INTELLECTUAL HOMELESSNESS:

This series will explore the contemporary state of the world of arts and ideas and how we can begin to build lives centered around culture and philosophy. We are often misled as to the nature and purpose of intellectual pursuits. I hope to clarify the history and cultural forces that shape our understanding of and participation in the house of the intellect. Unfortunately, Barzun’s book The House of the Intellect is currently out of print. The Internet Archive has a copy available online at The house of intellect : Barzun, Jacques, 1907- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.

Articles I refer to in the lecture:

The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books - The Atlantic

Students Are Unprepared to Read Books — Minding The Campus

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A work that I think embodies, quite consciously on the part of Jung, many of the contradictions, challenges, and paradoxes of the modern mind trying to come to grips with a world that simply does not cohere with our general materialist, rationalist worldview. I hope to use this as both a great text to explore and an example of how one can read in a very different manner. It was working with great teachers who helped me learn to read in this particular way and in doing this exercise together I hope to model and share what I have been fortunate enough to learn.

I recommend the reader's guide rather than the larger, more expensive, and more beautiful full sized illustrated version because I am an aggressive notetaker and underliner. However, your tastes may vary.

For the first reading session please read the Prologue “The Way of What is to Come” and Chapters One and Two.

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MAJOR THINKERS - NIETZSCHE - EP. 1

An intellectual biography of Nietzsche kicks off this series discussing the life and philosophy of a series of major thinkers. I explore some of the key ideas and influences that shaped Nietzsche’s thinking including his loathing of Christianity and the influence of classical literature in shaping his ethical outlook. This is an improved audio version of a lecture I delivered over a decade ago.

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