The Wes Cecil Podcast
Episodes
The Transvaluation of All Values: Can West Africa Save Us? - Ep. 6
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you feel your current values are failing then one needs to search for new values. One readily available set of values is provided by the influence ...
Plato's Symposium: The Speech of Pausanias - Ep.6
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So much for Phaedrus. Plato quickly moves to present core elements of his world view while undercutting the simple love for the gods. Again, everythin...
The Transvaluation of All Values: Joy not Fear - Ep. 5
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Shockingly, people are immersed in a series of internal narratives that impose a sense of threat and fear as a core element of existence. Embracing Jo...
Plato's Symposium: The Speech of Phaedrus - Ep. 4
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The first speech comes from Phaedrus. He is sincere and well intentioned but delivers a seemingly very limited take on the nature of Love. As ever, th...
The Transvaluation of All Values: Play not Work - Ep. 4
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a world of almost unimaginable opportunity to express ourselves, we still maintain a sense of ‘work’ as our defining characteristic. Embracing ...
Plato's Symposium: Socrates & Apollodorus - Ep. 3
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We reach the text itself. Hopefully I clarify why there is this strange framing element to the Symposium and the degree to which many of the seemingly...
Plato's Symposium: Introduction - Ep. 2
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Well, forgot to mention that both the Reformation and the Enlightenment were heavily influenced by Platonic thought(!). As a test, if you’ve ever th...
The Transvaluation of All Values: You are not a Slave- Ep. 3
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
YOU ARE NOT A SLAVE:Despite being by almost any measure some of the freest people in history, we consistently use language and express patterns sugges...
Plato's Symposium: Introduction - Ep. 1
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two main points in this introduction:First, Plato is in deadly earnest in these dialogues trying to work out how his society and his class were crushe...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? - Real Estate Special - Ep. 13
07 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Just a follow up to discuss the forces that shape the global real estate market and how our standard response - supply and demand - reveals the degree...
The Transvaluation of All Values: The Individual and The Community - Ep. 2
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COMMUNITY:Another aspect of confusion comes from a loss of our immediate community that throws us onto an ever increasing sense...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 12
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CONCLUSION:The conclusion to the capitalism series wherein I ramble a bit about the major concepts we have explored and why I think it is so important...
The Transvaluation of All Values: Scarcity and Abundance - Ep. 1
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SCARCITY AND ABUNDANCE:We have inherited a set of values that are a misfit for the world we now inhabit. The tension between our past and our present ...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 11
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The past tells us that our future with Capitalism is unlikely to suddenly change. Rather, we are likely to experience a slow evolution of values that ...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Confucius in The Analects—Relative Wisdom - Ep. 13
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this short parable from the Analects we see the idea that wisdom is relative both to situations and individuals. This approach to wisdom is markedl...
How to get rich with philosophy. No, really.
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I know this sounds like a joke, but the joke was on me. This moment in the coffee shop highlighted how deeply I have internalized our cultural definit...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 10
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We reach today and discover, like 16th century Catholics, we know all the critiques of our condition but have difficulty imagining any possible altern...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Searching for what you already have (Sufism) - Ep. 12
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Searching for what we already have is one of the keys, if not the key, messages of Sufism. If you are a god, what are you looking for out in the world...
Why is Hinduism so difficult for the West?
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An introduction into why we find it hard to understand Hinduism. It is not a faith based religion, there is no book, there are not many actual rules o...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 9
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CAPITALISM: EP. 9I argue that one of the problems we face today is simply confusion. We understand the ills of global capitalism, we are cynical about...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: (Zen Koan)The Sound of One Hand Clapping - Ep. 11
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The "sound of one hand clapping" is a famous, now seemingly trite and often ridiculed, Zen Koan that is quite profound. The Koan asks to pause and ref...
Your are not a digital nomad.
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The concept of Digital Nomadism misrepresents both the concept of digital and of nomad. By confusing these concepts a narrative is created that argues...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 8
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CAPITALISM: EP. 8We reach the end of the narrative arc for the Neo-Liberal global order only to discover we have no idea what comes next. The nearly a...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Dharma (Guruspear) in the Mahabharata - Ep. 10
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A selection from the Mahabharata that presents a completely different relationship between man and the gods than is generally present in the western w...
No, we're not becoming dumber.
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
No, we’re not becoming dumber. However, because of the incentives of the few major companies that have a disproportionate impact on how content is e...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 7
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CAPITALISM: EP. 7The new entity created with the rise of the corporation was created under an old set of values and philosophies that had no precedent...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵 : Two Monks and a Woman - Ep. 9
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This classic Zen tale asks us to consider the nature or our attachments and how what we carry in our minds is as important - perhaps even more importa...
No Left Wing! (The utter absence of a Liberal party in the USA)
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
No Left Wing!In many of my conversations with folks here in France I realize that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the political spectrum in...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 6
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CAPITALISM: EP. 6We have met Capitalism and it is US. The co-evolution of modern conceptions of the individual and capitalism makes it difficult for u...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵 : Heidegger's Hammer - Ep. 8
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From Being and Time, this example highlights the very different ways we relate to objects in the physical world. We rarely reflect on how we interact ...
Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Conclusion
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"So why would a governor of a Russian enclave denounce Kant 200+ years later? Kant’s undercutting of metaphys...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 5
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CAPITALISM: EP. 5When this new concept of man and new structure of political relations is let loose on the North American continent history starts to ...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵 : The Ox in the Alley from Chuang Tzu - Ep. 7
12 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 an...
Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 7
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"Having moved on from Empiricism and Idealism, Kant now undercut the foundations of Metaphysics by putting stri...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 4
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CAPITALISM: EP. 4The birth of the Dutch East India Company in 1602 is a watershed moment in the history of capitalism. A new power is brought into the...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: The Yaksha Prashna in the Mahabharata - Ep. 6
05 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 6
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA"So we now get to the point Kant has been angling towards the whole time. What do we gain from all of this thin...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 3
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CAPITALISM: EP. 3The need for revenue and the fracturing of the European social order that accompanied the Reformation led to the slow development of ...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Achilles in The Illiad - Ep. 5
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 w...
Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 5
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA" It turns out that Science is possible! That is the good news. The bad news is that what science actually tell...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 2
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CAPITALISM: EP. 2As a Political Philosophy Capitalism contains a theory of the individual that includes the idea of natural rights - most importa...
Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 4
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA" As we dive into the foundations of natural science, I pause for a moment to consider the power of Kant’s ar...
Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we going? Ep. 1
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CAPITALISM: EP. 1 We are surrounded by the idea of capitalism but shockingly little thought is commonly given to what it is, where it has come from an...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Plutarch's Life of Theseus - Ep. 4
15 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ve...
Major Thinkers - Ludwig Wittgenstein- Ep. 7
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Perhaps the most influential philosopher of the 20th century, he defeated Russel’s attempt to provide a perfect foundation for mathematics and elabo...
Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 3
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA" In these sections Kant lists out the requirements that must be met, according to him, to make any meaningful ...
House of the Intellect (Conclusion) - Ep. 11
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
THE ISOLATED GENIUS:In the concluding chapter I explore the poisonous idea of the isolated genius. By emphasizing the individual and the product rathe...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Parable of the Talents - Ep. 3
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
"PARABLE OF THE TALENTS" FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT - EP. 3 I like this parable from the New Testament because it highlights one of the great tricks of ph...
Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 2
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA" Kant’s introduction seems so humble and straightforward but this masks a project of breathtaking scope. Whe...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Socrates and Diotima - Ep. 2
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SOCRATES AND DIOTIMA IN THE SYMPOSIUM - EP. 2The Symposium is oft quoted and seemingly rarely read. This crazy scene explaining - well something - bas...
House of the Intellect - Ep. 10
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
VALUES ARBITRAGE:I argue that we have developed a deep seated sense of cynicism from continuous exposure to an environment where our values are system...
Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Zarathustra and the Snake - Ep. 1
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
PHILOSOPHICAL FIRESIDE CHATS 🔥 🪵 - EP. 1This scene from Book II of Thus Spake Zarathustra - the Riddle and the Vision - is one of my favorites a...
Reading Kant's "Prolegomena" - Ep. 1
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
READ ALONG SERIES - KANT'S "PROLEGOMENA" Kant’s influence on philosophy and thinking in general has been immense but also difficult to pin down beca...
Q & A 2: House of the Intellect - Ep. 9
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #2 - HOUSE OF THE INTELLECT Wes and Jeremy take questions from Patreon Members on House of the Intellect.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON&nb...
House of the Intellect - Ep. 8
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
BUREAUCRACY:As our societies have grown larger, more complex and more digitally integrated we have become enmeshed in ever larger and more centralized...
Major Thinkers - Simone Weil- Ep. 6
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Largely forgotten today, she was an influential thinker and, perhaps, mystic who lived a life of ethical commitment in an extraordinarily difficult pe...
Reading Jung's Redbook - Ep. 7 (Conclusion)
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CONCLUSION:I conclude the series with the end of the first book of the Red Book. In the last section we see Jung sliding back and forth between variou...
House of the Intellect - Ep. 7
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
TECHNOLOGY AND DATA:Neither Barzun nor myself are opposed to technology or data per se - it is the way our culture tries to isolate technology from th...
Major Thinkers - Jacques Derrida- Ep. 5
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most influential and controversial philosophers of the late 20th century, Derrida specialized in trying to unmoor our sense of certainty an...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 20
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #9 - CONCLUSIONWes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lectures IX and X: Conclusion Parts 1 and 2Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON&n...
Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 6
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
BEYOND RIGHT AND WRONGHere Jung moves beyond simply rejecting the Right and Wrong and tries to create an ethos of ambiguity. Focusing on a dream invol...
House of the Intellect - Ep. 6
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
ROB US OF WHAT WE LOVE:In this episode I discuss the ways in which our culture and mental habits combine to rob us of the experiences we would love to...
Major Thinkers - Bertrand Russell - Ep. 4
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bertrand Russell was a famous and influential thinker. He became a popular philosopher after his groundbreaking attempt to found mathematics on a pref...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 19
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LECTURE 10 - CONCLUSION 2 of 2 (HOW DOES THE WORLD SEE THE USA?)Given Americans' central position in global trade, politics and culture, I explore how...
Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 5
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
INTO THE DESERTThe power of Jung’s approach becomes a little more clear as we move into these later chapters. Jung is quite explicitly at war with h...
House of the Intellect - Ep. 5
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
COMMUNITY MATTERS:As much as it is important to emphasize personal patterns of thought and behavior, we are hugely influenced by forces that come to u...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 18
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LECTURE 9 - CONCLUSION 1 of 2 (THE INDIVIDUAL IN AMERICA)Do you feel alone? In the 1st of 2 concluding lectures I explore how all the forces I have be...
Major Thinkers - Martin Heidegger - Ep. 3
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An Improved Audio version of a lecture on Martin Heidegger. Heidegger was one of the most influential and controversial philosophers of the 20th centu...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 17
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #8 - NEOLIBERALISMWes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture VIII: Neoliberalism (the rise and fall-ish)Sign-up for Wes’...
Q & A: House of the Intellect - Ep. 4
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #1 - HOUSE OF THE INTELLECT Wes and Jeremy take questions from Patreon Members on Episodes 1 & 2Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to...
Q & A: Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 4
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #1 - READING JUNG'S THE RED BOOKWes and Jeremy take questions from Patreon Members on Episodes 1 & 2Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON&nbs...
Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 3
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
HOW TO KILL THE HERO:The power of Jung’s approach becomes a little more clear as we move into these later chapters. Jung is quite explicitly at war ...
House of the Intellect - Ep. 3
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
FREE YOUR MIND:Our culture's bias towards technology, specialization, and bureaucracy all mitigate against having a mind that is free to pursue one’...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 16
26 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LECTURE 8 - NEOLIBERALISM: THE RISE AND FALL(ISH)Is this at the end of the Reagan, Clinton, Obama, Bush era? This lecture explores the content, rise a...
Major Thinkers - Karl Marx - Ep. 2
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Karl Marx is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of the world. This lecture reviews his background and some of the events that formed ...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 15
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #7 - LIBERTARIANISMWes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture VII: LibertarianismSign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get y...
Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 2
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wow, so I did mention this is a crazy, difficult text didn’t I? So Jung’s conscious attempt to break from the thought processes and values of his ...
House of the Intellect - Ep. 2
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
DIGNITY AND INTEGRITY: It may seem a bit abstract, which I imagine it is, however I feel the disappearance of the concepts of Dignity and Integrity fr...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 14
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LECTURE 7 - LIBERTARIANISMIs it healthy to pretend that you're doing it on your own? The notion that the best world is one in which each individual is...
Major Thinkers - Friedrich Nietzsche - Ep. 1
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
MAJOR THINKERS - NIETZSCHE - EP. 1 An intellectual biography of Nietzsche kicks off this series discussing the life and philosophy of a series of majo...
Reading Jung's The Red Book - Ep. 1
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A work that I think embodies, quite consciously on the part of Jung, many of the contradictions, challenges, and paradoxes of the modern mind trying t...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 13
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
ADDENDUM - CALVINISTIC MATERIALISM VS. NIHILISTIC MATERIALISMDoes America practice a particular type of Nihilism? A follow up to clarify the notion of...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 12
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #6 - THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION: 1935 - 1949Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture VI: THE GREAT TRANSFORMATIONSign-up for&nb...
House of the Intellect - Ep. 1
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
INTELLECTUAL HOMELESSNESS:This series will explore the contemporary state of the world of arts and ideas and how we can begin to build lives centered ...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 11
11 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LECTURE 6 - THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION - 1935 - 1949Can a country grow too fast in a short span of time? The twin catastrophes of the Great Depression a...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 10
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #5 - AMERICAN CALVINISMWes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture V: American CalvinismSign-up for Wes’s PATREON to...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 9
02 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LECTURE 5 - AMERICAN CALVINISMDoes "slacking-off" make you a bad person? Could it even make you be perceived as a witch? In this lecture I explore the...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 8
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #4 - NIHILISTIC MATERIALISMWes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture IV: Nihilistic MaterialismSign-up for Wes’s PATREO...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 7
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
LECTURE 4 - NIHILISTIC MATERIALISMIs there such a thing as too many unused treadmills? That American culture is materialistic is an accurate but often...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 6
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISMWes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture III: American IndividualismSign-up for Wes’s PATRE...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 5
07 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
LECTURE 3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM:Is it really better to be suckled by wolves than to inherit a farm? This lecture explores the evolution of the Amer...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 4
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #2 - NO HISTORY FOR YOU! Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture II: No History for You!Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON&nbs...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 3
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
LECTURE 2: NO HISTORY FOR YOU!Are Americans blatantly hypocritical or just actively forgetful? In my second lecture I explore the bizarre and necessar...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 2
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Q & A #1 - WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture I: "What is an American?" Apologies for the audio quality o...
A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 1
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
LECTURE 1: WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?Did you ever wonder how Americans came to be like this? In my introductory lecture I explore the uniquely powerful role...