Mon, 25 January 2016
On selected "moral epistles" (from around 65 CE) by Lucius Annaeus Seneca: 4. On the Terrors of Death, 12. On Old Age, 49. On the Shortness of Life, 59. On Pleasure and Joy, 62. On Good Company, 92. On the Happy Life, 96. On Facing Hardship, and 116. On Self Control. We're joined by Massimo Pigliucci of the How to Be a Stoic blog, who for a long time was on the Rationally Speaking podcast. How can one most profitably interpret weird-sounding Stoic recommendations about the emotions and about following nature? End song: "I Lose Control" by The MayTricks from So Chewy! (1993). |
Mon, 18 January 2016
Concluding On the Soul, book 3, focusing on the "nous," or intellect, which allows us to grasp abstractions, including the forms/essences that make things what they are. The nous is the "form of forms," which is literally nothing (just pure potential) until it grasps form, at which point (at least in cases where we grasp fancy metaphysical principles) it's identical to that form, and not MY thought or YOUR thought in particular. Yes, this is weird. Go back to ep. 130 to start to get a handle on this, and if you become a PEL Citizen, you not only get this episode ad-free, but can hear the Aftershow.
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Mon, 11 January 2016
Our second discussion of De Anima or On the Soul (350 BCE), this time on book 3. What is the intellect? We talk about its highest part/function: nous, which is a "form of forms," literally nothing until it thinks, survives death and is not actually yours or mine, but just the universal mind! This continues the discussion from ep. 130 and includes a preview of the Aftershow featuring Rebecca Goldner. End song: "Wonderful You" (live 2001) by Mark Lint. |
Mon, 4 January 2016
Continuing on De Anima, books 1 and 2. We talk about the nutritive part of the soul, which is the only kind plants have, and the perceptive part, which animals have too, which for Aristotle means they have (or many of them have) imagination too. We grapple more with types of causation and what Aristotle means by forms. How does the soul "cause" the living body?
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