The Wes Cecil Podcast

Reading The Bhagavad Gita: Book 4

22 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Krishna reveals the divine wisdom to Arjuna who is thoroughly confused by what Krishna says as you may have been as well. Some deep Hindu theology is ...

Values: Ep. 8 - Money

18 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Money is, as I’ve mentioned, the core value in our societies today. Generally attacked throughout philosophical history, it is currently celebrated ...

Reading The Bhagavad Gita: Book 3

15 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Krishna introduces a series of key points that will be repeated throughout the rest of the Gita: Action is better than inaction, Sacrifice, and the re...

Artificial (Intelligence) Mythology - Live Lecture From Maastricht, The Netherlands, 4.29.26

13 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Hello everyone! I want to share the audio of my live lecture from Maastricht, the Netherlands a couple Wednesdays ago, April 29.The lecture is on the ...

Values: Ep. 7 - Wisdom

11 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Almost completely forgotten as a value today, it was THE central value of a series of different philosophical systems across several different civiliz...

Reading The Bhagavad Gita: Book 2

08 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Krishna explains that the soul is immortal and that rebirth is unending so there is no need to worry about killing one’s family as you aren’t real...

Values: Ep. 6 - Heroism

04 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Unlike the other values discussed, Heroism would seem to be a central value of contemporary society. However, upon closer inspection, it is clear that...

Reading The Bhagavad Gita: Book 1

01 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A great opening! “Why, Krishna, should I kill my family and friends?” This question is the ethical question at the center of the work that allows ...

Values: Ep. 5 - Joy

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Who could be opposed to Joy? Well, it turns out that despite being a central value in several different philosophical systems for 1,000s of years, con...

This week! Two live lectures in Maastricht, the Netherlands

26 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Hello everyone, I'm very excited to announce that I will be giving two live lectures this week in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The subjects of these l...

Short Q & A on "Values" Series

22 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A few questions and my own musings on the latest Values episode about the nature of Nobility as seen through the eyes of T.S. Eliot. Sign-up for ...

Values: Ep. 4 - Nobility

20 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Not just a value that is out of fashion, but one that is actively and consistently attacked by our society. The notion of cultivating a noble self gov...

New Series! Reading The Bhagavad Gita - Ep. 1

18 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2 weeks we will begin a new series exploring the Bhagavad Gita as a means of orienting oneself within the vast and fascinating literature and thoug...

Addendum on "Beauty": Piet Oudolf and Georgia O’Keeffe

17 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A reflection on the power of biography to inspire and help guide us in our pursuit of beauty. These two examples are, at least for me, immensely helpf...

Values: Ep. 3 - Beauty

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

With Health, Beauty has historically been considered an intrinsic value. However, our contemporary society does not just undervalue beauty, it activel...

Is the US a Democracy?

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Not a rhetorical ploy, but an actual question. The strange form of American ‘Democracy’ today raises the very real idea that at some point a lack ...

Values: Ep. 2 - Health

06 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Often discussed as an ‘implicit’ good, health is nonetheless a relatively low priority in many modern societies. We have both a poor understanding...

The Power of Abstraction

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A reflection on our capacity to overwhelm our actual experience of the world with abstract concepts that somehow is often more powerful than even our ...

New Series! Values: Introduction

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A brief introduction to the field of values and why they matter as a subject of reflection. Fundamentally, we understand the world through our values ...

Biography

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A brief argument in favor of reading biographies as a warmup for a new series that will be coming very soon!Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community...

Commodification vs Financialization

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A long footnote to the Late Capitalism series in which I discuss the, at least to me, very important difference between these two concepts. While comm...

How to be Wrong and Why!

20 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

An invitation to explore the power of being wrong. In a culture that emphasizes the importance of rightness over a whole range of other possible value...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 18 - Conclusion 2 "Us"

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

While our particular brand of history is unique, people have been living history for a long time. By looking back to some earlier patterns of living t...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 16: Conclusion

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Nietzsche is not just presenting a series of arguments, he is modelling a very different approach to thinking and understanding our world than we usua...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 17 - Conclusion 1 "Cheerios"

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A reflection on the global structure of Late Capitalism encapsulated in Cheerios as an example that can help us understand the nature of the world we ...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 15

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The final section finds Nietzsche in usual form attacking the notion of ‘levelling’ and ‘universal good’ and ‘Equality’. HIs driving force...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum - Keurig

04 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Okay, I couldn’t help myself. Keurig is such a perfect example of how this entire orientation towards the world is destructive of more or less all t...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 16 - Reorientation

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As long as we keep the values of Late Capitalism we will be trapped within and reproduce the problems associated with our current system. To reorient ...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 14 (Will To Power)

27 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

I pause for a moment to review the central concept for Nietzsche - the Will to Power - how it differs from the concept of will deployed by Schopenhaue...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 15 - Health?

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Following on from the Unaskable Question, is the notion of how our health is intimately linked with our physical, emotional and psychological wellbein...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 13

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Nietzsche reminds us that pain does not, in fact, correlate with truth. And while these chapters are a little confusing, he repeats his observation th...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum - Elon Musk

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Musk's decision to absorb his failed Twitter company into his failing AI company which he is now folding into his cash positive satellite launch compa...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 14 - The Unaskable Question

16 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We know money answereth all things and that as long as we get money, keep money, and have more money then everything will be fine . . . of course this...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 12

13 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We arrive at perhaps the central theme Nietzsche has been building towards - the Will to Power. That life is not trying to survive but rather to thriv...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 13 - Employment

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Unsurprisingly, Late Capitalist outlooks have largely colonized our interactions with jobs. Both the structure of employment and the way we think abou...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 11

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Here Nietzsche critiques the whole notion that we ‘live in a simulation’ or that we live in a ‘hologram’ roughly 150 years before those concep...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 12 - Exiles

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The structure of our contemporary societies promotes an increasingly powerful focus on isolated individuals as not just a model, but the model of a qu...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 10

30 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Nietzsche attacks the central moral document of his time - The Sermon on the Mount! Nietzsche argues in favor of subtlety, nuance, and life-affirmatio...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum - Davos Summit

28 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Just to make it absolutely clear how pervasive and singular the logic of Late Capitalism is, I present a brief reflection on the current events surrou...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 11 - Contempt and Scarcity

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The emotional sense of contempt for others and the concept of scarcity are relentlessly promoted and reinforced as a NECESSARY corollary to the Late C...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 9

23 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Nietzsche reiterates his elitist ideals and focuses on the challenges of communication across one’s cultural assumptions. He points out the difficul...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 10 - Four Autopsies

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Here are four examples rising from the very personal and small - gift cards - to the national and international difficulties facing governments trying...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 8

16 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Chapter II presents a different direction for Nietzsche to attack contemporary philosophical modes by emphasizing how the obsession with TRUTH has war...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 9 - Governments (Part 2)

12 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Along with the productivity myth, the GDP myth misleads our decision makers and obscures key aspects of our economic reality - there has actually been...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 7

09 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Nietzsche emphasizes the difficulties we will encounter as we attempt to abandon morals and see the world as it is -free from natural laws and order a...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum - Strikes at The Louvre

07 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

An example of what it means to think with VALUES as opposed to FINANCE. Not saying the workers are correct, though I agree with them, but that their a...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 8 - Governments (Part 1)

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Democratic governments are globally unpopular and part of the reason is the bind the Late Capitalist logic places them in. Growth and investment GOOD ...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 6

02 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

So now Nietzsche wants to point out how systematically our cultures and grammar influence our capacity to think philosophically - further undermining ...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum on Landlords and Tenants

31 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I ran into such a perfect example of financialization - stepping in between landlords and tenants for rent payments - I just had to share. I try to be...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 7 - Ethics

29 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The elimination of all measures of worth besides price leaves us lost in a world where, with the removal of price, we have no ability to make judgemen...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Addendum on Gaming

23 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A response to some comments about Steam and a note on an interesting quote from Andre Gide.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 6 - Spotify and the Destruction of Culture

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Spotify represents a case study in how the logic of Late Capitalism ramifies throughout our lives in ways that destroys fundamental aspects of our cul...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 5

19 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

So much for Free Will. Herein Nietzsche attacks the whole question of Free Will - not taking a side but simply pointing out the meaninglessness of mos...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 5 - We Know the Price of Everything, the Value of Nothing - and the Price of Nothing Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 5 - We Know the Price of Everything, the Value of Nothing - and the Price of Nothing

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In an almost Zen Koan kind of way, Late Capitalism increasingly immerses us in a society where we are simultaneously told money is THE most important ...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 4

12 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nietzsche rejects Sensualism, Materialism, Metaphysics and any simple understanding of Science with his core concern - an Ethics built on Joy and Vigo...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Ep. 4 The End of History

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the social impacts of Late Capitalism is the undermining of our sense of history. Expanding on a pre-existing pattern in American culture, whic...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 3

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Having attacked most western philosophy, Nietzsche presents one of his core arguments - that all these claims to universal truth and discovery are sim...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Ep. 3 The "Logic" of Financialization

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The creeping presence of Financialization would not be so upsetting if it weren’t that it represents such an odd/counterintuitive world view. The lo...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 2

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wow, Nietzsche rolls out all the rhetorical cannons to open Beyond Good and Evil. He attempts to undercut both the history and focus of Western philos...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q17: The Planet?

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q17: The Planet?“I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them. The point is, ladies and g...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Ep. 2 Financialization

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

FinancializationThe creeping intervention of global financial actors into every aspect of our lives is an often overlooked, but profound, aspect of la...

Reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" - Ep. 1

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This read along series presents one of Nietzsche’s most important and confusing works. Written after Thus Spake Zarathustra, it continues to develop...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q16: Nihilism?

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q16: Nihilism?Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communi...

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Ep. 1

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The revolution has happened, and we are its victims. If you feel a bit hopeless and disoriented by the world today, this is not just you or some rando...

Reading vs. TV - Ep. 22

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A reflection on the relative nature of Reading vs TV and the peculiarities of both mediums. Indeed, given how much time we spend engaged in watching v...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q15: Truth?

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q15: Truth?Principia MathematicaThe aim of the book is to set a limit to thought, or rather — not to ...

Primates In Space: Primates Are Stressed (Conclusion) - Ep. 12

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The accumulated gap between our environment and our needs as primates have grown increasingly large over the last 100 years. As a result virtually eve...

Narrativium - Ep. 21

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We continually tell ourselves stories about every aspect of our lives. Taking a little time to reflect on the stories we tell ourselves is often quite...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q14: What is this science thing?

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q14: What is this science thing?Now my method, though hard to practice, is easy to explain; and it is this...

Primates In Space: Primates Go Wild - Ep. 11

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While the industrial revolution is widely recognized as a turning point in human history, less well appreciated is why it has been so influential. Eac...

Andre Gide and Marcel Proust

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Two famous works that critiqued the Moral structure of turn of the century French society did so in entirely different ways. While Gide is more known ...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q13: Enlightened?

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q13: Enlightened?We can see from this that the sovereign power, absolute, sacred and inviolable as it is, ...

Primates In Space: Primates Take Over - Ep. 10

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The combination of new crops, new outlooks, new technologies but, most importantly, the expansion of the primate intellectual and imaginative capaciti...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q12: What was reborn?

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q12: What was reborn?1374 death of Petrarch   1413 Brunelleschi systematizes perspective 1439 Mo...

Primates In Space: Primates Discover The Printing Press- Ep. 9

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Despite the general acknowledgement of the importance of the printing press, I argue that why the press had such an impact is largely misunderstood. T...

America As Seen From France - A Follow Up On Consumerism

18 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A follow up to my lecture on America seen from France that explores in more detail some of the data behind American consumerism and how this translate...

Baudrillard, the Simulacra and You

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Following a question from a Patreon member, here is a reflection on Baudrillard and his theory of the Simulacra and how it relates to us and our condi...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q11: Why Golden?

15 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q11: Why Golden?800 ad Abbasid Capital is established in Baghdad displacing the Umayids801-873 Al Kindi an...

Primates In Space: Primates Discover Iron - Ep. 8

13 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wow, Iron is a huge, huge deal. Both the impact of the Iron itself and the cultural infrastructure necessary to harness the potential of Iron contribu...

America As Seen From France

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A reflection on some of the differences I have experienced between France and the US. I start with some, at least to me, startling statistics about Fr...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q10: So, About God...?

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q10: So, About God?Timeline of Catholicism313 Legalization of Christianity under Constantine325-800 Beginn...

Primates In Space: Primates Discover God - Ep. 7

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Anthropological and Archaeological records strongly suggest we love, love, love creating gods. Whether via animism or anthropomorphic super-beings...

Ishiguro and McEwan

03 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Two well regarded authors to the impact of AI robots and their impacts on humans as their subjects for novels. The results are a fascinating contrast ...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q9: The New World?

01 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q9: The New World?Mayan Civilization 2,000-750 B.C. earliest developments750 B.C. to 250 A.D. Cities,...

Primates In Space: Primates Discover Writing - Ep. 6

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Perhaps THE breakthrough that makes the major components of civilization possible, writing transformed our capacity to understand both the world and o...

Investment is not the Pope

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Our powerful belief in the economic narrative of investment and growth blinds us to the actual nature of the world we experience and the problems we f...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q8: Why is life so hard?

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q8: Why is life so hard?1 All existence is dukkha. The word dukkha has been variously ...

Primates In Space: Primates Discover Cities - Ep. 5

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

With the excess food available from the slow transition to Agriculture, cities began to form approximately 12,000 years ago. Nonetheless, as recently ...

Your Philosophy is not Right (Neither is Mine)

19 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A reflection on the way in which Philosophy and its uses is so often misrepresented as an attempt to be RIGHT. However, this mistakes the power of phi...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q7: Where is the universe?

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q7: Where is the universe?He who sees all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings, henever turns awa...

Primates In Space: Primates Discover Agriculture - Ep. 4

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After Art and Tools, Agriculture is clearly one of the most significant breakthroughs in the evolution of human culture. The changes both socially and...

Cultivating The Intellect: Ep. 13

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A brief argument for a few habits of mind and time use that are necessary for developing a life of the mind. Not overly prescriptive, but time for qui...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q6: What can we learn from nature?

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q6: What can we learn from nature?Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by ...

Primates In Space: Primates Discover Art - Ep. 3

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Likely more important than tool use and necessary for the development of more sophisticated tools, the development and creation of art marks the funda...

Death Of Our Narrative - Ep. 12

05 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It may feel like the end of the world, but it is mostly just the end of our conception of how the world works. When our fundamental values shift then ...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q5: Why was the past so great?

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q5: Why was the past so great?Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes!...

Primates In Space: Primates Make Tools - Ep. 2

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tool use has evolved more slowly and means something different than has generally been understood. Over three million years of practice with tools led...

Bergson's Day-Planner - Ep. 11

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Henri Bergson explored the tensions between two different conceptions of time - the objective/scientific and the subjective/experienced. The latter he...

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q4: How should we govern?

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q4: How should we govern?Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes!Plus,...

Primates In Space: Intro - Ep. 1

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An introduction to a new series exploring the profound influence our primate heritage has had over milennia in shaping practically every aspect of our...