Online Great Books Podcast

#179- Burckhardt's The Greeks and Greek Civilization

Scott and Karl read "The Greeks and Greek Civilization" which sums up the relevant lectures the notable Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt first gave in 1872. Karl says, "I now have a little portable guide to all the Greek literature that I want to read." Scott adds, "Burckhardt explains what might be going on around the world around Socrates that allows him to drink the hemlock." The duo acknowledges Jacob Burckhardt's ability to research and analyze Greek culture at great length, but whe...

#178- Faraday’s The Chemical History of a Candle

Beyond producing a body of pioneering research in thermodynamics, Faraday left an educational legacy: his great lectures on the “Chemical History of a Candle.”  Originally published in 1861, this series of six lectures showcases Faraday's ability to clearly display scientific principles to a general population, landing him the reputation of one of the first 'popular scientists.' Scott says, "When people say to trust the science these days, they aren’t doing Faraday's type of science." Wh...

#177- Hilaire du Berrier's Background to Betrayal: The Tragedy of Vietnam Part 2

Tune in for Part Two of Scott and Karl's discussion on Hilaire du Berrier's Background to Betrayal.  Published in 1965, it remains the only book du Berrier ever produced and a crucial resource on the history of Indochina and our government's policies in Vietnam.  Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

#176- Hilaire du Berrier's Background to Betrayal: The Tragedy of Vietnam Part 1

In 1965, the Birch Society's publishing house, Western Islands, printed du Berrier's Background to Betrayal: The Tragedy of Vietnam. While hard to come by, it remains the most authoritative source in English on the crucial history of Indochina up to that point and is indispensable for an understanding of the tragic consequences of our government's policies in Vietnam.  Scott and Karl believe that du Berrier's book on Vietnam has stood up against the test of time while so many of the expert...

#175- Taylor's Poetic Knowledge: The Recovery of Education

Scott and Karl read and discuss James S. Taylor's 1998 book,  Poetic Knowledge: The Recovery of Education. Taylor describes his work as an “attempt to resuscitate a nearly forgotten mode of knowledge.”  This "poetic knowledge" is not the knowledge of poetry. Rather, it is an intuitive, obscure, mysterious way of knowing reality. As Karl points out, "Poētēs in Greek means making... you're a maker of things. I think that's a reasonable way to think about it." The author traces the history ...

#174- Kunstler's World Made by Hand Part 1

Scott and Karl delve into James Howard Kunstler's 2008 end-of-days novel, World Made by Hand.  James Howard Kunstler is an American author, social critic, public speaker, and blogger, perhaps best known for his 2005 novel, The Long Emergency. He has an active podcast, KunstlerCast, where you can find more of his honest urban commentary.  World Made by Hand is from your typical post-apocalyptic novel. Scott says, "It's not an unpleasant world that he pictures for us after the simplificati...

#173- John Senior and the Restoration of Realism Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their discussion of Father Francis Bethel's biography, John Senior and the Restoration of Realism.  According to Scott, if you have concerns about yourself, how you interact with the world, and where the world is going— you need to read some John Senior as well as this biography.  In his works, John Senior discusses how there are ways of life that actually require realism. The duo talks about the pockets of our world where realism exists versus a way of life where u...

#172- John Senior and the Restoration of Realism Part 1

Scott and Karl begin their discussion of Father Francis Bethel's biography that examines the life and thought of "cultural critic, university professor, and sometime cowboy," John Senior.  John Senior is the founder of Clear Creek Abbey, a Benedictine Abbey in Cherokee County, Oklahoma. He is the author of both The Death of Christian Culture and The Restoration of Christian Culture. As Karl points out, this biography doesn't so much delve into the details of Senior's life but focuses on ...

#171- Shelby Foote's The Civil War Part 1

To round out 2022, Scott and Karl decided to revisit Shelby Foote's 2,968-page, 1.2 million-word history of the American Civil War. Collectively, Foote's history of the Civil War includes three compelling volumes: Fort Sumter to Perryville, Fredericksburg to Meridian, and Red River to Appomattox.   Scott and Karl begin talking about the tenuous nature of history yet how Foote still manages to bring his narrative power to this great epic. Scott says, "Shelby Foote made Ken Burn's career... ...

#170- The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing's Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living

We're back! Scott and Karl explore Helen and Scott Nearing's The Good Life (1954) and Continuing the Good Life (1979) in a new, long-form podcast.  In the 20th century, Scott and Helen Nearing became the new models of self-sufficient lifestyles and rural homesteading. Having abandoned their life in New York City in 1932, rural Vermont became the place the couple could escape a capitalist life. Scott says, “They were trying to live out the 1930s communist ideal.” Over the next 60 years, t...

#169- Koontz's Odd Thomas Part 2

Scott and Karl are back after a brief hiatus to finish their discussion of Dean Koontz's 2003 thriller, Odd Thomas.  While the ending might make you emotional, this book satisfies its genre— it's suspenseful, memorable, and thoroughly entertaining. Still, Scott points out that reading this type of fiction in the present times is getting harder and harder.  Tune in for Part Two of the duo's conversation. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com 

#168- Koontz's Odd Thomas Part 1

This week, Scott and Karl begin their discussion of Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas, a best-selling thriller novel published in 2003. Koontz is known for being a masterful storyteller with a talent for creating richly drawn characters. While this novel is definitely a thriller, Scott points out it reads like a noir detective story.  If you are looking for an entertaining read, this book checks all the boxes for the duo. As Karl points out, "[Koontz] appears to have reasonably good metaphysics. Ev...

#167- Asimov's Foundation Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their discussion of the first novel in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece, Foundation. The novel is set in the future, when the world is barely remembered, and humans have colonized the galaxy. While this series helped to redefine the science-fiction genre, the duo takes issue with the ways this make-believe society responds to the problems Asimov lays out and the use of mathematics and probability to predict the future. As Karl points out, "Scientific...

#166- Asimov's Foundation Part 1

This week, the duo tackles Karl's pick— the first novel in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece.  Largely regarded as a launch pad for space-age science fiction, Foundation is a collection of five short stories which were first published together as a book by Gnome Press in 1951. The series tells the story of the Foundation, an institute founded by psychohistorian Hari Seldon to preserve the best of galactic civilization after the collapse of the Galactic Empire. Scott says...

#165- Johnson's Indian Country Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their discussion of Dorothy M. Johnson’s Indian Country, a collection of some of the greatest short stories about the American West. Scott says, "I don't want to talk about the book too much because it's that good. I love the characters, I love the setting, I love Dorothy Johnson, I love the themes, I love the style."  While this work is out of print, the duo agrees it is worth your while to hunt down a used copy and have a read. Each of the eleven tales shines with i...

#164- Johnson's Indian Country Part 1

This week, Scott and Karl read Dorothy M. Johnson’s Indian Country, a collection of eleven stories showing a frontier alive with complex struggles. You may be familiar with two of her most famous stories, “A Man Called Horse” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” which are included in this collection.  Johnson, a Montana-based author, brings to western fiction a clear ideal of individuality and honor. Scott says, "The sense of life that comes out of this book and right into your face is a...

#163- Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Part 2

This week, Scott and Karl finish their discussion of Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire which follows the Roman Empire over thirteen centuries - its rulers, wars and society, and, of course, the events that led to its collapse. Towards the beginning of the show, Karl asks, "how do lasting emporiums last?" The duo unpacks thought-provoking questions about the idea of an empire whose history touches on nearly any imaginable type of human occurrence and se...

#162- Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Part 1

This week, Scott and Karl tackle a massive narrative of one of the world's greatest civilizations. Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire follows the Roman Empire over thirteen centuries - its rulers, wars and society, and, of course, the events that led to its collapse. Published between 1776 and 1788 in six volumes, Gibbon gained himself the reputation of being the first modern historian of ancient Rome. But does he belong on the Great Books list? Scott s...

#161- Aquinas's Commentary On The Metaphysics (2 of 2)

#160- Aquinas’s Commentary on the Metaphysics (1 of 2)

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#159- Filling the Trough

This week, Scott and Karl are off, so we'll flashback to July 2019, for a very relevant conversation from a very different world. Scott and OGB producer Brett discuss pedagogy and dominant learning theories, as Scott aspires to be a better Starting Strength coach and a more effective interlocutor at Online Great Books. We begin our discussion with an exploration of the common learning theories practiced in public school and higher education, along with a cost/benefit analysis of each: b...

#158- Tolkien's The Silmarillion Part 2

This week, Scott and Karl finish their discussion of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, a heavy fandom collection of mythopoeic stories that form a complete history of Middle Earth.  The duo agrees— don't read this unless you’ve read the big trilogy first. Karl adds, “I think it’s very good. If Tolkien is as big of a part of your life as it is in mine, then you’ve got to read The Silmarillion.” Will Tolkien eventually make the Great Books list? Scott says, "I think that through the fog...

#157- Tolkien's The Silmarillion Part 1

This week, Scott and Karl begin their discussion of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, a collection of mythopoeic stories that form a complete history of Middle Earth. Until 1977, these manuscripts were unpublished until his son, Christopher Tolkien, edited them posthumously.  Producer Brett warns, "If you don't know what The Silmarillion is, you might be stepping into a rabbit hole... but you'll be better for it."  The Silmarillion is actually Tolkien's first book and also his last. ...

#156- Dewey's "Challenge to Liberal Thought" Part 2

This week, Scott and Karl finish their discussion of John Dewey's essay, "Challenge to Liberal Thought."  Written in his later life, Dewey expands on his criticisms of the Great Books of Western Civilization enterprise and a liberal arts education.  The duo agrees— this is shoddy work to say the least. At the end of their conversation, Scott says, “This is just not very good. I wonder, how did these people get the traction that they got? Why do our intellectual overlords keep telling us ...

#156- Dewey's "Challenge to Liberal Thought" Part 2

This week, Scott and Karl finish their discussion of John Dewey's essay, "Challenge to Liberal Thought."  Written in his later life, Dewey expands on his criticisms of the Great Books of Western Civilization enterprise and a liberal arts education.  The duo agrees— this is shoddy work to say the least. At the end of their conversation, Scott says, “This is just not very good. I wonder, how did these people get the traction that they got? Why do our intellectual overlords keep telling us ...

#155- Dewey's "Challenge to Liberal Thought" Part 1

In the tradition of intellectual fairness, Scott and Karl read from someone they don’t agree with this week. Toted as the 'King of Progressive Philosophers', John Dewey was an educational reformer active throughout the first half of the 20th century. He left a very significant, progressive mark on the public school system.  His essay "Challenge to Liberal Thought" can be found in The Later Works of John Dewey, Volume 15 which focuses on his writings between the years 1942 to 1948. This p...

#154- Hutchins' "The Great Conversation" Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their two-part discussion of Robert Maynard Hutchins' 1952 essay "The Great Conversation: Substance of a Liberal Education." The Great Conversation is the ongoing process of the best writers and thinkers of Western Civilization referencing, building on, and refining the work of their predecessors. According to Hutchins, "The tradition of the West is embodied in the Great Conversation that began in the dawn of history and that continues to the present day." Tune in t...

#153- Hutchins' "The Great Conversation" Part 1

In 1943, two University of Chicago educators, Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler, launched a series of Great Books seminars with prominent Chicagoans. By 1952, Hutchins had penned "The Great Conversation," an essay promoting the Great Books of the Western World published by Encyclopædia Britannica and intended for the masses.  The Great Conversation embodies the tradition of the West that began in the dawn of history and continues to the present day— a tradition Online Great Book...

#152- Salatin's Polyface Micro: Success with Livestock on a Homestead Scale Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their discussion of Joel Salatin's book Polyface Micro: Success with Livestock on a Homestead Scale.  Success with domestic livestock does not require large land bases. Salatin's goal is to raise animals that yield integrity edible food as evidence of his family's Polyface Farm in Virginia. Scott says, "He's an efficiency expert."  Karl continues, "It's like reading Aristotle. Of course that's the way logic is! But you didn't know it until you read it."  Salatin l...

#151- Salatin's Polyface Micro: Success with Livestock on a Homestead Scale Part 1

This week and next, Scott and Karl explore Joel Salatin's book Polyface Micro: Success with Livestock on a Homestead Scale.  Joel Salatin and his family own and operate Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. The farm produces pastured beef, pork, chicken, eggs, turkeys, rabbits, lamb, and ducks, servicing roughly 6,000 families and 50 restaurants in the farm’s bioregion. Karl says, "His absolute conviction and his brilliance at systems come through. He figures out a way that it can...

#150- Percy's Lost in the Cosmos Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their discussion of Walker Percy's 1983 book Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book.  Percy's contribution to the self-help book craze deals with the Western mind's tendency toward heavy abstraction. With that, he invites readers to think about how we communicate with our world. The duo dives into Percy's take on the problem with the self and the way that language works. Karl says, "You can see the cosmos around you but you can also see what it could be... beca...

#149- Percy's Lost in the Cosmos Part 1

This week, Scott and Karl pick up another book by a recurring guest on the show, Walker Percy. Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book is more of a mock self-help book, designed not to help but to provoke.  Part satire part deadly serious, Percy's goal is to explore ideas of the self and expose the social ills which plague society as a result of "humanity's epic identity crisis."  However, the duo disagrees on how one deals with this problem of introspection. Scott asks, "Do you thin...

#148- Rule of Saint Benedict Part 2

Scott and Karl finish discussing the Rule of Saint Benedict, written over 1,500 years ago. Benedict's careful and comprehensive Rules outline a monastic day of work, prayer, and contemplation.  Karl says, "If you're going to do work and prayer, which is the Benedictine motto, this is a really great way to keep people working hard for lifetimes and have a life that they don't hate." The benefits that the Benedictine way of life can have on your day-to-day routine are hard to ignore. Praye...

#147- Rule of Saint Benedict Part 1

Scott and Karl begin discussing the Rule of Saint Benedict, written by the father of Western monasticism. These rules have been used by the Benedictines for 15 centuries and act as a guide for religious communities or anyone wishing to live more simply.  Karl says, “It’s civilization stuff, it’s not papal stuff. Western civilization, probably all civilization, is monastic.” While the book was written for monks living collectively under the authority of an abbot, you'll find aspects of le...

#146- Shelby Foote's The Civil War Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their discussion of Volume One of Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. The duo agrees, if there was anyone to write about the real Civil War, Shelby Foote was the man to do it.  Overflowing with color, life, and character, Foote is able to bring a novelist's narrative power to this great epic. In Karl's words, "this book is filled with perfect sentences."  Both as a historian and a novelist, this trilogy firmly places Foote in the ranks of the masters. Tune ...

#145- Shelby Foote's The Civil War Part 1

This week, Scott and Karl are discussing Volume One of Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative which is largely considered one of the great historical narratives of our century.  In Karl's words, this is the American Iliad. Originally published in 1958, Foote spent 20 years writing this classic narrative of the American Civil War which includes three compelling volumes: Fort Sumter to Perryville, Fredericksburg to Meridian, and Red River to Appomattox.  Foote describes himself as a n...

#144- Feser's Scholastic Metaphysics Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their discussion of Edward Feser’s Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction.  The duo picks up where they left off last week, exploring Feser's arguments against scientism and the issues that arise when the scientific method implies moral truths or the limits of reality. Karl says, "It becomes a problem when the scientific method quits being a tool and becomes a metaphysics... things leap out of their proper spot."  Scott adds, "There are things about hum...

#143- Feser's Scholastic Metaphysics Part 1

Scott and Karl explore Edward Feser's Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction.  Published in 2014, Professor Feser provides an overview of scholastic metaphysics in the tradition of Thomas Aquinas, relying heavily on an appeal to reason.  Scott says, "The scholastics are the best at steel manning. They will investigate, and explore, and expand upon any possible objection to their case and refute them one by one."  Karl adds, "Think of it as a classroom of really smart people....

#142- No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their discussion of Lysander Spooner's 1870 essay No Treason No. 6: "The Constitution of No Authority."  While the duo believes Spooner is metaphysically wrong about the nature of government, this essay will leave you with a lasting impression. Karl asks, "How can you compel someone to stay in an organization which he freely joined? It turns out, government isn't contractual. It is based in violence."   While it may be a hard pill to swallow, be sure to tune in for ...

#141- No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority Part 1

This week, Scott and Karl read Lysander Spooner's 1870 essay No Treason No. 6: "The Constitution of No Authority."  Spooner was an American anarchist, abolitionist, and legal theorist of the nineteenth century. He is known for competing with the U.S. Post Office with his American Letter Mail Company, later forced out of business by the United States government. Scott says, "The violent revolutionary approach to political change doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with anarchism. Anarchism,...

#140- Heidegger's "What Is Metaphysics?" Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their discussion of Martin Heidegger's ten-page lecture "What is Metaphysics?". A friend of the void, Heidegger's writing style isn’t for everyone. Karl points out, “Part of the problem with any of these early 20th-century continental philosophers is that you can get seduced by them. Every now and then you have to step back and say, ‘Yes he’s really smart but is he saying anything right?’ ” While Karl answers yes, Scott might disagree.  The duo continues to discus...

#139- Heidegger's "What Is Metaphysics?" Part 1

Scott and Karl begin their discussion of Martin Heidegger's ten-page lecture "What is Metaphysics?".  This lecture was presented to the faculties of the University of Freiburg on July 24, 1929, as Heidegger's inaugural address. Taking the typical continental approach, Heidegger isn't telling us what metaphysics is; instead, he's instructing us on how to do metaphysics so that it may present itself.  Karl says, "This is a podcast about nothing. In order to talk about beings, you have to...

#138- Ten Acres Enough: The Classic 1864 Guide to Independent Farming Part 2

This week Scott and Karl finish their discussion of Edmund Morris's Ten Acres Enough: The Classic 1864 Guide to Independent Farming.  After giving up city life and buying a small farm in the New Jersey countryside, Morris chronicles his family's experience and ends up writing of the most popular books of the time. He emphasizes that agricultural success depends not on how much you grow but on what and how. The duo picks up where they left off from last week, speaking to the crucial accou...

#137- Ten Acres Enough: The Classic 1864 Guide to Independent Farming Part 1

This week Scott and Karl begin their discussion of Edmund Morris's Ten Acres Enough: The Classic 1864 Guide to Independent Farming.  The book chronicles Morris leaving the Philadelphia business world in the early 1800s and buying a small farm in the New Jersey countryside. Karl says, "It's a back-to-the-land book for 1864." Scott later adds, "These back-to-the-land movements certainly do seem to come in cycles, but they never really go away... There is always a large number of people who...

#136- Maritain’s Art and Scholasticism, with Thomas Mirus (Catholic Culture Podcasts) Part 2

Scott and Karl are joined by special guest Thomas Mirus, Director of Podcasts for CatholicCulture.org, to finish their discussion of Jacques Maritain’s Art and Scholasticism.  What does contemplating beautiful art do for the soul? Mirus says that if you have metaphysics going into your art, "It's going to make you aware of what art is leading you to and also where art is coming from."  The trio also talks about how great art causes an emotional response but its object is not to do that....

#135- Maritain’s Art and Scholasticism, with Thomas Mirus (Catholic Culture Podcasts) Part 1

This week, Scott and Karl are joined by special guest Thomas Mirus, Director of Podcasts for CatholicCulture.org, to discuss Jacques Maritain’s Art and Scholasticism.  Maritain argues for an objective view of both art and the artist, bringing an orderly, scholastic, Thomistic approach to understanding aesthetics. Mirus says, "Maritain gets art better than any other philosopher who came before him in the Western Tradition." For Maritain, art is “a virtue of the practical intellect that ai...

#134- Nietzsche on Resentment: The Genealogy of Morals Part 2

Scott and Karl finish their discussion of “Good and Evil, Good and Bad,” the first essay from Friedrich Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals.  Nietzsche demonstrates that the Christian world is steeped in false piety and infected with slave morality. Slave morality is based on resentment over the beauty, wisdom, power, and glory of the master class of people.  Nietzsche regards this resentment as the greatest weakness of our time. As for resentment politics, Scott says, "It only works ...

#133- Nietzsche on Resentment: The Genealogy of Morals Part 1

This week, Scott and Karl begin their discussion of “Good and Evil, Good and Bad,” the first essay from Friedrich Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals.  This essay questions the value of our moral concepts and examines their evolution. Karl says, "Evil is not the same as bad. Once you figure that out, the rest of the essay is easier for you." Nietzche believes the inversion of values develops out of the resentment of the powerful by the weak. He writes, "The revolt of the slaves in mor...

#132- Plato's Greater and Lesser Hippias Part 2

What is a lie? What does it take to be a good liar? This week, Scott and Karl finish their discussion of one of Plato’s earlier Socratic dialogues, Greater Hippias and Lesser Hippias.  These two dialogues make you ask all the questions to figure out what is fine, what makes a good person, and whether the liar is better than the non-liar. Karl says, "The problem that this dialogue is pointing out is that there’s something wrong with looking at goodness as simply power or capability." By...

#131- Plato's Greater and Lesser Hippias Part 1

Scott and Karl discuss one of Plato’s earlier Socratic dialogues, Greater Hippias and Lesser Hippias.  The dialogues are named after Hippias of Elis, an eminent sophist and contemporary of Plato.  What is a sophist? According to Scott, “A sophist is someone who says what he needs to say in order to teach you something so that he can take money from you.” These dialogues show Socrates at work on topics related to the Greek word καλόν, translating to fine, noble, or beautiful. Scott ...