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PODCAST

John Vespasian

JOHN VESPASIAN is the author of sixteen books, including “When everything fails, try this” (2009), “Rationality is the way to happiness” (2009), “The philosophy of builders” (2010), “The 10 principles of rational living” (2012), “Rational living, rational working” (2013), “Consistency: The key to permanent stress relief” (2014), “On becoming unbreakable” (2015), “Thriving in difficult times” (2016), “Causality: Aristotle’s life and ideas” (2024), “Foresight: Schopenhauer’s life and ideas” (2024),

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All Episodes

6:36

Michel de Montaigne and individualism

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/16

I’m always puzzled when I meet individuals unable to make up their minds. They stay put in losing situations and keep going in the wrong direction. They say yes when they do not mean it, because they cannot gather the strength to say no. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was also puzzled by this situation. He correctly blamed it on a lack of self-awareness. In those cases, the victims are not alert or awake enough to resist manipulation by third parties. What’s the underlying reason for

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5:32

Michel de Montaigne and authenticity in writing

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/16

The confusion between authenticity and subjectivity keeps exerting a negative influence on philosophy and literature. It is wrong to call an author “authentic” just because he is giving a personal opinion devoid of reasoning and unconnected to facts. When historians categorize the essays written by Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) as “authentic,” they mean that those essays contain his opinions or anecdotes about his own life. In my view, they are using the wrong logic in their categorization. Let me

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7:02

Analysis of Michel de Montaigne’s authenticity in...

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/11

Authenticity starts and ends with critical thinking. It revolves around checking the accuracy of facts, contesting ready-made conclusions, and pursuing consistency. Truth is the outcome of authenticity, and ethics is the compilation of practical wisdom. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) pursued authenticity day after day. He devoted two decades to writing essays that often questioned “self-evident” truths, and then came up with better conclusions. Considering the strong social pressure exerted on

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7:02

Asymmetry in Michel de Montaigne’s literary authenticity

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/11

Ignorance, improvisation and incoherence are not sources of artistic authenticity. At best, they can lead to colourful chaos or waste. At worst, they can do the artist in. When we refer to artistic and philosophical authenticity, we are referring to truthfulness, consistency, and accuracy. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) devoted twenty years to the pursuit of literary authenticity, and he succeeded fairly well. Nevertheless, Montaigne’s authenticity remains asymmetric: It reached a very high level

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6:07

Asceticism and Michel de Montaigne’s literary...

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/09

Consistency is the very first thing we expect from authentic individuals, that is, consistency between their speech and feats. Nonetheless, Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) knew that few thinkers in history have demonstrated a tight consistency. Even in Socrates (469-399 BC) and Plato (427-347 BC), we can detect inconsistencies. Later, in the decades after Aristotle (384-322 BC), the culture declined to such an extent that the so-called philosophers would not even claim to be consistent. Montaigne’s

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6:33

Schopenhauer’s philosophy summary

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/09

Few thinkers in history have developed integrated systems of philosophy. I view Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) as one of those few. The key of Schopenhauer’s philosophy is that all reality is governed by a cosmical force, which he calls “Will.” According to Schopenhauer, Will is blind, irrational, eternal and all-powerful. It’s the prime force that drives all existence in the animal and human world in particular. Schopenhauer claims to have built his philosophy on ideas put forward by Immanuel Kant

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5:57

Schopenhauer’s theory of the will

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/09

The theory of the will constitutes the key element in all books by Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) and the most distinctive aspect of his philosophy. Schopenhauer regarded “the Will” as the fundamental force in nature, a force that drives animal and human existence. Schopenhauer is the most important thinker in the decades after Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), but rejected many of Kant’s ideas. Schopenhauer admired Kant, but disagreed with his cold view of the universe. Kant regarded reason and morality

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5:37

The great merit of Schopenhauer’s theory of the will

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/09

The theory of the will formulated by Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was neither original nor revolutionary. Before the publication of Schopenhauer’s ideas, dozens of theologians had postulated that a divine force is the ultimate driver of all events in the world. Even Aristotle (384-322 BC) had speculated that all actions in the cosmos are driven by one original force, which he called “the prime mover.” Plato (428-348 BC) and his followers had postulated the existence of a world of forms (pure

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7:14

Schopenhauer and Nietzsche: similarities and differences

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/09

Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche are two of the most important philosophers in history. Both lived in Germany (in territories that eventually became part of today’s Germany) and placed the theory of the will at the centre of their ideas. Schopenhauer (1788-1860) appreciated Kant, but criticised other mainstream philosophers such as Hegel. He had no kind word for Hegel’s determinism, which reduced individuals and history to pawns of a supernatural spirit. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

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7:55

Schopenhauer and the philosophy of perception

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/04

Schopenhauer’s understanding of perception is rooted in the subjective experience of each person. Schopenhauer does not view perception as a passive mirror. It’s not an automatic, objective reflection of an external reality, but an active engagement with the world through the filter of one’s desires. Schopenhauer introduced the theory of the will, especially as the “will to live.” Our desires and instincts shape how we perceive and represent the world. According to Schopenhauer, the will is a blind,

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6:02

Critique of Schopenhauer’s philosophy of perception

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/02

The theory of perception is one of the weakest aspects in the philosophy developed by Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860). It consolidates in one point all errors in Schopenhauer’s ideas. It’s so poorly reasoned that it may prevent us from appreciating the good parts of Schopenhauer’s philosophy. What is wrong with Schopenhauer’s theory of perception? I raise as main criticism its total disconnection from reality. To the discharge of Schopenhauer, I must point out that he started at a very low point,

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6:46

Comparison of Schopenhauer and Hegel

John Vespasian ·

2025/09/02

Seldom has the world seen such a deep, perennial animosity between philosophers as the one that existed between Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) and Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831). While Hegel basically ignored Schopenhauer, the latter was delighted when he read in the news that Hegel had died. “If he had died earlier,” commented Schopenhauer, “the world would have been spared a whole bunch of nonsense.” Like in most of his sharp social commentary, Schopenhauer was proven right by history

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5:50

Impact of the comparison between Schopenhauer and Hegel

John Vespasian ·

2025/08/28

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) expressed his dislike of Hegel's philosophy at every opportunity. In fact, Schopenhauer devoted a good part of his key work “The world as will and representation” to opposing Hegelian ideas. Schopenhauer viewed Hegel (1770-1831) as an intellectual charlatan, and described Hegel's ideas as too complicated and devoid of substance. In addition, Schopenhauer argued that Hegel's dialectical method only serves to obfuscate truth. Schopenhauer's ideas found resonance among

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6:57

Schopenhauer on determinism

John Vespasian ·

2025/06/12

It’s not correct to say that Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) embraced a form of metaphysical determinism. His philosophy rests on the assumption that the will (which I translate as “life force”) influences all events, but there is a substantial distance between influencing and determining. The difference between influence and determinism has large consequences. I am not pointing to a trivial linguistic variance. If you want to make good decisions and keep anxiety at bay, it is crucial that you

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6:31

Individuality and determinism in Schopenhauer

John Vespasian ·

2025/06/12

You do not need to search long to find philosophers that rate Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) as the ultimate advocate of determinism. Nonetheless, they are wrong; their categorization of Schopenhauer as deterministic is superficial and overlooks a large number of key aspects in Schopenhauer’s philosophy. When analysing a philosopher, one must place his ideas at a certain point in the scale of determinism versus individuality. It is particularly easy to err if you don’t study philosophical ideas in

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7:01

Schopenhauer and the philosophy of time

John Vespasian ·

2025/06/12

The reflections of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) are to be found in his work “The world as will and representation.” I consider equally interesting the observations contained in his “Aphorisms on the art of living,” published in 1851. In contrast to Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), Schopenhauer is not a philosopher of history. He didn’t develop an all-inclusive vision of history nor theorized about the end of times. He did not regard the course of history as one unequivocal path pointing into a single

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5:38

Schopenhauer and the philosophy of history

John Vespasian ·

2025/06/12

The philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) places history on a secondary plane. Schopenhauer didn’t give history a central role because he did not consider that humanity should achieve any goal beyond the happiness of the individual. Schopenhauer believed that an eternal life force (“the will”) drives all creatures towards self-preservation and reproduction, but the influence of the will doesn’t mean that society must go in a particular direction. According to Schopenhauer, the events in the

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6:00

Michel de Montaigne and the true path to self-discovery

John Vespasian ·

2025/06/03

We all know individuals who lack a sense of direction. They drift from day to day because they lack long-term objectives. I find it no surprise then that their decisions are inconsistent and undermine each other. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) had observed exactly the same phenomenon in his contemporaries. Few of them had set up goals for themselves, and even fewer pursued those goals in a consistent manner. Self-discovery is the process of getting to know oneself, our likes and dislikes, our

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5:39

Michel de Montaigne and intellectual independence

John Vespasian ·

2025/06/03

An independent spirit and strong nerves are the prerequisites of intellectual independence. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) possessed those qualities, but had not inherited them. It would take him three decades of trial and error to acquire them. Nowadays, intellectual independence is as rare as it was in Montaigne’s lifetime, that is, in sixteenth-century France. Few people dare to oppose in public the dominant views, even if the penalty for doing so seldom goes beyond enduring criticism. Montaigne

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6:42

Michel de Montaigne and the advantages of...

John Vespasian ·

2025/06/03

While the risks of intellectual interdependence are obvious, the advantages are rarely mentioned. Widespread silence about the advantages explains why many people dismiss intellectual independence as unworkable or not affordable. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) played a pivotal role in affirming intellectual independence as advantageous, first of all, for its practitioners. His literary output proves the feasibility of exercising intellectual independence in a hostile context. The path towards

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