In this episode, Megan and Frank continue their discussion of the Illuminati. Here, the focus is on the afterlife of the Bavarian Order. How did conspiracy theories involving the Illuminati arise? Why is so much pop culture full of Illuminati imagery? And are there any good reasons to believe in such conspiracy theories? Thinkers discussed include: Dostoyevsky, Kierkegaard, and Maarten Boudry.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: [email protected]

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Bibliography:

Michael Taylor- Illuminati in the US - American History Hit | Acast

The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati (Primary source documents)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Illuminati

Kierkegaard - The Crowd is Untruth

The Grand Inquisitor, by Feodor Dostoevsky

Barruel - Memoirs Illustrating The History Of Jacobinism

From Thomas Jefferson to Bishop James Madison, 31 January 1800

Did an Illuminati Conspiracy Theory Help Elect Thomas Jefferson? - POLITICO

Nesta Webster - World revolution; the plot against civilization

Zionism versus Bolshevism - Churchill

Boudry, Maarten - Why We Should Be Suspicious of Conspiracy Theories. A Novel Demarcation Problem 

[Reddit] why do the large shadow organizations leave clues that could lead to their downfall?

Megan Fritts & Frank Cabrera, Fake News and Epistemic Vice: Combating a Uniquely Noxious Market

Are Republicans and Conservatives More Likely to Believe Conspiracy Theories? - PMC

The psychological and political correlates of conspiracy theory beliefs

Is Conspiracy Theorising Irrational? - Neil Levy

Predictors of belief in conspiracy theory

Conspiracy theory and cognitive style: a worldview

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, a secret society founded in 1776 by the Enlightenment philosopher Adam Weishaupt. This conversation covers who the Illuminati were, what they believed, and how they attempted to bring about a "new world order." Thinkers discussed include: Adam Weishaupt, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Mencius, and Alasdair MacIntyre.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: [email protected]

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Bibliography:

The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati (Primary source documents)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Illuminati

Illuminaten - Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism

Perfectibilists | Independent Publishers Group

Kant. What is Enlightenment

Hegel - Philosophy of Right

After Virtue - A Study in Moral Theory - Alasdair MacIntyre

How Mengzi came up with something better than the Golden Rule | Aeon Ideas

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the Enneagram. Is the Enneagram a legitimate science of personality? What even is personality? And how much of our lives does personality determine? Join them as they examine the classic book, "Discovering Your Personality Type: The Essential Introduction to the Enneagram" by Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson. Other thinkers discussed include: Aristotle, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and John Doris.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: [email protected]

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Bibliography:

Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson - Discovering Your Personality Type

Empirical Approaches to Moral Character (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Pseudoscience and the Demarcation Problem | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

Situationism, Moral Improvement, and Moral Responsibility | The Oxford Handbook of Moral Psychology

Virtue Ethics | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the strange phenomenon of past life memories. Are past life memories evidence for reincarnation? Is what we remember a good guide to who we are? And how might a single identity span different lifetimes? Thinkers discussed in this episode include Plato, Pythagoras, Thomas Reid, J.M.E. McTaggart, and Michael Sudduth.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: [email protected]

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Bibliography:

Timaeus by Plato

Diogenes Laërtius: Pythagoras

The Next Dalai Lama: Preparing for Reincarnation and Why It Matters to India

Claire White, Robert M. Kelly & Shaun Nichols, Remembering Past Lives

Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

Children Who Report Memories of Past Lives - Division of Perceptual Studies

The Case of James Leininger_ An American Case of the Reincarnation Type

Jim Tucker - Response to Sudduth’s “James Leininger Case Re-Examined”

The Science of Reincarnation—VIRGINIA Magazine

The Philosophy of Dr. McTaggart.

S2, Episode 6: The Self and Survival (Mar. 27th, 2018) – Hi-Phi Nation

New evidence shows false memories can be created | UW News

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

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In this episode, Megan and Frank discuss the philosophical dimensions of prehistory. What and when is the “prehistoric”? How was prehistory "discovered", and what explains our fascination with it? Is ancient archeology safe from our biases? And how did archaic man’s meaning-making differ from our own? Thinkers discussed include: Colin Renfrew, Hegel, Charles Taylor, Mircea Eliade, and Wittgenstein.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: [email protected]

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Bibliography:

Prehistory: The Making of the Human Mind - Colin Renfrew

Hegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of History

Cave of Forgotten Dreams - Official Trailer | HD | IFC Films

Bewitched by an Elf Dart: Fairy Archaeology, Folk Magic and Traditional Medicine in Ireland - Dowd

A Secular Age — Harvard University Press

Theory and Observation in Science (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

From things to thinking: Cognitive archaeology - Currie & Killin

Cognitive Archaeology and the Minimum Necessary Competence Problem - Killin & Pain 

An Ape's View of the Oldowan - Wynn & McGrew

Neuroscience, evolution and the sapient paradox - Colin Renfrew

Sapient paradox: Why humans got stuck in prehistory -Gossip Trap- Big Think

The Myth of the Eternal Return | Princeton University Press

Eliade_Mircea_The_Sacred_and_The_profane_1963

Wittgenstein - Notebooks, 1914 - 1916, 2nd Edition | Wiley

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs

License code: AAO0Q7IZMGVTLFJH

In this episode, Megan and Frank examine astrology. What is astrology, and why do people practice it? What are the strongest objections to astrology? Should astrology count as a science? If not, why not? What can the case of astrology teach us about the role of science in a democratic society? And why does the ancient practice of reading the stars prompt us to ponder the deepest aspects of human experience? Thinkers discussed include: Aristotle, Cicero, Ptolemy, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend, Carl Sagan, Ian James Kidd, and Massimo Pigliucci.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: [email protected]

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Bibliography:

Philosophy of Science and the Occult | State University of New York Press (first section is an invaluable resource, containing the 1975 manifesto, Feyerabend's critique, and articles summarizing statistical studies disconfirming astrology)

Cabrera - Evidence and explanation in Cicero's On Divination

LacusCurtius • Ptolemy — Tetrabiblos

LacusCurtius • Cicero — De Divinatione: Book I

A double-blind test of astrology | Nature

Readings in the Philosophy of Science: From Positivism to Postmodernism (See for short selections from Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos)

Ian James Kidd - Why did Feyerabend Defend Astrology? Integrity, Virtue, and the Authority of Science (An excellent paper that very much informed our discussion of the science & society question)

M. Pigliucci  - Was Feyerabend Right in Defending Astrology? A Commentary on Kidd

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate ghosts and hauntings. Are ghosts some kind of spirit, physical beings, or something in between? Is there a natural explanation for ghostly encounters? And what can ghosts teach us about the depths of human experience? Thinkers discussed include: Descartes, Philip Goff, and Beverley Clack.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: [email protected]

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Bibliography:

Ghosts of Philosophy LaBossiere | A Philosopher's Blog

Victorian ectoplasm-producing mediums: freaks or fakes? | Children's books | The Guardian

Philip Goff, Ghosts and Sparse Properties

The wisdom of ghosts - Clack | Religious Studies | Cambridge Core

Braude, Immortal Remains: The Evidence for Life After Death 

Podemore, et al. - Phantasms of the Living

The Best Ghost Story - by Alexander J. Zawacki

LEGION OF THE DAMNED - ghostwalkbrighton.co.uk

Time | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Megan Fritts, Arresting Time's Arrow: Death, Loss, and the Preservation of Real Union

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

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In this episode, Megan and Frank examine hypnosis. What evidence is there that hypnosis is a real phenomenon, and why does hypnosis have a dubious reputation? Does hypnosis alleviate pain, or just mask it? What is the nature of hypnotic consciousness? And does hypnosis prove there’s no true self? Thinkers discussed include: William James, Ernest and Josephine Hilgard, Derek Parfit, Sigmund Freud, and Tim Bayne.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: [email protected]

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Bibliography:

Uncovering the new science of clinical hypnosis

The Morpheus Clinic for Hypnosis

Hypnobirthing - Google Books

Hypnosis and Conscious States: The Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective

Hypnosis to quit smoking: What to know

Neural functional correlates of hypnosis and hypnoanalgesia: Role of the cingulate cortex

Hypnotic Suggestion and the Modulation of Stroop Interference

Hypnosis in the Relief of Pain

Mary Haight, Hypnosis and the Philosophy of Mind

Hypnotism and Mesmerism | Vox

Hypnosis in History - American Hypnosis Association

Hidden observer - Oxford Reference

Hidden Observer APA Dictionary

The split brain: A tale of two halves | Nature

Derek Parfit. Here's why he mattered. | Vox

Tim Bayne, Hypnosis and the unity of consciousness

Tim Bayne - The Unity of Consciousness | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

Bilingual “I Hear a Pickle/ Oigo Un Pepinello” (kidizen.com)

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

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In this episode, Megan and Frank tackle the growing trend of "hacking" one's biology to increase longevity and possibly attain immortality.  Are biohackers right to fear death, though? Would immortality be desirable? And is the human condition worth preserving? Thinkers discussed include: Epicurus, Bernard Williams, Schopenhauer, John Martin Fischer, Martha Nussbaum, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: [email protected]

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Bibliography:

What Is Biohacking And How Does It Work? – Forbes Health

Challenging Bryan Johnson On His “Never Die” Biohacking Protocol (youtube.com)

Letter to Menoeceus by Epicurus (mit.edu)

Is Death Bad for You? by Shelley Kagan (chronicle.com)

Williams on Immortality.pdf (nd.edu)

John Martin Fischer Response to Williams

Gift of Ilúvatar | The One Wiki to Rule Them All | Fandom

Nussbaum - Mortal immortals

Schopenhauer - The vanity of existence

Brooke Alan Trisel, Human extinction and the value of our efforts

Being and Becoming in Modern Physics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Megan Fritts, Arresting Time's Arrow: Death, Loss, and the Preservation of Real Union

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs

License code: DEKZTEGOGV2Q0TH7

In this episode, Megan and Frank continue their discussion of myths and mythology. Join them as they further explore different approaches to interpreting and understanding myth. How have creation myths differed across cultures? Should myth be regarded as an allegory? Is the point of myth to justify society’s norms? Is myth a tool for exploring the subconscious aspects of our minds? And do we have any use for myth in the modern world? Thinkers discussed include Joseph Cambell, Carl Jung, Karl Popper, and Mary Midgley.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: [email protected]

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Bibliography:

Powell - A Short Introduction to Classical Myth (earlhaig.ca) (Chs. 2-3 for an excellent overview of theories of myth)

Classical Mythology - Prof. Vandiver (A great lecture series we learned a lot from)

Myth in Human History - Grant Voth (Another great lecture series we drew from)

Myth and Knowing: An Introduction to World Mythology (quoted a few times in the episode)

Teaching Jung - Kelly Bulkeley; Clodagh Weldon (Ch. 5 by Robert Segal was very helpful!)

Campbell's "Other" Monomyth - The Hero's Journey: Life's Great Adventure

A Secular Age — Charles Tayllor 

Conjectures & Refutations - Karl Popper

The Myths We Live By - Mary Midgley

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs

License code: LRDE4XFUJKAMEDIZ