The Caffeine Stream

Today we answer questions from Instagram!

1. Favorite inspirational phrase?
2. The law of attraction
3. My personal history with religion
4. "Red Pill Praxeology"
5. Is the demiurge real?
6. How much time do you have to spend studying philosophy to become "knowledgeable?"

If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.

• Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/

Today we explore the dangers and defenses of pornography as we contemplate whether or not it would make sense to ban it.

Among the issues discussed:

• The dangers of addiction generally
• The personal, relational, and social harms of pornography
• Possible defenses of legal pornography
• The challenges of maintaining freedom in the face of addictive pressure
• A possible compromise

If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.

• Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/
• On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson

Today we flesh out what "the freedom of speech" is all about, especially as described by the first amendment of the American Constitution, where it is somewhat ambiguously enshrined.

We discuss:

• The English origins of the "freedom of speech" (thanks largely to John Milton)
• The transformation of this freedom between 1918 and 1919 (thanks to Harold Lasky and Learned hand, via Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr)
• "Shouting 'Fire!' in a crowded theater," libel, and other challenges to absolutist free speech
• American "free speech" conceptualized as a spirit, rather than a law (understood through Joseph de Maistre)

Referenced resources:

• Christopher Hitchens on Hate Speech
• Clay Shirky and the Freedom to Share
• The Great Dissent by Thomas Healy
• Let the Students Speak! by David L Hudson

If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.

• Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/
• On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson

Today we explore the nature and morality of hatred, the subject of my first book In Defense of Hatred. Due for some revisions and some scientific validation, we go over the basic arguments and points, including:

• Hatred as "disgust towards mind"
• Hatred as an expression of love
• Hatred and harm
• Anti-Hatred as hatred
• Justified vs Unjustified hatred
• "Hot" and "Cold" hatred
• The risk of castrating love by giving up hatred

Referenced material:

• In Defense of Hatred (Amazon)
• "The Dark Side of Oxytocin"
• Robert Sapolsky, "Hate and the Brain"

If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.

• Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/
• On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson

Today we take a quick look over one of the most controversial philosophers in history: Friedrich Nietzsche. With a special attention on The Genealogy of Morals, The Gay Science, and The Antichrist, we take a look through Nietzsche's views on:

• Morality, "Good and Bad" vs. "Good and Evil"
• Health and its effects on philosophy
• Christianity and its relationship to health and morality

You can find full versions of these three texts online:

The Genealogy of MoralsThe Joyful Wisdom (The Gay Science) The Antichrist

If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.

• Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/
• On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson

[EDIT: I have been corrected, and indeed, a character in Plato's "Symposium" does assert that Achilles and Patrokles are lovers. Given Plato's tendency to put multiple contradicting arguments in the mouths of different characters, and to explore ideas without holding them, this view should not be taken as Plato's position, and the linguistic argument made here still stands.]

Today we go over a new theory in the world of the classics and evaluate its merits: were Achilles and Patrokles -- the great warriors in Homer's Iliad -- really gay lovers?

We discuss

• The origins of this theory
• The textual cues and analysis from Gregory Nagy about the relationship between the two, including:
  • The importance of Patrokles' name
  • The importance of Patrokles' role as "therapon"
• How Thersites relates to this whole conversation

Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.

• Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/
• On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson

Today Sierra and I dive into the question of "sacrifice": what is it? Is it only sacrifice if you're killing virgins, or does any rational trade-off make an opportunity cost into a "sacrifice?" Is it a gateway to barbarity and irrationality, or is it something inescapable and a part of human existence?

Or is it better not to think of it through a list of false binaries?

Check out Sierra's podcast "The Wholesome Pagan."

Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.

• Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/
• On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson

Today we dive into the movement known as "transhumanism." Beginning with what it is, is not, its origins, and some of its more notable thinkers, I try to make the case that transhumanism is essentially bad, but not before trying to explain the arguments for the movement.

Some of the bigger themes:

• Transhumanism is about humans, not technology
• Contributions of Nietzsche, Kurzweil, and Bostrom to the movement
• Immortality and the "Fable of the Dragon Tyrant"
• Arguments that Transhumanism is good/necessary and inevitable
• Connection between Transhumanism and Utilitarianism
• Transhumanist notion of "intelligence"
• Is death good or bad?

Referenced Links:

• Nick Bostrom's explanation of transhumanism
• Nick Bostrom's "Fable of the Dragon Tyrant"
• CGP Grey's reading of "Dragon Tyrant"
• Nick Bostrom's TED Talk on Existential Risk
• Thomas Rowsell arguing against "neo-gnostic materialism" (transhumanism)

If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.

• Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/
• On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson

Today we take a look at a favorite contemporary philosopher named Matthew Crawford. Crawford is a political theorist-turned-motorcycle technician, writer, and (I argue) model pagan. I go over Crawford's three books and what they're all about:

• Shop Class as Soulcraft - a polemical defense of manual competence
• The World Beyond Your Head - an exploration of our crisis of attention and how we might go about defining our way out of it
• Why We Drive - a book defending the importance of self-motion against a philosophy that seeks to turn us from drivers into passengers in our lives

You can find Matthew Crawford's shorter essays on his website.

Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.

• Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/
• On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson

In today's episode, we begin by addressing the age-old question "can you be good without God?" and springboard into a broader discussion about the relationship between autism and contemporary Western Morality:

• Most moral theories don't require God
• The annoying traps of equivocation in moral discussions
• Jonathan Haidt on autism and morality
• Utilitarianism, Deontology, and Christian moral ontology as autistic moral systems
• Systematizing vs Organic, intuitive moral thinking
• Why true Christianity isn't autistic (but it's moral ontological apologists are)

I am also including a link to Jonathan Haidt's presentation, which everyone interested in this subject should read or hear.

Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.

• Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/
• On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson