From James Wetzel's book, Augustine: A Guide for the Perplexed, published in 2010 by Bloomsbury Academic. Prologue: A Life Confessed Look, my life is a stretch. —Augustine, Conf. 11.29.39 Augustine was born on the 13th of November 354 in the town of Thagaste in Roman North Africa. His historical placement puts him, on the one hand, in a fallow period in the history of Continue Reading …
Ep 121/122 Aftershow on Augustine feat. James Wetzel
Haven't had enough Augustine? Host Danny Lobell and Wes Alwan reflected on our recent discussions on Augustine's Confessions, with an actual Augustine scholar, James Wetzel of Villanova University, author of such books as Augustine and the Limits of Virtue (2008), Augustine: A Guide for the Perplexed (2010), and Parting Knowledge: Essays after Augustine (2013). Also on the call Continue Reading …
Ep 121/122 Aftershow on Augustine feat. James Wetzel
Haven't had enough Augustine? Host Danny Lobell and Wes Alwan reflected on our recent discussions on Augustine's Confessions, with an actual Augustine scholar, James Wetzel of Villanova University, author of such books as Augustine and the Limits of Virtue (2008), Augustine: A Guide for the Perplexed (2010), and Parting Knowledge: Essays after Augustine (2013). Also on the call Continue Reading …
Episode 122: Augustine on Mind and Metaphysics
Yet more on The Confessions (400 CE), this time on books 10–13. What is memory and how does it relate to time and being? Augustine thinks that memory is a storehouse, but it contains not just the sensations we put in it, but also (à la Plato's theory of recollection) really all legitimate knowledge. It's our route to God, to real Being. Mark, Wes, and Dylan also discuss Continue Reading …
Episode 121: Augustine on Being Good
On The Confessions (400 CE), books 1–9. The question is not "What is virtue?" because knowing what virtue is isn't enough. The problem, for Aurelius Augustinus, aka St. Augustine of Hippo, is doing what you know to be right. However, we shouldn't expect our capacity to know to be operating well unless we're already oriented correctly, which for Augustine means toward God. Continue Reading …
Episode 121: Augustine on Being Good (Citizen Edition)
On The Confessions (400 CE), books 1–9. The question is not "What is virtue?" because knowing what virtue is isn't enough. The problem, for Aurelius Augustinus, aka St. Augustine of Hippo, is doing what you know to be right. However, we shouldn't expect our capacity to know to be operating well unless we're already oriented correctly, which for Augustine means toward God. Continue Reading …
Episode 120: A History of “Will” with Guest Eva Brann
We discuss Un-Willing: An Inquiry into the Rise of Will's Power and an Attempt to Undo It (2014) with the author, covering Socrates, Augustine, Aquinas, Heidegger, Nietzsche, Sartre, compatibilism, the neurologists' critque of free will, and more. What is the will? Is it an obvious thing that we all can see in ourselves when introspecting? If so, then why is there so much Continue Reading …
Episode 120: A History of “Will” with Guest Eva Brann (Citizen Edition)
We discuss Un-Willing: An Inquiry into the Rise of Will's Power and an Attempt to Undo It (2014) with the author, covering Socrates, Augustine, Aquinas, Heidegger, Nietzsche, Sartre, compatibilism, the neurologists' critque of free will, and more. What is the will? Is it an obvious thing that we all can see in ourselves when introspecting? If so, then why is there so much Continue Reading …
Topic for #120: Guest Eva Brann on Will (and Aquinas, Augustine, Heidegger, etc.)
On 6/26/15 Dylan Casey visited Annapolis, Maryland to talk with Eva Brann, bringing the rest of us in via Skype to talk with her about her 2014 book, Un-Willing: An Inquiry into the Rise of Will's Power and an Attempt to Undo It. We all read chapters I "Before Will" (about the ancient Greeks), II.C. on Augustine, III.A. on Aquinas, VI. "A Linguistic Interlude" about the word Continue Reading …