37 | Edward Watts on the End of the Roman Republic and Lessons for Democracy

37 | Edward Watts on the End of the Roman Republic and Lessons for Democracy

When many of us think "Ancient Rome," we think of the Empire and the Caesars. But the Empire was preceded by the Roman Republic, which flourished for a full five centuries. Why, after such a long and prosperous run, would an essentially democratic form of government change — with a good deal of approval from its citizens — into an autocracy? That's the question I discuss with today's guest, historian Edward Watts. It's a fascinating story with many contemporary resonances, especially how reformers choose to balance working within the system to overthrowing it entirely. Lessons for modern politics are left largely for listeners to draw for themselves. Support Mindscape on Patreon or Paypal. Edward Watts received his Ph.D. in history from Yale University. He is presently the Vassiliadis Professor of Byzantine Greek History at UC San Diego, where he was formerly Co-Director of the Center for Hellenistic Studies. He is the author of several books on ancient history, the most recent of which is Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny. UC San Diego Web Page Center for Hellenistic Studies Page Mortal Republic on Amazon Academia.edu page

Episoder(418)

323 | Jacob Barandes on Indivisible Stochastic Quantum Mechanics

323 | Jacob Barandes on Indivisible Stochastic Quantum Mechanics

The search for a foundational theory of quantum mechanics that all physicists can agree on remains active. Over the last century a number of contenders have emerged, including Many-Worlds, pilot-wave ...

28 Jul 20252h 58min

322 | Philip Pettit on Language, Agency, Politics, and Freedom

322 | Philip Pettit on Language, Agency, Politics, and Freedom

When we think of the capacities that distinguish humans from other species, we generally turn to intelligence and its byproducts, including our technological prowess. But our intelligence is highly co...

21 Jul 20251h 20min

321 | David Tong on Open Questions in Quantum Field Theory

321 | David Tong on Open Questions in Quantum Field Theory

Quantum field theory is the basis for our most successful theories of fundamental physics. And yet, there are things we don't understand about it. Some of these puzzles are relatively well-known, whil...

14 Jul 20251h 19min

AMA | July 2025

AMA | July 2025

Welcome to the July 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreo...

7 Jul 20254h 3min

320 | Solo: Complexity and the Universe

320 | Solo: Complexity and the Universe

Our universe started out looking very simple: hot, dense, smooth, rapidly expanding. According to our best current model, it will end up looking simple once again: cold, dark, empty. It's in between -...

30 Jun 20252h 14min

319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the World

319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the World

It is common to refer to philosophy as "a series of footnotes to Plato." But in the original quote, Alfred North Whitehead was more careful: he limited his characterization to "the European philosophi...

23 Jun 20251h 12min

318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economics

318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economics

Economics is seeing an upsurge in the importance of controlled, reproducible empirical studies. One area where this has had a great impact is on development economics, which studies the economies of l...

16 Jun 20251h 20min

317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders

317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders

The human brain is extremely complicated, but decades of careful neuroscientific research have revealed quite a bit about how it works, including how certain genes affect particular brain behaviors. N...

9 Jun 20251h 14min

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