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20 Episodes 0 - 0
Episode 1
What are the limitations and possibilities of perception- and what do ancient mathematics and modern literature have to say about this question? Louis Petrich and Michael Grenke discuss.
Episode 2
Krishnan Venkatesh and Aparna Ravilochan peer into the nature of family, the tension between the safety and anxiety that family creates, and the multiple ways that different artists, works, cultures, and mediums express these insights.
Episode 3
Can an ideal human community ever be achieved? Sarah Davis and Patricia Greer share a discussion on Plato, Du Bois, and the conflict between the ideals that America was founded upon and the lived reality of life.
Episode 4
Louis Petrich and Jonathan Badger ask some deep questions: Does a contemplative life bring us closer to the divine, as Aristotle believed? Can one lead a contemplative life while living in reality?
Episode 5
Krishnan Venkatesh and Ronald Wilson converse about The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, an early classic of Japanese literature, and also the world's first sustained portrayal of an individual self as she lives, thinks, and feels daily.
Episode 6
Zena Hitz and David Townsend share a probing conversation into the nature of freedom, the ways in which individuals and communities can cultivate it, and the need for self-discipline in tempering our freedoms.
Episode 7
Sarah Davis and Paola Villa connect gastronomy, language, thought, and community to a theme to which all humans can relate: wanting to know and be at home in the world.
Episode 8
Sophrosyne is the ancient Greek word for moderation, one of the four classical virtues. Krishnan Venkatesh and Michael Golluber talk about Socrates' true definition of moderation, and how it's connected to another virtue: courage.
Episode 9
Is a book dead or alive? Can one be friends with a book, or with the author behind the book? Zena Hitz and Mary Elizabeth Halper explore the personal relationships that humans have with books, and the questions they bring up in all of us.
Episode 10
Louis Petrich and George Russell discuss how the Civil War brought about a new birth of freedom, and ponder the ways the nation has - and hasn't - realized Abraham Lincoln's vision at Gettysburg.
Episode 11
Is it important to feel when we read literature, or learn math and science? What is the role of order and disruption in literature, in life, and in our observation of the universe? Sarah Davis and Grant Franks dive into these questions.
Episode 12
Krishnan Venkatesh and David Carl converse about writers who travel. Why do some authors write their most influential works in foreign countries? Do new lands bring new insights, or do they provide only romantic myths for the imagination?
Episode 13
In this episode, Louis Petrich and Chester Burke talk about St John's College' unique approach to scientific and mathematical study. Authors touched upon include Galileo, Schrödinger, Einstein, Heisenberg, Faraday, Descartes, and more.
Episode 14
Krishnan Venkatesh and Claudia Hauer discuss works by Dogen and Montaigne, and explore how physical presence and pain can prepare us for the vicissitudes of life and the certainty of death through an integration of mind, body, and soul.
Episode 15
In this episode, Louis Petrich and Stella Zhu explore the complexities of translation and emotion, as humans try to understand and communicate ideas across linguistic boundaries through literary translation and dialogue with each other.
Episode 16
Sarah Davis and Julie Reahard ask, what is the relationship between sports and war? From conversational cooperation to sportsmanlike competition to brutal war, this episode takes us on a journey through the best and worst of human nature.
Episode 17
Louis Petrich and Howard Zeiderman discuss the importance of learning to support quieter and less represented voices in conversation, and building true community through the committed practice of listening.
Episode 18
Can killing and dying in war be beautiful? Is a just cause required for glory to be gained? Is war a courageous way of ultimately embracing the reality that death awaits us all? Louis Petrich and Erica Beall ask the tough questions.
Episode 19
Today our world is defined by consumerism and individualism. Sarah Davis and Michael McDonald ask: Can the life of the mind play a central role in addressing this void? What about its supposed counterparts- doing, making, and simply being?
Episode 20
Louis Petrich and Eva Brann get to work and take a closer look Shakespeare's Sonnet 94, which many consider to be his most enigmatic.