The Nathan Jacobs Podcast

Dr. Jacobs takes a look at the history of ideas through the lens of free will, from Socrates to the stoics to Augustine. He responds to Neil deGrasse Tyson and Charles Liu's scientific perspective on human choice. Find out in this episode if Dr. Jacobs believes in libertarian freedom. Also he gives a preview of his upcoming series on the problem of evil.

Predestination Part 1: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/a-brief-history-of-predestination?r=r1mfj

Predestination Part 2: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/a-brief-history-of-predestination-d60?r=r1mfj

Predestination Part 3: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/a-brief-history-of-predestination-cb9?r=r1mfj

All the links: 

X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast

Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/

Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/

Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs

(00:00:00) Intro 

(00:03:25) What is determinism? 

(00:12:18) What is incompatibalism? 

(00:14:31) Libertarian freedom 

(00:19:07) Compatibalism 

(00:29:49) Fate vs determinism 

(00:32:09) Libertarianism in the ancient Pagan philosophers (Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, and the epicureans)

(00:35:08) Stoicism, libertarian freedom, and fatalism 

(00:41:52) The church fathers and free choice

(00:48:02) God is good (problem of evil teaser) 

(01:06:38) Challenges of free will for the church fathers (foreknowledge and predestination) 

(01:18:33) Dr. Jacobs’ opinion

(01:29:06) Do Calvinists deny free will? 

(01:33:43) The divide of philosophy and theology 

(01:37:25) The philosophical case for free will 

(01:58:23) Why people doubt free will 

(01:59:57) The scientific case against free will (responding to Neil deGrasse Tyson, Charles Liu, & Chuck Nice on StarTalk) 

(02:10:41) Leibniz, the Principle of Sufficient Reason, and equipoise

(02:42:44) Things above and below reason 

Original essay: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/on-free-will

Dr. Jacobs gives an overview on free will, responding to a listener's question about compatibilism and predestination. You’ll get the broad brushstrokes on various positions on free will, from hard determinism to libertarianism. while explaining why the Eastern Church Fathers rejected compatibilism in favor of libertarian free will. This will be a good primer for an upcoming episode delving deeper into the topic. 

All the links:

Dr. Jacobs reads his chapter in the second volume "Turning East" (publication TBD). You'll hear him discuss how he came to convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, starting from his growing years, doing LSD in late adolescence, his distaste for Western Christianity, and how he came to find and love Eastern patristics.

(00:00) Intro

(08:31) A Spiritual Awakening

(16:10) A Disappointing Investigation

(23:52) A philosophy of process

(36:00) Encountering the Eastern Church Fathers

(58:03) The Journey East

Dr. Jacobs tackles your philosophical and theological questions in today's episode. He answers audience comments on topics ranging from how humans participate with external reality beyond mere mental images, examines nature human nature versus shared traits, delve into divine foreknowledge via Jeremiah, discuss the doctrine of double effect and the trolley problem, and investigates classical perspectives on free will. From metaphysical realism to patristic traditions, this discussion offers fresh insights into age-old questions.

Stay tuned for our upcoming series on the problem of evil later this month. 

All the links: 

X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast

Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/

Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/

Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs

(00:01:55) The Most Important Question background 

(00:03:03) Is Darwinism just nominalism applied to biology? 

(00:26:39) How can materialism / utilitarianism co-exist with social engineering? 

(00:38:23) How does realism apply to adoption? 

(00:58:36) Participation vs. manifestation 

(01:12:37) How could God know us before we existed? 

(01:25:58) What is true freedom? 

(01:40:24) The trolley problem and the doctrine of double effect 

(01:44:49) Can realism and nominalism both be correct? 

(01:52:00) What makes human nature unique from other shared traits?

Christ's Descent Into Hades part 1: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/hell-hades-and-christs-descent-part

Christ's Descent Into Hades part 2: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/hell-hades-and-christs-descent-part-370

Documentary with Michael Heiser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThmF7OErkxY

All the links: 

X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast

Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/

Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/

Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs

(00:00:00) Intro 

(00:02:22) Is Halloween a pagan holiday? Am I a devil worshiper for celebrating it? 

(00:09:56) A genetic fallacy in the very question 

(00:13:39) Defining “ghost”

(00:16:16) Josephus and Philo of Alexandria on Hades 

(00:20:09) Reading Biblical text literally — the thief on the cross (St John Chrysostom) 

(00:24:41) How the church fathers read the Garden of Eden (Saint Basil of Caesarea and the Cappadocians) 

(00:26:39) Where is Hades? Where is Paradise? (Saint Gregory of Nyssa and Saint Macrina) 

(00:32:46) The Gospel of Nicodemus dialogue between the Devil and Hades 

(00:34:24) The anthropomorphism of Hades 

(00:37:31) Are all encounters with spirits demonic? 

(00:41:58) Practical advice related to contact with spirits 

(00:50:09) Participation of divine energies 

(00:56:51) Relics and holy places 

(01:00:39) Haunted houses 

(01:09:22) The quest for re-mythologized world & the problem of divine hiddenness 

(01:21:31) Live & dead options and cognitive minorities 

(01:26:03) A materialist belief in aliens can be… like an intelligent design argument? 

(01:29:17) The new alien religions

(01:31:39) Spiritual patterns in alien interactions

(01:34:01) Are aliens just spiritual entities? 

(01:41:45) Vampires and Christian symbols then and now

(01:51:38) Hollywood portrayal of demonic possession

(02:00:13) Is demonic possession always oppressive? 

(02:04:18) Are women possessed more often than men? 

(02:05:10) Why does God allow demonic possession? 

In today’s episode, Dr. Jacobs offers his thoughts on the recent dialogue between Jordan Peterson and Richard Dawkins, which covers a variety of topics, including archetypes, biblical inspiration, and the truth of Christianity. Dr. Jacobs remarks will focus on Peterson and a question he has long been wondering: Is Jordan Peterson a non-realist?

All the links: 

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thenathanjacobspodcast

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast

Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/

Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/

Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs

Episode 1 on the Religiously Unaffiliated: https://youtu.be/pBH9TTduBAE?si=k0Y8BnDRiLqm6i0V

Episode 2 on the Religiously Unaffiliated: https://youtu.be/V3wMW1UwkwE?si=zNIDTCAtAhK6cZhs

Find Dr. Jacobs here: ⁠https://linktr.ee/thenathanjacobspodcast⁠

Dr. Jacobs' letters on providence:

https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/a-peculiar-feature-of-providence

https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/a-brief-word-on-providence

Listen to Dr. Timothy Patitsas's episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/57AHQFrxDTXIGKNf6RUu6x?si=-PpTNuQZQQyZJDvaBKgiyw

Find Dr. Jacobs here: https://linktr.ee/thenathanjacobspodcast

Find Dr. Jacobs here: https://linktr.ee/thenathanjacobspodcast

Original post: https://open.substack.com/pub/nathanajacobs/p/on-belief-in-fairies?r=r1mfj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Find Dr. Jacobs here: https://linktr.ee/thenathanjacobspodcast