Spanish Succession and History Podcasts

The Historyzine Podcast is not just a podcast telling history, though it is also that. In a very enthusiastic tone, spread over four episodes, host Jim Mowatt tells about the War of the Spanish Succession. In addition to that he reviews other history podcasts and on the ones I also know (History according to Bob, Binge Thinking and Dan Carlin's Hardcore History), I mostly agree with the expressed opinion. Furthermore, the reviews are very well done - sharp, to the point and intelligent.

As to the history, this is told very aptly as well. Jim reveals his podcasts are scripted, but his tone of voice is very natural and therefore very entertaining. he manages to tell the story, make some tangents and cleverly bring the story back on track. He effectively takes out a number of main characters and hands a in depth profile. Also the intricacies of the succession itself, how it came to be problematic, who were the pretenders and whose support they enjoyed is mapped out solidly.

Wikipedia lets the war span from 1701-1714, But Mowatt starts telling some two decades before. The good thing is, this makes the whole history very clear, but it leaves me wondering whether Mowatt would disagree with 1701 as the starting year and prefer to start maybe as early as 1689. Anyway. This is a podcast I am definitely going to follow more. I will also pick up the podcasts reviewed, in as far as I haven't run into them already.

My reviews of:
History according to Bob,
Binge Thinking History,
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.

Amerikaanse kandidaten - NRC FM

Op dezelfde dag dat voormalig VPRO-man Ronald Van den Boogaard de NRC FM podcast afdoet als Een krant speelt radio, beluisterde ik de volgende aflevering van deze aarzelende poging in de nieuwe media. Het onderwerp is de Amerikaanse verkiezingen, meer in het bijzonder de potentiele presidentskandidaten. In het achterhoofd speelt de vraag of NRC FM al iets begint te leren, al dan niet naar aanleiding van de ongezouten kritiek.

Om maar met de kleine positieve kanten te beginnen. De inleiding duurt niet meer ellenlang, de sprekers worden voorgesteld en er worden zowaar geluidsfragmenten afgespeeld. De geluidskwaliteit is iets beter dan de vorige keer, maar nog altijd beneden peil. Het duurt steeds een paar seconden voordat een nieuwe spreker de juiste sterkte in zijn microfoon meekrijgt en er is nog altijd veel achtergrondgeluid.

Wat gebleven is, is het gehakkel van de presentator en dat hij deel wordt van de discussie. De discussie verloopt uitermate rommelig en er valt weinig op te tekenen wat in overige media niet al uitentreure over Hillary Clinton en Barack Obama (want zij krijgen de meeste aandacht) is gezegd. Ten slotte krijgt Heleen Mees de ruimte om haar pet peeve, die van het sexisme in de wereld te spelen, zelfs op een ad hominem manier ten opzichte van andere panelleden. Kortom, het blijft een haastig en onprofessioneel in elkaar gebakken podcast, waarmee een serieuze krant eigenlijk niet voor de dag kan komen.

Vorige post over NRC FM.
En over podcast bij de Volkskrant.

Is war innate? - Philosophy Bites

Hobbes assumed that if not for the state, humans by nature would live life that was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. Implied here is that aggressiveness is innate in human beings. Plato thought otherwise as is explained by Angie Hobbs (sic) in the last Philosophy Bites.

Where Hobbes assumes a nature state with war of everyone against everyone, Plato lets Socrates describe a bucolic state, where a simple rural society leads a peaceful but abstemious life. War enters the scene when man develops desires for luxuries, specifically Sicilian sweet meat and Corinthian call-girls are mentioned. It is accepted by Plato these desires are innate and that the scarcity of Sicilian sweet meat and Corinthian call-girls will inevitably lead to war.

He questions however, if man's desires necessarily need be directed towards the scarce pleasures. He argues, by that time the desires have been corrupted and that is where aggression kicks in, but innately there is just desire. If desire could be directed to elated things, that are not scarce, aggression need not come out. That would show, aggression as such is not innate.

More Philosophy Bites:
Wittgenstein,
Friendship,
Egalitarianism,
Skepticism ,
Thought experiments (and Avicenna).