from overflowing is three institutions that limit and channel violence: Law, Capitalism, and War. By tracing a genealogy for all three institutions, Girard comes to the terrifying conclusion that these final bulwarks against apocalypse are on the verge of collapse. More precisely, their collapse is already underway.

Some links to further guide your study:

* Join my email list to be notified of future episodes: greatbooks.io

* Full transcript: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnathanbi/p/transcript-of-girard-lecture-vii

Get full access to Johnathan Bi at www.johnathanbi.com/subscribe

Rescued by Christianity, modernity is distinctly different than the violent, deceitful, and stagnant societies of yore. We are the most loving, truthful, and innovative culture ever to exist. Resting uneasily alongside this fundamental affirmation of modernity, however, is Girard’s puzzling insistence that things have barely changed at all: we now simply persecute victims under the banner of love, rigidly adhere to scientific dogmas under the guise of free inquiry, and package trivialities as radical innovations. Despite our high-minded ideals, stubborn human nature refuses to budge and, so, the perversions of modernity take on the shape of hypocrisy. Even humanity’s greatest triumph is terribly ambivalent and limited.Some links to further guide your study:

* Join my email list to be notified of future episodes: greatbooks.io

* Full transcript: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnathanbi/p/transcript-of-girard-lecture-vi

Get full access to Johnathan Bi at www.johnathanbi.com/subscribe

For Girard, Christianity is radically different from all other religions in one crucial aspect: it takes the side of the innocent victim and, in doing so, exposes the violence and deceit of worldly order. We will explore how this intuition of innocence begins to take root in the Hebrew bible and blossoms into a resounding declaration in the Crucifixion. Girard presents us with an anthropology of the Cross: a translation of Christian phenomena into this-worldly, humanistic language. Girard’s success in placing this world in the foreground, however, forces the other world and even God himself to retreat into the background. In Girard’s unorthodox Christianity, God’s absence is just as loud and jarring as humanity’s presence.Some links to further guide your study:

* Join my email list to be notified of future episodes: greatbooks.io

* Full transcript: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnathanbi/p/transcript-of-girard-lecture-v

Get full access to Johnathan Bi at www.johnathanbi.com/subscribe

Starting from lecture IV, we will move away from psychology and into Girard’s history, beginning with the very first human societies. In times of internal turmoil, these early societies would converge on an innocent victim, attribute to him all the blame, murder this scapegoat in a brutal killing, and achieve peace through violent catharsis. These founding murders gave rise to institutions, cultures, and even gods themselves. Far are we from the comfort of social contracts. Girard’s unsettling conclusion is that peace is built on the corpses of innocent victims. Worldly order demands violence and deceit.Some links to further guide your study:

* Join my email list to be notified of future episodes: greatbooks.io

* Full transcript: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnathanbi/p/transcript-of-girard-lecture-iv

Get full access to Johnathan Bi at www.johnathanbi.com/subscribe