Philosophy? WTF??

Yes, it’s starting to feel like summer and Mike and Danny have decamped to the beer garden but it is still business as usual. Words? What are they good for? How reflexive is that question? This week we leave Erasmus and the humanists as they turn the light of human reason upon sacred texts. Suddenly, in an explosion of self-awareness Descartes emerges from his oven - is he fully baked or only half baked? Is God the “soggy bottom” of the Cartesian cake or the crunchy layer holding it all together and preventing it from being too sweet? Is certainty some thing we certainly need to be certain about or can we just wing it? Turn up the heat to 200 degrees C (around gas mark 6) and watch this episode rise!

This week the Enlightenment swaggers into a bar with its shirt unbuttoned to the chest and a big old medallion on the go, “Check me out guys!” it says. Is its brazen confidence justified or when the last dance is had will it be going home alone by the end of the 19th century? Is reason simply god in a lab coat carrying a clipboard? How retro is that last reference to a clipboard? Does god deliver and if she does do you get your miracle for free if it doesn’t arrive within 30 mins? Be amazed at the revelation of Wittgenstein (yes him) turning his back on the Vienna Circle - moody teenager or a man already fed-up with the Tractatus? Tune in and drop-out guys, let’s build our own utopia right here, who’s with us!?

This week hear Mike and Danny sing Sinatra’s classic “My Way” on the grounds that it is the theme tune to the Enlightenment*. Where is the centre of the cosmos? How do we find out? Copernicus, a brave man or a smart man? you decide. Also in this episode see Danny take on Captain Kirk in a political fight to the death! All of this and the Enlightenment’s opening gambit to sit in gods big comfy chair and establish it’s own grand narrative. I wouldn’t want to miss it, why would you?

*not to be taken literally.

This week, enjoy the spectacle of Danny trying to say the word “consciously”. As god’s job is put in jeopardy by the nascent Enlightenment where can we look for certainty? What does Machiavelli have to offer the budding dictator? Will Danny grow a twirly moustache? Do we need a strong despotic leader to compensate for a crumbling metaphysic? Is Danny the man for the job? What is an ‘indulgence' and what is the going rate for getting out of hell early? Are we in credit in the treasury of merit? How was the Protestant Reformation dependant on the Renaissance?

Also, discover the delight of the word “volpeculated”. Never let it be said that we aren’t a full service podcast.

In this week's cast Danny and Dr Mike keep a close eye on Western thought as it claims to be moving out of it parents place and finding it’s own digs. Can setting fire to a library actually precipitate a paradigm shift? Is it important to poke academics and scholars with a sword occasionally so as to get them to move about bit? Was giving birth to philosophy such fun that it was worth doing all over again? The Renaissance, can we ever go back? Should we always look forward? When do we realise that our parents aren’t infallible? Find out when you bring your laundry back home to be washed and listen to the cast while you're waiting.

This week Danny and Dr. Mike travel far beyond the fields we know. Hear Danny as he cries out "Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground: long heath, brown furze, anything. The wills above be done, but I would fain die a dry death!” Listen on in stupefied awe as our heroes drag themselves from the churning ocean and stumble on into the dark forbidding interior of this strange new land where men bare their legs in November and women quaff strange fruit based beverages. Do not fear gentle listener, our philosonauts survive and find themselves amongst gentle company. Behold almost Dr Neso! Like a wind from Van Diemen's land she sweeps by, blown from her home in search of glory and honour. Will anything ever be the same again?

This week, has Danny got an honest face? Would you trust him to sell you a used car? Augustine isn’t so sure. Also this week does everything make sense when you are part of the club? Is it good to try and believe six impossible things before breakfast? Watch Anselm demonstrate this point by addressing the question Cur Deus Homo. Listen in stupefied wonder as Dr. Mike takes it upon himself to reference Wittgenstein! Is there any difference in the proposition “Danny is good” and “This pie is good”? Who ate all the pies?? Where is my pie??? Also this week the ever evil Dr. Sally - the waiting is almost over!

This week WAR! What is it good for? Who can we do it to and why? Augustine leads the charge but only against the bad guys. Also in this exciting episode Danny and Mike try and understand belief. Does faith have an internal logic? What comes first faith or understanding? Is belief the basis of all knowledge? Are Danny and Mike credible sources of information or just two dudes making stuff up? You believe what you want, you’re all grown-ups.

This week, we watch in mute admiration as Augustine welds the front end of a nascent Semitic monotheistic religion to the back end of a neo-platonic dualism. How will this hybrid perform at speed? Will it deliver economic millage? Also in this cast who can you legitimately punch in the nose? All this and rumblings from the trench at the bottom of the WTF? gardens. Only a fool would say no

In this weeks cast we raise the issue of… well… we kind of talk about…er… that is to say Mike and Danny have a frank discussion on the subject of … well, you know, do we have to spell it out for you?? Any way, it’s all very embarrassing but there it is. I’m glad we had this talk, best to get everything out in the open, no need to beat around the bush so to speak. Also hear about how Augustine thought it would be better to be able to have sex while eating cereal and reading the paper rather than in the chaotic, irrational and passionate way we actually do. Listen out for Danny suggesting that it is more fun that way. I’d tell you to block your ears but that’s no way to promote a sound medium.