Unabomber world views - Entitled Opinions

Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, was not just a terrorist. He also was a social critic and in the podcast Entitled Opinions, host Robert Harrison and his guest Jean-Marie Apostolidès dig into the thoughts and writings of the Unabomber.

They make a point, ostensibly, in distancing themselves from Kaczynski as an activist and emphasize they do not agree with his ideas. Apostolidès begins to explain why his ideas, nevertheless, are interesting and relevant for discussion. Harrison expresses some affinity with some of the ideas, although he categorically disagrees with the conclusions. The bottom-line, I think, seems to be that in our rapidly developing world, Kaczynski's ideas are bound to pop up and need to be evaluated and critically assessed for they carry insights or point to truths that otherwise may not be ascertained that clearly.

It is interesting how Apostolidès eventually identifies Kaczynski as a writer. Not as an activist, a philosopher or even a terrorist. He was a writer and he reverted to violence to get attention to his writings. The psychology of Kaczynski, thus, is that of a failed person and his ideas badly written, missing the point and in their anti-technology stance, overtaken by the present. Kaczynski in other words, is yet another Luddite met over the course of progress. What could be added is an analysis of a historian how every technology driven change in society over history has produced its own Luddites and Unabombers.

More Entitled Opinions:
Byzantine Culture,
Jimi Hendrix,
Nietzsche,
Romanticism,
Sartre's Existentialism.

New season of In Our Time

BBC's In Our Time has made a flying start of the new season. Three issues have passed us already and the fourth is about to come on-line. As usual, once the new episode is available in the feed, the old one is removed. Make sure you get the chapters and keep them for later listening. There almost never an issue of IOT you will regret having spent your precious 45 minutes of listening time to.

I already gave a short review of the opening of the season, St. Thomas Aquinas, but in the mean time we have also had two other excellent discussions. One about the Newton vs Leibniz controversy and one about the fascinating and enigmatic black sheep of Egyptian Pharaohs: Akhenaten.

The Leibinz-Newton controversy hardly turns out to be a relevant controversy for mathematics. It seems more of a championship of prestige between England and Germany, between the Anglo-Saxon world and the European continent. And in the end, it is once again a mention of both the genius as well as the miserable character of Isaac Newton.

Akhenaten (Akhnaton) is the story of reconstruction of a history for which we have little facts to go on, yet that contains all the elements to trigger wild imagination. One of those issues is the seeming monotheism of Akhenaten. Was he the first monotheist in history? If he was a monotheist, but if you accept that, what would be the relation with Moses, taking the Hebrews out of Egypt and establishing that oldest monotheistic religion we still have today? At least they could have given the temporal distance between the two. But more time goes to discussing Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti and the religious revolution he brought about.

More In Our Time
St. Thomas Aquinas,
Logical Positivism,
The Sunni - Shia split,
Revenge Tragedy,
The Augustan Age.

China - Rear Vision

The dynastic empires of China succeeded each other until 1912. The People's Republic of China started in 1949. What happened in between? What is this China that bridged the old and the new empire? Where do emperor and chairman connect? Rear Vision brought a program which the history of this China (China before Mao) was discussed.

This is the China of Sun Yat Sen. This is the China that wrestled with the power of European colonials. This is the China that was led by a coalition of nationalists and various sorts of liberals and socialists. The communists were in that coalition. And the communists were divided, divided on their alliance to the Soviet Union, divided on their strategies. Should revolution come from the proletariat in the cities, or from the countryside?

And so this is also the story of how one flank of the communists, those led by Mao, who thought that revolution should come from the countryside, eventually seize full power. Ultimately, this is so much, it almost necessarily falls short. But it is fascinating, no less.

More Rear Vision:
A history of the Israeli-Arab conflict,
Fish depletion,
Follow up on Iran and Versailles,
Versailles 1919,
Iran 1953.

Nietzsche repossessed - Philosophy Bites

Philosophy Bites is not the first philosophy podcast Brian Leiter appears in to speak on Friedrich Nietzsche. Just a month ago we noticed him on Elucidations where he reconstructed Nietzsche's views on morality. Already there I noted my reservations. I am in no way knowledgeable, but the in the way of presentation Leiter leaves on me the impression he is bent on presenting his interpretation of Nietzsche, rather than delivering what is broadly held to be the interpretation of Nietzsche.

When Leiter speaks at Philosophy Bites on myths around Nietzsche it should therefore come as no surprise that his recurring point is that widely held ideas on what Nietzsche's ideas should entail are in fact mistaken. Then he presents an adjusted view and thus, in a way, repossesses Nietzsche. Not only does he pull him away from accusations of Nazi sympathy or antisemitism, but also from fields where he is popular and thought to be influential.

Again, I find it impossible to verify whether Leiter is being particular about Nietzsche or especially insightful. By all means, the appearance on Philosophy Bites was very interesting and informative and even if faulty, I feel, is very helpful in getting a grip on this elusive philosopher, Nietzsche.

More Philosophy Bites:
What can you do with philosophy?,
Morality without God,
Pascal's Pensées,
Fourth Revolution,
Michael Sandel on what cannot be sold.

Political rationalizations in Nazi-Germany - NBIH

A fantastic, sophisticated, thought provoking and fascinating podcast was delivered by New Books in History in its latest edition. This interview by Marshal Poe is not only one to be listened to carefully, it needs to be thought over and applied around. This is where history teaches us a lesson we need every day.

Poe interviewed Peter Fritzsche about the complex and multi-faceted issue of the political landscape in the Third Reich. This is not only a journey into nuance not everybody is ready to understand or even accept, it is also one with pitfalls, to be either too unforgiving or too forgiving to the Germans under Hitler, or just plain ignorant. I am not surprised Fritzsche came to a title for his book on the subject as wide as Life and Death in the Third Reich. If you are open to it and critically think along, you will be offered a fascinating reconstruction of how a nation of various identities and political views, largely all within the acceptable spectrum could come to accept the Nazis as their rulers and shake them off, after the war as well.

What struck me was how profound this insight is and how it gives a hint to any situation elsewhere in history where sane people come to ascribe to insane ideologies and rule. I can see how anyone in any situation can be similarly drawn in the slippery slope and end somewhere in the slipstream of a political power that he in his heart of hearts detests and mistrusts, but somehow accepts to be his and then apply himself to the circumstance. If ever, this podcast must be a great incentive to go and read the book by Fritzsche, this and any other, for that matter.

More NBIH:
Whalen / Rohrbough,
Confronting the bomb,
Henry Hudson's fatal journey,
Substance abuse in the midwest,
How could they continue - NBIH on WW1 soldiers.

German Classics - Deutsche Welle

Through the German radio station Deutsche Welle one can hear great artists read German Classics to the public. This program is also available as a podcast: Deutsche Klassiker. (feed)

Just now, I have finished listening to Philipp Schepmann who read a story by Goethe: Die neue Melusine. The story is a romantic version of a fairy tale about a woman shape shifter. A charming elaboration into a magical realistic tale from the perspective of the man who is mesmerized by her.

Next on my play list is a two-part reading of E.T.A. Hoffmann's Der Sandmann, read by Wolfgang Rüter.

As radio programs go, the audio and the reading is professionally impeccable.