The Wisdom Of
Episodes
Simone Weil - Gravity, Grace and Love!
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Simone Weil was a French philosopher and mystic! ... Check out my new book! It's called: The Last Human: How Technology is Changing What it Means...
The Great Gatsby, CARELESSNESS and AI
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A major theme in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is carelessness. It's more relevant than ever today... Check out my new book! It's calle...
The Rise of the Emoticons
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Are emoticons and emojis as benign as they seem? ... Check out my new book! It's called: The Last Human: How Technology is Changing What it Mea...
Kaufman's The Faith of a Heretic - The dissent that keeps knowledge alive!
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Walter Kaufman was a German-American philosopher. Let's see what he has to say about intellectual heresy! ... Check out my new book! It's ca...
The Personal Journals of Camus and Kierkegaard!
07 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The philosophers Kierkegaard and Camus left us more than just their formal works! Let's explore their private journals! ... Check out my new book...
The Samurai Sword and AI
07 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In wielding our dangerous technology, we could learn from the Samurai.
Max Weber - The age of the disenchantment of the world!
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The German sociologist Max Weber uses the word disenchantment to describe the character of a highly modernized, secular and bureaucratic society. Coul...
Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Neil Postman was a media theorist and a prophetic critic of modern technology... Check out my new book! It's called: The Last Human: How Techno...
Heidegger - The Disappearance of the World!
15 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The German philosopher Martin Heidegger argued that human existence is grounded in meaningful relationships to things. When we lose these relationship...
Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet - Writing as an existential necessity!
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The great poet Rainer Maria Rilke advises all aspiring artists to ask themselves one question: Are you prepared to sacrifice everything? Because that&...
Epicurus on Gratitude
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What Epicurus has to say about gratitude deserves our attention, especially today... Check out my new book! It's called: The Last Human: How Tech...
William James - Pluralism and Free Will!
01 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
James argues for a world where we actively participate in the building of reality and where there are multiple sources of transcendence! ... Check out...
Let's bring back the language of the SOUL!
26 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We really need to revive a character-based account of the soul!... Check out my new book! It's called: The Last Human: How Technology is Changing...
Rousseau and Han - Today's Loneliness Epidemic!
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Why is there such a large increase in loneliness around the world? I think the philosophers Jean-Jacque Rousseau and Byung-Chul Han might be helpful h...
The Spirit of Ancient Greek Tragedy - Why we need it so badly today!
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Reviving the spirit of Greek tragedy can offer us a powerful corrective against today's lack of humility and moral polarization.... Check out my ...
La Mettrie's Man the Machine - From Cartesian Dualism to Joyful Materialism!
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This French philosopher argues that there is no immaterial soul, and that this doesn't strip life of its value! .... Check out my new book! It&ap...
Edmund Burke - Inherited Wisdom and the Perils of Starting Anew!
04 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Edmund Burke is the founder of cultural and political conservatism. Dostoevsky, Aristophanes and T.S. Eliot also share in a similar spirit. They all w...
Rollo May - How Art Overcomes Nihilism!
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the psychologist Rollo May, art is no dispensable luxury, it's an essential response to nihilism! .... Check out my new book! It's cal...
A reminder from Mircea Eliade on the significance of the New Year!
28 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Happy New Year to all across lands and seas! ...... Check out my new book! It's called: The Last Human: How Technology is Changing What it Means ...
The Poverty of Wealth: Nietzsche on Money and Mediocrity!
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nietzsche criticizes our modern infatuation with money-making, an infatuation that he thinks reveals a deep spiritual impoverishment and an erosion of...
In the spirit of Christmas - Why the path of self-interest will always fail you
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Self-interest is directionless and ultimately, is an enemy of both self-actualization and love. For these things, we need a relation to something outs...
Walter Benjamin - Against the Copy: Holding On to the Real in an Age of Reproduction!
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When everything can be reproduced, why do we still crave the original? The psychologist Paul Bloom and the philosopher Walter Benjamin offer up some i...
Barthes, Kierkegaard, Han - What happened to the erotic?
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is eroticism? And does it still exist today? Find out more!
Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund - Pick a path, pay the price, live the life!
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Choosing one path in life means letting go of another! And that's okay!
Bertrand Russell and Byung-Chul Han: Self-absorption is the source of unhappiness!
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The philosophers Russell and Han come from different historical contexts, but they both agree on one thing: if you want to be happy stop being pre-occ...
Great philosophers on how to stay young as we get older!
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Aging doesn't have to involve loss of possibilities and heaviness. Just ask Nietzsche, the Taoists, Hannah Arendt and Camus!
Why Samuel Beckett is so funny!
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Beckett is bleak but he's also hilarious. I try to explore why so many of us laugh when we read him!
Voltaire's "Crush the infamous thing" and our age of tragic regression
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Voltaire called for enlightenment and progress against the dogmas and powers of his day. Our world today needs more Voltaires.
Dostoevsky, Ricoeur, Kierkegaard - The future needs the past!
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There is no future without a past. That's because the past is the ground of transformation!
Orwell's 1984 - Fake News and the destruction of language
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Orwell's 1984 has seen a massive surge in sales in the last 8 years. That's no surprise.
Feuerbach and Marx - We created God in our own image!
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Man makes religion, religion does not make man, says the German philosopher Feuerbach. Karl Marx agrees. But why do we do this, and should we? Find ou...
Aristotle - Why Competency is essential for Happiness!
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You want lasting joy and fulfillment in your life? Then strive for excellence and competency! Or so argues Aristotle.
Consciousness and the Universe - From Matter to Meaning!
19 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is the universe without human consciousness? Strangely, not much! Or so I argue!
Byung-Chul Han and Fromm - Clean shiny machines and our Necrophilia!
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We prefer machines to people and mechanical precision to messy human qualities. What is this but our love of death over life! Or so argue Byung-Chul H...
Kant vs. Aristotle - Duty vs. Character!
12 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Aristotle and Kant argue for two very different ethical outlooks. I definitely prefer one to the other!
The rise and the danger of binary thinking
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We live in an age increasingly dominated by black and white thinking. When we leave no room for the complexity and ambiguity of reality, the outcome i...
Montaigne's self-fashioning vs. the curated facade of today's self!
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The French philosopher Montaigne made the exploration of selfhood the most important thing in his life. How does his project compare to today's v...
Optimize this! - The cost of constant improvement
03 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Beneath today's trend of optimizing everything lies some deep philosophical and existential problems.
Three famous philosophers who were practically unknown in their own time!
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ahead of their age, awaiting ours: Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche!
The death of expertise is the demise of civilization!
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our growing distrust of expertise and of universities is terminally stupid. We will all pay the price.
David Abram's The Spell of the Sensuous - Living in attunement with the earth!
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Abstract time and space sever our ties to place, rhythm, and responsibility! Or so argues the philosopher and ecologist, David Abram!
When Religion becomes Shallow
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When religion becomes shallow it's no longer truly religion. Many philosophers have warned us of this, of religion being reduced to self-serving ...
Julian Jaynes - The Origin of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, and AI!
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The American psychologist argued that before modern consciousness, we heard and obeyed the voices of the gods. With AI, is it any different today?
A human history of intelligence without kindness - A cautionary analogy for the advent of AI
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've set a bleak precedent for what's to come.
Cicero and Simone de Beauvoir on Old Age - The Self, the Other and growing old authentically!
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cicero and Simone de Beauvoir offer us two very different visions of growing old and the philosophy of aging!
Eden, Adam and Eve: Thank God for the Fall! - Why paradise is deeply problematic!
31 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Living an Edenic existence fails to give us what we truly need and want: namely, responsibility, love and meaning!
Byung-Chul Han - The Transparency Society
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
According to Han, we live in a culture of constant self-exposure and exhibition. And, despite what we think, it makes us flat, banal and powerless!
To our Children
23 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We walk in the shadows we cast. Let's be the architects of a better future.
Samuel Beckett - "I can't go on. I'll go on."
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is the famous last line in one of Beckett's novels. But it's not just a last line, it's a credo for human existence!
Reclaiming the power of Melancholy!
17 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We treat melancholy as a pathology, something to be cured or eradicated. But we've lost sight of it's real value!
Alexander Nehamas - Platonic Irony!
17 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Socrates doesn't just undermine his interlocutors, Plato undermines us! Or so argues the contemporary philosopher Alexander Nehamas!
The Pathetic Nature of the Sycophant!
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
They all gushed over Nero, and they're no different today! It's all very embarrassing and sad.
The Absurd and the Sand: A Camusian Reading of Woman in the Dunes
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Woman in the Dunes is a 1964 Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara. It's about a guy who gets trapped in a sandpit and has to keep shovel...
Aristotle and Nietzsche - A return to TOUCH in a disembodied age!
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In our age of digitization, our sense of touch has clearly been demoted. For thinkers like Aristotle and Nietzsche, the cost is enormous!
The Philosopher and his Poodles: Schopenhauer's Ethics of Compassion!
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The German philosopher Schopenhauer believed that compassion was the true foundation of morality. It worked best when it came to his dogs!
The Fissure of Being, or Why You’re Never Whole: Sartre’s Existential Bombshell!
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why are we not like rocks or cabbage? Because there's a hole or fissure at the heart of our being! Or so says the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sa...
Carl Jung, Heidegger, and the California Gold Rush!
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The value of gold used to be largely symbolic. The Gold Rush marks a complete philosophical turning point when it comes to the perceived value of gold...
Star Wars vs. Star Trek - Why Star Trek is better!
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Star Wars and Star Trek: Which of these is more philosophically interesting? And which of these two universes would you want to live in? I got my answ...
Byung-Chul Han - Why so many of us feel so empty today!
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Han thinks there's a deep existential hollowness lurking beneath the shiny veneer and the noise of modern life. He attributes this to many things...
ASMR - A sensory rebellion against our disembodied age!
04 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is ASMR just some superficial Youtube phenomenon? Or is there something important and deep behind its popularity? Find out more!
Susan Wolf and Dostoevsky - The Problem with being a Moral Saint!
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the surface, being a moral saint sounds like a great thing. But, not so fast! The contemporary philosopher Susan Wolf doesn't think so. And bo...
Wisdom as Content, Grifters, and why Socrates wouldn’t have used Patreon!
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In our attention-economy wisdom has now become content - ready-made for monetization! Socrates warned against this trend long ago!
The Cynics - Ya gotta be TOUGH to be happy!
21 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
These ancient philosophers argued that physical toughness was a discipline essential to happiness. Relevant for us today? I think so! If interested, ...
Learning to Love: Nietzsche, Beauty and the Beast, and Don Quixote!
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nietzsche tells us that one must LEARN to love. That might sound a bit odd to us. What does he mean and why is it important? Find out more! If intere...
Astrology - The Zodiac delusion!
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Does astrology make any sense? And if not, why do we still believe in it? If interested, check out my new book series! Here's the first one: A ...
Jesus and Rousseau on Hypocrisy (or Wolves in Virtue's clothing!)
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What's wrong with hypocrisy? Well, Jesus and Jean-Jacques Rousseau agree on at least one thing that's wrong with it! f interested, check ou...
Will Durant - The top ten greatest thinkers of all time!
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The distinguished historian Will Durant published a book where he ranked the greatest thinkers ever! See who made the list! If interested, check out ...
Henri Bergson - Overcoming the tyranny of mechanical time!
31 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The French philosopher Bergson criticized the scientific notion of time, instead turning to what he called lived time. Find out more! -------------...
Greek tragedy, Pollution and AI! + announcement!
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If interested, check out my new book series! Here's the first one: www.amazon.com/Manifesto-Beauty-Reclaim-Digital-World/dp/1069510815/ The...
If I could time travel....Cafe, Paris, 1940's!
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If I could time travel anywhere, I’d skip the big battles and royal balls. Drop me in a smoky café in 1940s Paris—existentialism, espresso, and ...
Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night - Don't surrender the flame!
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How should we meet death? With rage! Or so says the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas! And he's not the only one! Find out more!
Kafka's A Hunger Artist - The Death of Uncompromising Art!
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What would Kafka think about our attention economy today? And what about the state of our art? Find out more!
Naomi Klein - The Apocalypse, Mars, and the Bunker Nation!
10 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Naomi Klein, the Canadian author and social activist, argues for what she sees as the apocalyptic mindset of the far Right. Along with Klein, I offer ...
Why We Can't Avoid Making JUDGMENTS—And Why That's a Great Thing!
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So as we all know, there’s the popular or cliched idea that we should be “nonjudgmental”. But by and large, I don’t think that’s right!
Adorno on Animals - "The degradation of a creature to the status of a mere thing"
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The philosopher Theodor Adorno lays a powerful groundwork for thinking ethically about animals! Find out more!
Humour as Social Critique - Let's keep LAUGHING at POWER!
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Humour can have real revolutionary force! Ask the philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin. Let's keep laughing at the powerful. It will work!
Miles Davis - Why LESS IS MORE!
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In our world of more and faster and louder, we might do well to remember that less is often more! Just ask Miles!
Tolstoy vs. Dostoevsky - Some major DIFFERENCES!
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
These giants of literature, they're often viewed as similar from afar. But they're not. Especially when it comes to how they see the human s...
Heidegger - The death of the LOVE LETTER in the time of the digital message!
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The love letter has become an extinct species! This is a symptom of a much larger problem - at least according to Heidegger!
Buddhism and NON-ATTACHMENT - Some Objections!
20 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is human well-being and flourishing really all about detachment? I would argue, no!
Byung-Chul Han and Plato on the POWER of BEAUTY!
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Modern beauty has become tepid and smooth. It lacks the depth and friction and power of genuine beauty! Or so say Han and Plato!
What does it mean to be a GOOD FATHER?
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by Gabriel Marcel and Martin Buber, I argue that being a good father requires the invisible labor of presence.
Foucault and Kierkegaard - Where the heck has YOUTHFUL REBELLION gone?
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When I was growing up teenage rebellion seemed to be everywhere! Where is it now? At the heart of this decline: social media and technology!
Simone De Beauvoir and Hannah Arendt - A Happiness of ENGAGEMENT!
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
De Beauvoir and Arendt both argue against passive forms of happiness! Find out more!
Socrates - Power and Stupidity: A Destructive Combination!
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Socrates argues that ignorance is the worst of all evils! Especially in the service of power! Ring any bells today?
Pascal and Kierkegaard on the SUPERFICIAL LIFE - Owning up to one's SELF!
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One could argue that we live more superficially than ever before. Pascal and Kierkegaard are particularly relevant here!
Why Plato wrote dialogues - Let's bring back the power of real conversation!
30 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Plato chose not to write essays. He wrote dialogues instead. Why? And how is this relevant for us today? Find out more!
The Myth of Icarus and Daedalus - Melting the wings of our children!
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I think this ancient myth is more relevant today than ever before! Find out more!
Nietzsche - DECADENT Culture!
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
According to Nietzsche, cultures can be healthy or decadent. How do we see the culture today?
Erich Fromm - Submission to Authoritarianism!
15 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The psychologist Erich Fromm argues that we tend to willingly submit to authoritarianism! Relevant today?
Carl Jung - UFOs and their PSYCHIC SIGNIFICANCE!
09 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Carl Jung believed that UFOs have their basis in a vital psychic need! Find out more!
Camus's The Rebel - Helping us to find MEASURE in a time of EXTREMES!
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What Camus has to say in The Rebel is very relevant to our current trend towards absolutist and binary thinking!
The Cult of Personality and CEO worship!
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Scary times...
Kierkegaard - We've forgotten how to exist! Passion in the age of apathy!
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kierkegaard spends a lot of time talking about the connection between existence and passion! We'd do well to listen to him!
Dostoevsky - Kiss the earth! Why the soil matters!
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The archetype of the earth is crucial for understanding Dostoevsky's view! Find out more!
Byung-Chul Han and Aristotle - Why real friends shouldn't be afraid of conflict!
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As friends we gratify and pamper too much, or so these philosophers say! Find out more!
What time is it? - Chronos vs. Kairos!
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Ancient Greeks had two words for time - chronos and kairos. What is this distinction and how might it be important for us today? Find out more!
The Beat Writers - If it ain't got that swing, it don't mean a thing!
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Beats were a group of poets and writers who emerged after WWII. What was their philosophy all about? Find out more!
Why the death of Socrates matters!
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Apart from the death of Jesus, no death has been discussed more than that of Socrates. And for very good reasons! Find out more!
Selflessness as the antidote to death!
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do we take the sting off of death? How about a little less ego, a little more selflessness! Find out more!