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Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes

Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes

By: Evergreen Podcasts
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 Reading through difficult philosophy texts line-by-line to try to figure out what’s really being said.Mark Linsenmayer and Wes Alwan 2024 Philosophy Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Aquinas and Scotus on Law (Part One)

    Aquinas and Scotus on Law (Part One)
    Dec 18 2025
    While we modern folks have a generally clear distinction between law as in descriptive laws of nature and law as in ethical or civil commandments, these Medieval philosophers saw these as very much related if not actually the same thing, given that humans can ignore the dictates of their nature, i.e. reason, whereas the rest of nature just proceeds according to natural law, which for these theologians means God's dictates. So what actually is the relation, in general, between law and reason? Our text includes Aquinas' presentation of this issue and his near-contemporary Duns Scotus' commentary on it. Read along with us. You can choose to watch this on video. To get future parts, subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    57 mins
  • Josiah Royce on Interpreting Other People

    Josiah Royce on Interpreting Other People
    Dec 12 2025
    On "The Problem of Christianity," vol. 2, lecture 12, ch. 9, "The Will to Interpret." The point is to help explain Royce's idea of a community of interpretation, and the idea is that in the very act of interpreting a single individual, I'm bringing in some kind of public lexicon, i.e. other people beyond us two. Even though other people are fundamentally separate from us, we make some sort of leap that is the foundation of community: the will to interpret you as if your mind were accessible to mine. Read along with us. You can choose to watch this on video. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Hegel on Reason (Part One)

    Hegel on Reason (Part One)
    Nov 14 2025
    On Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Part C (AA) Reason, V. The Certainty and Truth of Reason. This section comes right after the self-consciousness sections, and so its big puzzle is why? Why is full recognition by another self-consciousness necessary for Reason, and consequently what is Hegel's conception of Reason? Read along with us, on PDF p. 175, i.e. section 231. You can choose to watch this on YouTube. To get future parts, subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 mins
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