We have nearly forgotten what it means to be Men with Chests, and the consequences are all around us. Join me as we explore the Great Books, as we go back to the timeless ideas that built the West. In this show we pursue objective truth, goodness, and beauty; we learn about virtue as excellence (arete). We discuss the role that reason, emotion and desire all play in becoming a magnanimous man.
Soren is the VP of partnerships at Classic Learning Test. We discuss his background as a native German, he explains the purpose of CLT, and we look at Lewis's painfully true essay "Democratic Education."
An Essay on Liberation began with Marcuse putting forth a foundation for utopia, a foundation based upon a physiological and psychological manipulation that would produce dysfunction in the human being who didn't have their new biological "needs" met. Marcuse then looked to art and language as the means to instill a new sensibility in his biologically altered people. In this episode, covering chapter 3, Marcuse continues to lay out his plan to control language to obtain power, he pinpoints educa...
In this episode, I'm joined by Shane Morris, host of the Upstream podcast at the Colson Center. We discuss his background, the Colson Center, Abolition of Man, Lewis's essay "Talking About Bicycles," unicycles, scuba diving, and more. Upstream: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/upstream/id1526456111?i=1000631599586
In chapter two, Herbert Marcuse explains that the physiologically and psychologically altered people from chapter one will have a "new sensibility." What this sensibility entails is so bizarre that you just have to listen to the episode. To write it out here in a summary fashion would likely induce incredulity. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/marcuse/works/1969/essay-liberation.pdf
Brian McGreevy joins me on today's Socratic Hour episode to discuss The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength. Rev. McGreevy puts on a class at St. Philips in Charleston where he covers Lewis's works.
In this episode, we begin our short series covering a book by America's most influential Critical Theorist, Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse and his "critical" adaptation of Marx's theory form a poignant and eye-opening contrast to the understanding of human nature we saw on display in Lewis's The Abolition of Man. Link to An Essay on Liberation: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/marcuse/works/1969/essay-liberation.pdf
In this episode, I'm joined by John West, the VP of the Discovery Institute and the editor of The Magician's Twin, a book on what Lewis thought about science, scientism, and society. We discuss topics related to Chapter 3 of The Abolition of Man, including what Lewis meant when he said that magicians and scientists were born as twins.
In this episode, we see how science and magic grew up together as twins in the 16th century. And we complete The Abolition of Man with the memorable wisdom that to see through all things is the same as not to see.
If man's conquest of nature reduces man to mere nature, does the gain outweigh what is lost? In Chapter 3 of The Abolition of Man, Lewis explains that this dim prospect is not only underway in Socialist regimes but is also to be found in Western democracies.
In this episode, we cover the one place where the phrase "abolition of man" is used in the text. We see an illustration of what it looks like to be in the void by looking at Wither from That Hideous Strength. And we find that the attempt to conquer nature turns out different than expected.
We begin chapter 3, which bears the same title as the book itself, The Abolition of Man, and we see the dual meaning of the phrase "abolition of man." In the opening pages of chapter 3, Lewis begins to spell out the consequences that will come about should mankind continue in its insatiable quest to conquer Nature.
In this Socratic Hour, I'm joined by David Bates, the originator of the Pints with Jack podcast. David and I discuss Lewis's The Great Divorce and its connection to The Abolition of Man. We also get into David's show and what his plans are for Pints with Jack in the future.
In this episode, the last of chapter 2, Lewis continues to expound upon the necessity of standing within the Tao if real progress is to be possible. He also sums up the importance of accepting objective values as perceived by our Practical Reason (intellectus). We then get a prelude of the future should mankind attempt to step outside the Tao. To illustrate the point, we examine an essay by Lewis where he explains why he portrayed the character named Frost from That Hideous Strength in such a de...
In this episode, we discuss the consequences that follow when one particular axiom of Natural Law is prioritized above all the rest. And we see the inevitable outcome that occurs when mankind attempts to stand completely outside the Tao.
In this episode, we explore the possibility that our value judgments are derived from the instinct to preserve posterity. Then, we investigate Alvin Plantinga's fascinating argument known as the evolutionary argument against Naturalism. Can we find grounds for objective values as mere animals?
In the opening of chapter 2 - The Way - Lewis shows how objective values are perceived by a particular part of man's Reason, what's called Practical Reason or the Latin intellectus. To fail to recognize this is to give up the notion of values being "rational" whatsoever. And if this is so, then only one thing can follow... the destruction of the society that accepts the idea.
An interview with Dr. Markos of Houston Christian University on chapter one of The Abolition of Man. Markos is a Lewis aficionado. He has multiple books that cover Lewis's writings. For the one most directly related to Abolition , see his book Restoring Beauty.
In this final episode of Chapter 1 - Men without Chests - we learn what Lewis means by “the chest.” Drawing from Plato, Lewis explains what the harmonious soul looks like. A well-trained chest is essential for the task. Lewis doesn’t shy away from calling our modern predicament as it is. He contrasts the great-souled (magnanimous) man with the type of man being produced - a man who’s been castrated.
As we near the end of Chapter 1, Lewis continues to contrast the educational project of Gaius and Titius with their predecessors. Sages from Western cultures such as Aristotle, and Easter cultures such as Confucius, believed there to be objective value beyond man, and that it was the purpose of education to discover that reality as it is. But Gaius and Titius reject objective value, making man the final arbiter of all value judgments.
Lewis explores why Gaius and Titius have opted to deny the legitimacy of proper emotional responses. This takes us into the question of what education is for and we see the radical shift Gaius and Titius are making by denying objective value.
C.S. Lewis takes Gaius and Titius to task in Chapter 1 of The Abolition of Man for stripping children of their imagination with neither Gaius and Titius nor the children having awareness of what's been done. While they claim to be doing literary criticism, Gaius and Titius are training children to become "trousered apes" that are unable to discern the proper emotional response to different pieces of writing. But this goes beyond a mere English lesson. For the children are being taught that there...
In episode one, we introduce the goals of the show and begin our exploration of what will be the topic of season one, C.S. Lewis's, The Abolition of Man.
