Naomi Rinehold walks us through The Cloud of Unknowing, its complicated authorship, and how its picture mysticism is much more grounded than other forms of mysticism.

Charley Dewberry elucidates Baruch Spinoza's Ethics, what about it made Cartesian theists nervous, how it tried to end religious conflict, and why it's the groundwork for Continental philosophy.

Naomi Rinehold joins to talk about Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan, contract theory, the English Civil Wars, and how people can give demagogues sovereignty.

Charley Dewberry walks us through why Machiavelli might not be Machiavellian, how to be in the world but not of the world, and the hermeneutics of the plausible.

[This episode was recorded during the 2025 Spring term of Western Civilization]

Dr. Brian Julian walks through Sextus Empiricus' Outline of Skepticism, and why skepticism is super common (but not in the way that most people think).

Eliot Grasso gives a very brief introduction to the Reformations of the 16th Century, including a discussion of Medieval Catholic metaphysics and the protestations of Matin Luther.

Chris Swanson sits down to discuss Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, why a world built on maximizing pleasure could be as awful as World War I, and how suffering is important to human life.

Naomi Rinehold discusses Aristotle's Politics, how elements of corrupt systems of government can be used to create justice, the limitations of Athenian citizenry, and how the American Constitution typifies some of Aristotle's ideas.

Brian Julian discusses Plato's "Analogy of the Cave", the nature of ultimate justice, and why smart people don't know everything.

Charley Dewberry fills in some Western Civilization history by discussion Alexander the Great, Hellenization, and what sort of glory we should be looking for.