CAPITALISM: EP. 8

We reach the end of the narrative arc for the Neo-Liberal global order only to discover we have no idea what comes next. The nearly alien nature of the modern corporation combined with global events of the last 15 years have unmoored our old assumptions but provided little or no guidance for what comes next.

Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A selection from the Mahabharata that presents a completely different relationship between man and the gods than is generally present in the western world. It also expresses the deep Hindu belief in the endless cycle of living and learning that encompasses even the gods.

Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No, we’re not becoming dumber. However, because of the incentives of the few major companies that have a disproportionate impact on how content is exposed to us, what we encounter IS remarkably awful. This is driven, unsurprisingly, by a drive to maximize profit by exploiting the young and uneducated. Hence, we are exposed to what is likely to appeal not to the dumb, but to the inexperienced, uneducated and indeed simplistically juvenile. Combined with the incentive to provide cheapest possible content, this perverse scenario produces a media world that seems apocalyptically barren. 

Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CAPITALISM: EP. 7

The new entity created with the rise of the corporation was created under an old set of values and philosophies that had no precedent for thinking about what was coming with the rise of the multinational corporation. The old, intuitive models of human relations took generations to fade leaving us in uncharted territory as we tried to understand and respond to the power that had been unleashed.

Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This classic Zen tale asks us to consider the nature or our attachments and how what we carry in our minds is as important - perhaps even more important - than the experiences we have.

Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No Left Wing!

In many of my conversations with folks here in France I realize that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the political spectrum in the US and this lecture is a brief reflection on the utter absence of a Liberal or Left wing party as it would be understood in much of Europe and many other Democracies as well. Indeed, I think many Americans are confused by this as well.

Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CAPITALISM: EP. 6

We have met Capitalism and it is US. The co-evolution of modern conceptions of the individual and capitalism makes it difficult for us to recognize or act on values outside the Capitalist mindset. We tend to evaluate almost everything in terms of financial returns, investments, costs, rewards etc. and imagine our buying and participation in the economy is the fundamental mode of defining ourselves.

Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Being and Time, this example highlights the very different ways we relate to objects in the physical world. We rarely reflect on how we interact with physical objects and how they impact our experience of the world but, indeed, there are radically different modes of being that come into play in our interactions with objects like hammers.

Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"

So why would a governor of a Russian enclave denounce Kant 200+ years later? Kant’s undercutting of metaphysics fundamentally questions all of the assumptions necessary for a tyrant like Putin to justify his brutal war in Ukraine. Notions like ‘Greater Russia’ a ‘Common People’ a ‘Shared Vision of Civilization’ ‘A Divine Mission’ are all so much metaphysical nonsense according to Kant. In its place, he appeals to the power of the individual to construct a moral order from their own reason and experience - the foundations of many of his ethical arguments. Difficult, virtually unreadable, quiet and full of integrity, Kant creates a new foundation for grounding ‘truth’ within the power of every individual human. 

Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CAPITALISM: EP. 5

When this new concept of man and new structure of political relations is let loose on the North American continent history starts to be rewritten. While the history and social norms of ancient societies resisted the transformations pressed for by these new forms, having eliminated the ancient societies in the Americas, the forces of Capitalism were given an opportunity for unrestrained expression. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.