Josh Parens joins Alex and Greg to discuss his recently released book, Maimonides’s Guide on Obstacles to Knowledge, Being, and Action. Parens elaborates on a bold interpretation of Maimonides’s Guide of the Perplexed that highlights how the philosopher uses “obstacles” to structure his defense of law, prophecy, and providence. This episode delves into Parens’ middle-ground reading, reframing skeptical and dogmatic extremes as intentionally vague limits that safeguard both revelation and philosophical reason.

This week, a full complement of the guys are back, and are joined by Professor Richard Polt for a deep dive into Heidegger’s The Origin of the Work of Art. Together, they unpack Heidegger’s claims about truth, being, and the unique role art plays in revealing the world. The episode offers an accessible entry point into one of Heidegger’s most challenging—and strangely beautiful—essays. Plus: the virtues of... typewriters?

Greg welcomes Prof. Rob Wyllie back to the show for a thoughtful conversation on the philosophical legacy of Alasdair MacIntyre. Ranging across MacIntyre’s major works—from After Virtue to his reflections on tradition, ethics, and rationality—they consider his influence on contemporary moral philosophy and make an attempt at placing his thoughts intellectually. 

Recommended reading:

Alasdair MacIntyre, R.I.P.

Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity: An Essay on Desire, Practical Reasoning, and Narrative

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness offers more than a critique of empire—it’s a meditation on the slipperiness of truth, the fragmentation of self, and the unsettling possibility that meaning is just another European export gone missing. This episode peers into the novella’s narrative hall of mirrors, examining its existential fog, moral vertigo, and the peculiar power of a story that both reveals and withholds in the same breath.

Imagine a Jetsons-esque home that attempts to meet all of your needs while also featuring a room that makes your imagination into reality. Add some behaviorally troubled children imagining bloodthirsty lions into the mix, and you have the setup for Ray Bradbury's The Veldt. In a dystopian tale that would make an excellent episode of Black Mirror, Bradbury explores the pitfalls of tech that robs humanity of purpose. The guys discuss and analyze the story's plot, characters, and more in this week's rerelease. 

Recorded at the most recent ACTC conference, this episode features Michael McShane—educator, writer, and Shakespearean interlocutor—in a wide-ranging discussion of King Lear with both Greg and Alex.

The group examine the play’s structural and philosophical dimensions, from the politics of authority and the aesthetics of suffering to questions of justice, recognition, and the limits of language. McShane brings a scholarly yet accessible lens to one of Shakespeare’s most harrowing tragedies. Plus: the guys turn it over to the crowd and field a range of questions from the audience!

To celebrate The New Thinkery's 250th episode... David and Alex take the week off. Instead, Greg joins Deacon Harrison Garlick of Ascend - The Great Books Podcast, to take a closer look at the third section of Plato's Gorgias which centers on a dialogue between Socrates and Calicles.

The pair follow Socrates as he dismantles the arguments of Callicles, challenging the nature of power, justice, and the good life. As the dialogue intensifies, Socrates draws a stark contrast between the pursuit of pleasure and the pursuit of virtue. Listen in as the guys unpack these timeless questions and consider what it truly means to live well.

If you haven't already, subcribe to both The New Thinkery and Ascend - The Great Books Podcast!

Professor B.J. Dobski joins Greg and David this week to examine Mark Twain’s Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, a work that stands in stark contrast to Twain’s more familiar satirical writings. Through careful analysis, and using his latest book—Mark Twain’s Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity—as a backdrop, Dobski illuminates Twain’s treatment of virtue, heroism, and historical memory, as well as the novel’s philosophical and political dimensions. The conversation situates Twain’s Joan within broader questions of leadership, sainthood, and the moral imagination.

This week, Alex and Greg dive into Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God, unraveling its haunting exploration of madness, ambition, and the human condition. They trace the film’s philosophical undercurrents—from existential isolation to the limits of power—set against the backdrop of the unforgiving Amazon. Through sharp analysis and reflective banter, they uncover what Herzog’s fever dream of conquest reveals about the nature of obsession.

This week, Greg has locked David and Alex out of the recording room, and replaced them with Kierkegaard scholars Rob Wyllie & Matt Dinan. Together, they dive into Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments to examine what it means to become a self, whether truth can be received as a gift, and why Socrates might need a divine upgrade. It’s a lively exploration of paradox, passion, and the mysteries at the heart of religious existence.