Category: Lectures and Media
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Why Trump Is Not a Fascist: A Conversation with Vivek Chibber and Achin Vanaik
A great conversation with reflection Achin Vanaik (“The Rise of Hindu Authoritarianism”) and Vivek Chibber (“Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital”) discuss new forms of authoritarianism and nationalism in the age of Modi, Putin, Erdogan, and Trump. The discussion was moderated by Amber A’Lee Frost (“Current Affairs” and “Chapo Trap House”) at Verso Books…
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Lao Tzu advises Confucius not to be overwhelmed by human affairs
Lao Tzu advises Confucius not to be overwhelmed by human affairs in this film. “Chaos is everywhere.” Lao Tzu: “Men habitually long for fame and authority.”Kong Qui: “Then what should I, your pupil, do?I cannot hang useless on the door-beam like a dried-out gourd.” “THE MASTERS WORDS ARE PROFOUND, BUT I MUST BE LOYAL TO…
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Angelica Balabanoff on Mussolini’s Problem in the “The Young Mussolini” film (1993)
Before Sono Tornato and Vincere A few months ago, I ordered from Amazon the film Il Giovane Mussolini (1993), renamed “Benito: The Rise and Fall of Mussolini.” I wanted to see what difference the film was to the later more psychological interpretation of Mussolini’s mind in Vincere (2010). In The Young Mussolini, Benito Mussolini is…
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Friedrich Nietzsche on the Overman • Narrated by Peter Sjöstedt-H)
Peter Sjöstedt-H reads Nietzsche’s own words on the concept of the Overman/Superman (Übermensch) Create a Man beyond this one. There is a true need for a new aim, a higher type of Man, to better preserve itself. This kind of society is not capable of bringing it about. The Man it produces has reached its…
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The Construction of Monotheism: Dever, Stavrakopoulou, LePage, Blavatsky and Others
Prof. William G. Dever (Archaeologist, Anthropologist,University of Arizona) says the Torah is a “Minority Report” “To understand Paul, we have to realize that in antiquity, all monotheists were polytheists by our modern definition. Everyone (…) acknowledged the existence of everybody else’s gods. Back then, not only were you born into cultic obligations to the gods of…
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Alan Watts: “Ecology and Religion”
Alan Watts on the limited symbolic ideas about God affecting human behavior, the problem of the paternalistic concept of God, the feminine property in Eastern metaphysics, and the self-contradiction of the idea that real power is force. Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British-born philosopher, writer, and speaker, best…
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Matt Dillahunty to Jordan Peterson: “Science can’t confirm the supernatural”
Jordan Peterson asks Matt Dillahunty in their debate, or dialogue, why don’t atheists contend with the major philosophical and theological sources. He gives an expected answer, which instead of pouting about, should be listened to, regarding evidence of the supernatural. Matt Dillahunty to Jordan Peterson: “I think this gets basically to the same point I…
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Kong Zi (Confucius) Film Scene – True Act of Brotherhood and Sacrifice
This was one of the most moving scenes in the film. It exemplifies, not only Chinese culture and understanding of the State, or the ethics of the master portrayed — we will use the scene to also exemplify the republican philosophy and its idea of Fraternitas.
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Marc Demarest on the Armchair Occultist, Godfrey Higgins: Modern Occultism, and the Professionalization of History
THE ARMCHAIR OCCULTIST: GODFREY HIGGINS, ANACALYPSIS AND MODERN OCCULTISM LECTURE Emma Hardinge Britten Archive. The Church, Christian Spiritualists, and the professional establishment sought to control the influence of occultists. Anacalypsis becomes a popular rediscovery of literature at the time Isis Unveiled is published. Marc Demarest explains how the tyros of Occult Literature and Mythography (1820s-1870s)…
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“I Believe in Philosophy” (script) scene from Hypatia
Heladius Dignitary: The majority of us here…have accepted Christ. Why not the rest of you? It’s only a matter of time and you know it.Hypatia: Really? It is just a matter of time?…As far as I am aware, your God has not yet proved himself to be more just or more merciful than his predecessors.…
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Popular Occulture in Scotland and Scottish Theosophy: Michael Shaw on “The Theosophical Press in Scotland”
Presented at the “Periodical Occulture and the Occult Public Sphere.” 14th July 2017. Synopsis “This paper discusses the Theosophical periodical press in Scotland c.1880-1920, and it argues that these periodicals reveal a particular Theosophical culture in Scotland. Focusing on two titles that were unique to Scotland, Theosophy in Scotland and Occult, Scientific and Literary Papers Read…
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Roger Scruton: Moral Relativism Will Be the Death Knell of Western Civilization
Moral relativism is considered by conservatives to be one of postmodern society’s greatest threats and may now be a relic of the past. Roger Scruton’s discussion actually gets into what I challenge and discuss about classical liberalism in Where Authority Lies: Republicanism, Liberalism, and Progressive Morality. There is a moral system already set, not coming into…
The American Minervan 