Secularism - Thinking Allowed (BBC)

In conjunction with the last Philosophy Bites issue I wrote about (on Morality) I think it is a good idea to listen to a rather recent issue of BBC's Thinking Allowed. Laurie Taylor had a fascinating and spirited discussion with Rebecca Goldstein, Eric Kaufmann and Tariq Ramadan under the title Secularism under Threat?

Part of the problem is a confusion in terminology, which Tariq Ramadan takes on, by separating Secularism, from the modern ideological atheism that is heard from so often. Secularism, is a way of organizing society and political authority independent from organized religion and leaving place for all sorts of religious streams. And here it serves to keep Susan Neiman in mind as she spoke on Philosophy Bites and reformulated with the Enlightenment was all about secular society.

Once this is settled, it is relevant to view the non-fundamentalist religious, who are secularists in the political sense. And so, secularism under threat is an issue of secularism being challenged by the religious literalists. However, somehow, related but also different is the question of the rise of Islam in Europe. Both these are discussed. What is left out, is a rise of spiritualism, which, probably opposes the atheist kind of secularists.

More Thinking Allowed:
History and sociology,
Boffins and WW I,
Richard Hoggart,
Secular vs. Religious,
Renoir and Slumming.

Jesus - Egalitarian or Apocalyptic

It was a theme I did not recall so vividly from the previous podcast series on the Historical Jesus I followed (Stanford's Historical Jesus, with Tom Sheehan - feed) Although I do recall that Sheehan repeatedly mentioned John Dominic Crossan and his view on Jesus, I do not recall any mention of E. P. Sanders. It is such a long time ago...

The current theme in Philip Harland's Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean is the historical Jesus. And Harland juxtaposes the views of Crossan and Sanders. He shows how Crossan comes to a view of Jesus in which he is an Egalitarian spiritual teacher. Sanders, however, has a view that is radically different, he sees Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet. Harland takes no position. He simply shows how Crossan and Sanders arrive at these fundamentally different positions that are each defensible in their own right.

The consecutive chapters have begun to dig deeper into the sources. Harland combines what little written sources about Jesus there are, with a more general historic knowledge about the time and place (Galilee at the beginning of the CE calendar), based on broader sources and upon archeology. I have no idea yet where he will be going. Will he be arriving at a conclusion different from Crossan and Sanders, at either one of them or stop at the inconclusive facts? We will have to wait and see.

More on Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean:
Historical Jesus (2) - Philip Harland,
Historical Jesus (1) - Philip Harland,
New Testament, history and literature,
Da Vinci Code,
Early Christianity podcasts.

Volcanoes in European History - EEH podcast

The Exploring Environmental History Podcast has just published a very timely and fascinating issue about the effect volcanic eruptions may have had on European and World History. While Europe has not felt such effects in many many years, with the recent eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull on Iceland, starting with the disruption of air traffic, this has changed. Apart from traffic, the ash plumes are likely to affect crops, sun light, the climate and thus, economic, social and political history.

Host Jan Oosthoek digs into a couple of established events in the Middle Ages that show a combination of bad crops, decreased sun light and lowering of temperatures. He cites research that suggests volcanic eruption and ash plumes as an explanation for these. By extension, this connects famines, migrations, plagues and social instability to volcanic eruptions. It could mean that the Plague and the Renaissance may indirectly have been caused by volcanism. Oosthoek mentions no known volcanic eruption that could be a candidate for this explanation.

In turn, he goes over the recorded effects of the Laki eruption of 1783 (also in Iceland). Here he has no major occurrences such as famine, epidemic and revolution to report, yet the effect on weather and harvest in 1783 and 1784 seems considerable. In short, without being able to give definitive indications, with the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull we see environmental history in action.

More Exploring Environmental History:
Environmental History in the Middle Ages,
New weeds in Africa,
Biological invasions and transformations,
Environmental history: an applied science,
Defining Environmental History with Marc Hall.

Quick podcast reviews - Anne is a Man

Now that I have so much less time to write for the blog, I feel bad I let my audience miss out on some of the listening I manage to do. And it is worth give a couple of quick mentions, so here goes:

The Writing Show - I hadn't listened to the writing show in years. I couldn't resist to listen to Melissa Hart, writer of an autobiographical novel (Gringa) about a white, straight girl who desperately tries to be Hispanic and lesbian. (feed)

Entitled Opinions tackled Karl Marx. Robert Harrison gives his view why Marx is more relevant today than ever and his guest Mark Mancall saves him from sounding too superficial and turns this conversation is a really indispensable one about Marx. Who really seems to be more relevant today than ever.

Veertien Achttien. For those who understand Dutch. A biography of Petain you have to hear.

SALT podcast (Seminars About Long Term Thinking) aka The Long Now. Guest Speaker David Eagleman give a stunningly optimistic talk how the internet is going to prevent civilization collapses as we know from the past. Not a word about how the internet may become our downfall, only a few about how we need to make sure there will be no lapses. In spite of this naiveté still a commendable listen. Oh, and I had no patience for the Q&A, so maybe somebody asked about the dangers of the internet there.

New Books in History - Currently my favorite podcast. I have done a ton of listening. Eight shows rolled through my ears that I didn't manage to review. And they are all worth it. A similar amount is still waiting in the playlist. Can you imagine?
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, “The Anti-Imperial Choice: The Making of the Ukrainian Jew”; Ukrainian culture is known to be anti-semitic, yet some Jews count as promoters of Ukranian literature.
David Aaronovitch, “Voodoo Histories: The Role of Conspiracy Theory in the Shaping of Modern History”; This is lovely; how you just have to love conspiracy theories - but never believe them.
Robert Gellately, “Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe”; the finer details of ruining society.
Nicholas Thompson, “The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War”; NBIH has many cold ware issues you should not miss - this is one of them.
Mark Mazower, “Hitler’s Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe”; So we know how they conquered Europe, but how could they rule so vast a realm with so few forces?
Joel Wolfe, “Autos and Progress: The Brazilian Search for Modernity”; History of Brazil, filling an omission in my knowledge.
David Day, “Conquest: How Societies Overwhelm Others”; a tough interview to swallow for an Israeli - we are constantly mentioned in line with the endless list of peoples who trampled others to steal their land.
David Laskin, “The Long Way Home. An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War” Immigrants fighting for the US in WW1 and thus obtaining citizenship - and it still happens today.

William the Conqueror - Norman Centuries

As soon as Lars Brownsworth started his Norman Centuries series, I knew what was the episode I was waiting for the most: The one about William the Conqueror. Not that I minded waiting a lot, quite to the contrary. Four preceding podcasts, handing me four predecessors and a century and a half of preceding history, elegantly leading em up to this Norman King I have heard so much, but knew so little about.

The subtle charm in Lars's narratives is the turn up of the unexpected. Many of the Norman Dukes and Kings start out on the wrong foot in life and somehow manage to survive and reverse their lot. This means not just their position of power, frequently also the perception others have of them. I won't give away to much, I urge to listen for yourself and not let me spoil the joy.

William is, in this respect, no different. The orphan king-child seems to be destined to be a puppet for the nobility or for the King of France or the ruler of Burgundy - whoever. Yet, just as we learn from Lars how young William wriggles away from under the yoke of his custodians, the podcast chapter is done. William will have two (at least) podcasts dedicated to him. So, he is not yet the Conquerer, but on this occasion I won't withhold from you a fine piece I found on YouTube: the Animated Bayeux Tapestry



More Norman Centuries:
Magnificent Devil,
Richard the Fearless,
Norman Centuries - Lars is back!.

Comedy podcasts and philosophy - Saeed Ahmed guest post

I have been writing about academic podcasts on philosophy for quite some time. After getting a bit stuck on the notion of "synthetic apriori," I have decided to take a diversion and have been sampling funny podcasts.

Not surprisingly, there is plenty of philosophy to be found here. The series I previously posted about, WTF by Marc Maron, provides an example.

Mark talks about a heavy "WHAT THE FU**?" and a light "what the fu**?" The first, according to Marc is "external", like when you are surprised or shocked by something. The latter is "kind of an internal thing," like when you are ready to take a risk. Take that, Bishop Berkeley.
He even covers the notion of temporality when he discusses leaving his cats for more than a few weeks, and they don't treat him quite the right way when he comes back. "They probably think I died and are bit confused when they see me". "Is it really the same guy, they may wonder." Martin Heidegger must be turning in his grave, but in sort of good way. (feed)

I am getting addicted to Maron's musings and interviews (he is a very good interviewer, and generally interviews other comedians). But if he is not for you, there are a number of other good comedy podcasts out there.

On Comedy and everything else, one of the regulars asked "has someone ever dared you 'if I give you a million bucks, would you do a naked handstand in times square.'" "What kind of a question is that; I don't acknowledge it as test of moral standing, and don't enter the hypothetical." Now if it truly were a million, then perhaps he would enter the discussion. (feed)

A couple of others:
Comedy Death-Ray Radio (feed)
Nerdist Podcast (feed)

And they are all free, although contributions are welcome, as many of these comedians are not regularly employed and do these podcasts between gigs.

Saeed Ahmed