Philosophical Fireside Chats

Talk

With Wes Cecil

Wes Cecil, philosophy professor, brings you every week a story from a philosophical or literary work, and discuss its meaning, background and importance, all in a cosy ambient with great music selected by Radio Gwen.

Stagione 1 - Episodio 9 - The Grasshoppers And The Ant - 20 Aprile 2025
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This classic fable from Aesop and the different version that is often retold today tells a lot about the values of farming cultures and how our concern with the individual often reshapes the narrative.

Stagione 1 - Episodio 8 - From The Mahabharata, Again: A Guru And A Spear - 06 Aprile 2025
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A selection from the Mahabharata that presents a completely different relationship between man and the gods than is generally present in the western world. It also expresses the deep Hindu belief in the endless cycle of living and learning that encompasses even the gods.

Stagione 1 - Episodio 7 - From The Iliad: Achilles' Compassion - 30 Marzo 2025
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One of the great moments of human compassion and expressions of the utter waste of war. While Achilles is often raised as the symbol of the ultimate warrior, here he weeps and acknowledges the pointlessness and painfulness of war. The music is from the album Sketches of Spain (1960), by Miles Davis.

Stagione 1 - Episodio 6 - From the Mahabharata: the lake's questions - 16 Marzo 2025
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In a very simplified version of the famous Yaksha parable from the Mahabharata, we encounter the strangely rich and human nature of Hindu stories. In the original, there are something like 30 different questions so I have just mentioned a few of them here. The music is from the soundtrack by Chitragupta of the 1965 indian film “Mahabharat”.

Stagione 1 - Episodio 5 - The Ox In The Alley Or The Value Of Non Action - 09 Marzo 2025
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In this tale, originally from the work of Chuang Tzu, a simple problem illustrates two different kind of thinking errors we make in day to day life and how Taoism seeks to help us avoid them. The music is from the 1982 album “Rythm ‘n’ Bliss” by Laraaji.

Stagione 1 - Episodio 4 - The Ship Of Theseus - 02 Marzo 2025
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It seems so simple, and yet this story from Ancient Greece captures many of the problems with time, identity, and meaning - a kind of one paragraph version of Heidegger’s Being and Time. It also brings into focus, at least for me, how thinking slowly about simple things can really reveal how tenuous our grasp on the world really is.

Stagione 1 - Episodio 3 - The Parable of the talents - 23 Febbraio 2025
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I like this parable from the New testament because it highlights one of the great tricks of philosophical 'reasoning' - the assumed frame. Allow me to frame an argument and I will win it. This common homily is so completely misread and the assumptions so horrifying it makes a fun example.

Stagione 1 - Episodio 2 - Socrates and love - 16 Febbraio 2025
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The Symposium is oft quoted and seemingly rarely read. This crazy scene explaining - well something - based on this completely fabricated myth captures much of the power of Plato's capacity for storytelling and how he leads the reader along the most preposterous paths to often quite amazing conclusions. Aristophanes ridicules Socrates in the Symposium for using these kinds of arguments.

Stagione 1 - Episodio 1 - Zarathustra and the snake - 09 Febbraio 2025
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This scene from Book II of Thus Spake Zarathustra - the Riddle and the Vision - is one of my favorites and captures some of Nietzsche’s ability to create a visceral sense of the challenge of addressing our most deeply held habits and beliefs.