Episode 290: Blinded by the Light (Plato's Cave Pt. 2)

Episode 290: Blinded by the Light (Plato's Cave Pt. 2)

David and Tamler continue their discussion of Plato's allegory of the cave. We talk about the connections with mystical traditions including Gnosticism, Sufism, and Buddhist paths to awakening. We also dig deeper into what Socrates calls 'dialectic' – what allows this method to journey towards the first principle (the Form of the Good) and then double back to justify the initial assumptions made at the start? And if only philosophers can embark on this journey, why does everyone think of them as useless and corrupt?

Plus we look at some research that attempts to provide empirical support for 'terror management theory' which makes us yearn for the unfalsifiability of Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death.

Links

Schimel, J., Hayes, J., Williams, T., & Jahrig, J. (2007). Is death really the worm at the core? Converging evidence that worldview threat increases death-thought accessibility. Journal of personality and social psychology, 92(5), 789. [researchgate.net]

Many Labs 4: Failure to replicate Mortality Salience Effect With and Without Original Author Involvement [ucpress.edu]

Neoplatonism [wikipedia.org]

Neoplatonism and Gnosticism [wikipedia.org]

Plato's Unwritten Doctrines [wikipedia.org]

Episoder(335)

Episode 330: A Fact-Based Podcast (Gogol's "The Overcoat")

Episode 330: A Fact-Based Podcast (Gogol's "The Overcoat")

David and Tamler return to the strange world of Nikolai Gogol and discuss his absurdist masterpiece "The Overcoat," a story that both calls for and steadfastly resists interpretation. But first we dis...

14 Apr 1h 16min

Episode 329: Why We Suffer

Episode 329: Why We Suffer

David and Tamler return to the work of Richard Shweder and colleagues, focusing this time on his foundational paper "The "Big Three" of Morality (Autonomy, Community, Divinity) and the "Big Three" Exp...

31 Mar 1h 20min

Episode 328: Weapons Free

Episode 328: Weapons Free

David and Tamler cross the border into Denis Villeneuve's taut and propulsive thriller Sicario, the story of an FBI agent who gets pulled into a task force drawn from the shadiest elements of the US g...

17 Mar 1h 42min

Episode 327: You Ain't So Smart (Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People")

Episode 327: You Ain't So Smart (Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People")

David and Tamler return to the Southern Gothic well and talk about Flannery O'Connor's short story masterpiece "Good Country People." A nihilistic atheist philosophy PhD named Joy or Helga (depending ...

24 Feb 1h 32min

Episode 326: The Most Important Episode of Your (Academic) Life

Episode 326: The Most Important Episode of Your (Academic) Life

Are you a college student or about to be one? Do you have friends or family in college? This is the most important episode of your life. David and Tamler do something a little different this episode a...

10 Feb 59min

Episode 325: It Is Happening Again

Episode 325: It Is Happening Again

David and Tamler return to Mircea Eliade's The Sacred and Profane and discuss the chapter "Sacred Time and Myths." How does viewing time as circular give us a periodic window into the sacred? What doe...

27 Jan 1h 12min

Episode 324: Irruption of the Sacred

Episode 324: Irruption of the Sacred

David and Tamler consecrate their podcast with a discussion of "The Sacred and the Profane" by Mircea Eliade. We focus on the first chapter on sacred spaces, where the divine breaks through (or irrupt...

13 Jan 1h 7min

Episode 323: Debate Me 'Phro

Episode 323: Debate Me 'Phro

David and Tamler dive into Plato's Euthyphro, part of our intermittent Back 2 Basics series. A young cocksure priest, confident in his holiness, bumps into Socrates on his way to court to prosecute hi...

23 Des 20251h 8min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
konspirasjonspodden
popradet
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
intervjuet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
grenselos
wolfgang-wee-uncut
min-barneoppdragelse
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
synnve-og-vanessa
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
rss-dannet-uten-piano
frokostshowet-pa-p5
fladseth
198-land-med-einar-trnquist