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PODCAST

The Wes Cecil Podcast

My lectures are dedicated to making Philosophy in particular and the world of ideas in general available to everyone. My exploration of topics and thinkers is designed to provide a foundation for listeners to engage in further reading and thought and develop their own conceptions of the topics I introduce. I have PhD in Literature and Philosophy and was a college professor for over 20 years. I am working to remove the barriers that prevent many from experiencing and understanding the lives and

education philosophy

All Episodes

33:34

Plato's Symposium: The Speech of Phaedrus - Ep. 4

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/06/23

The first speech comes from Phaedrus. He is sincere and well intentioned but delivers a seemingly very limited take on the nature of Love. As ever, there is a level of philosophy, politics and religious argumentation going on that is not that obvious on the surface.Sign-up forWes’s PATREONto get your questions answered by Wes!Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, peer discussions, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. See

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58:26

The Transvaluation of All Values: Play not Work - Ep. 4

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/06/18

In a world of almost unimaginable opportunity to express ourselves, we still maintain a sense of ‘work’ as our defining characteristic. Embracing a sense of Play in our lives seems like we are abandoning our duties and subjecting ourselves to soul crushing poverty.Sign-up forWes’s PATREONto get your questions answered by Wes!Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more

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44:09

Plato's Symposium: Socrates & Apollodorus - Ep. 3

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/06/16

We reach the text itself. Hopefully I clarify why there is this strange framing element to the Symposium and the degree to which many of the seemingly odd asides and quotes are actually core to Plato’s general assault on the mytho-poetic concepts of Hellenistic society.Sign-up forWes’s PATREONto get your questions answered by Wes!Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more

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13:49

Plato's Symposium: Intro Part Two - Ep. 2

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/06/13

Well, forgot to mention that both the Reformation and the Enlightenment were heavily influenced by Platonic thought(!). As a test, if you’ve ever thought that SCIENCE is THE path to the TRUTH; congratulations, you’re a Neoplatonist.Sign-up forWes’s PATREONto get your questions answered by Wes!Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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1:01:11

The Transvaluation of All Values: You are not a...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/06/11

YOU ARE NOT A SLAVE:Despite being by almost any measure some of the freest people in history, we consistently use language and express patterns suggesting we are in fact still peasant, serfs or slaves.Sign-up forWes’s PATREONto get your questions answered by Wes!Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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38:33

Plato's Symposium: Introduction - Ep. 1

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/06/09

Two main points in this introduction:First, Plato is in deadly earnest in these dialogues trying to work out how his society and his class were crushed in a war and subject to tyranny and what, if anything, could be done.Second, Plato has had an unbelievable impact on our conception of the world through his influence on Christianity. Further, as we will explore in later episodes, his thinking is also foundational to the Enlightenment and Humanism - two intellectual movements that undercut the power

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35:40

Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/06/07

Just a follow up to discuss the forces that shape the global real estate market and how our standard response - supply and demand - reveals the degree to which our minds are captured by a wild oversimplification of economic forces and the benighted nature of our collective imaginations faced with economic challenges.Sign-up forWes’s PATREONto get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 /

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59:04

The Transvaluation of All Values: The Individual and...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/06/04

THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COMMUNITY:Another aspect of confusion comes from a loss of our immediate community that throws us onto an ever increasing sense of individualism and, hence, isolation. We struggle mightily to address the very rapid transition from life patterns established in small scale communities to individualism and national or even global patterns of thought. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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33:56

Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/06/02

CONCLUSION:The conclusion to the capitalism series wherein I ramble a bit about the major concepts we have explored and why I think it is so important at this juncture in history to think about the influence capitalism has had on our conception of ourselves and our world.Also, I checked the Euro Disney prices for a family of four, not counting transportation or hotel—the cost will be between 800 and 1700 euros. The price of coffee in Paris—roughly 3 or 4 euros depending on where you are. Feel free

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4:19

Plato's Symposium: Summer Seminar Announcement

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/06/02

If you would like to participate in a Summer Symposium Seminar here’s your chance. Get a copy of the Symposium and get ready as I will launch June 9 when the Capitalism series is wrapped up. I will include short quizzes as a spur to questions and debates to hopefully help us really come to grips with this foundational text. Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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59:40

The Transvaluation of All Values: Scarcity and...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/05/28

SCARCITY AND ABUNDANCE:We have inherited a set of values that are a misfit for the world we now inhabit. The tension between our past and our present is creating a strong sense of confusion and dislocation. This series explores some of the elements of this problem beginning with why, in a world of overwhelming abundance, we still feel beset by scarcity. Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for

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37:03

Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/05/26

The past tells us that our future with Capitalism is unlikely to suddenly change. Rather, we are likely to experience a slow evolution of values that undermines and constrains the power of capitalism and frees us to pursue other sets of values and create new worldviews that combine elements of the past but create new ideals for a new world. Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more

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11:54

Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Confucius in The...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/05/23

In this short parable from the Analects we see the idea that wisdom is relative both to situations and individuals. This approach to wisdom is markedly different from the notion of universal laws and absolute ontology that informs much of the Western philosophical tradition. Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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41:51

How to get rich with philosophy. No, really.

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/05/22

I know this sounds like a joke, but the joke was on me. This moment in the coffee shop highlighted how deeply I have internalized our cultural definition of wealth and riches despite, in theory, spending much of my life critiquing these kinds of cultural mindsets. Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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40:08

Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/05/19

We reach today and discover, like 16th century Catholics, we know all the critiques of our condition but have difficulty imagining any possible alternative. This leads supposedly quite determinedly different arguments about both politics and economics to, upon reflection, represent very similar or perhaps even identical positions. Herein lies our struggle. Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

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10:08

Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: Searching for what...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/05/16

Searching for what we already have is one of the keys, if not the key, messages of Sufism. If you are a god, what are you looking for out in the world that is not already inside of you? This and related Sufi parables remind us that what we already have is what we are looking for. Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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44:33

Why is Hinduism so difficult for the West?

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/05/14

An introduction into why we find it hard to understand Hinduism. It is not a faith based religion, there is no book, there are not many actual rules or commandments, it embraces the world in all its complexities and confusions and has no impulse towards evangelism. All in all, it is very difficult for people raised in the Judeo-Christian ethos to understand what, exactly, is going on with Hinduism. Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and

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44:15

Capitalism: How did we get here? And where are we...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/05/12

CAPITALISM: EP. 9I argue that one of the problems we face today is simply confusion. We understand the ills of global capitalism, we are cynical about it, and we are perhaps even trying to be exploitative in response. However, none of this is really an answer to or alternative that addresses the core problems introduced by capitalism. Without new standards, whether borrowed from the past or created afresh, it is impossible to adequately respond to the many challenges we face in the world today.*My

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12:00

Philosophical Fireside Chats 🔥 🪵: (Zen Koan)The Sound...

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/05/09

The "sound of one hand clapping" is a famous, now seemingly trite and often ridiculed, Zen Koan that is quite profound. The Koan asks to pause and reflect on how much of our world is filled by ghosts of our own creation that have little or no actual relation to the world. A simple, powerful and difficult Koan. Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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23:01

Your are not a digital nomad.

The Wes Cecil Podcast ·

2025/05/07

The concept of Digital Nomadism misrepresents both the concept of digital and of nomad. By confusing these concepts a narrative is created that argues for a mode of life that is exploitative of others and generally injurious for those who attempt to pursue this path. I argue that the whole concept reveals our deep confusion about how technology shapes our lives and often damages the quality of our lives. Sign-up for Wes's PATREON for class discussions, course materials, weekly diaries from France

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173 results

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