LUNA's Road Trip in Philosophy

In this episode Luna arrives at the end of Part 2 of Spinoza's Ethics, where Ol and Val attempt to locate the space of freedom in a causally determined and necessary universe.

Photo: Bunya Mountains in Queensland, Australia

In this episode we explore what it means for Spinoza to have a true idea, where they're located, and the three kinds of knowledge we can have

This week's episode features special guest Joe Major, an Australian composer, musician, piano technician, philsosopher, and AUP alumni, to discuss the relation between music and philosophy as we discuss 20th century experimental composer John Cage, the revolutionary introduction of Arthur Schönberg's 12 tone system, Joe playing the piano to demonstrate some of the concepts discussed, and all things musical.  

On Spinoza's Ethics Part 2 - Propositions 16 through 31

In our 20th episode we go back to our original orientation and ask the kind of questions that suit an introduction to philosophy, and that are found in Part 2 of Spinoza's Ethics.

How can the human mind be just the idea of the body, as Spinoza claims? Do we really have ideas of every single event that occurs in our bodies? How can one global idea - the mind - contain other ideas?  Daniel Yslas, a student of philosophy at The American University of Paris, tells his unique story of how he got into the discipline.

On Part II of Spinoza's Ethics, Propositions 7 through 10.

Ol and Val get methodical with Spinoza's construction of human minds and the mind of God.

We explore Spinoza's absolute rationalism, his love of causal explanation, his arguments against multiple substances and how - going against our theological prejudices - he conceptualises an immanent God. 

Luna ventures out into absolute substance, learning to equate a depersonalised God with Nature, Nature as the necessary unfolding of an intricate causal nexus. Val tries out the bad pantheistic hippy German idealistic reading of Spinoza but Luna rescues him because she is not a hippy but a punk.