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A Freedom of Ideas

A Freedom of Ideas

Cori Di Biase

1 Creator

1 Creator

The idea of freedom is central to the way we live our lives. Some of us say we would die to defend it, and many have. To explain who and what we are, we first call ourselves “free”. But for as often as we say the word, do we understand what freedom is? We will explore the idea of freedom through the lens of philosophy, history, literature... and whatever else we can find to learn from. I hope you’ll join the conversation.
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Top 10 A Freedom of Ideas Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best A Freedom of Ideas episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to A Freedom of Ideas for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite A Freedom of Ideas episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

A Freedom of Ideas - Free Will (or Not?) Part 7: Conclusion
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10/28/21 • 60 min

Following the lead of the great Daniel Dennett, in this final full episode in our opening series on the Philosophy of Mind, we'll take the many challenges we've reviewed, and turn them on their heads to create the beginnings of an explanation for the way we experience individual Free Will.

As we've discussed all along, the way we use language, and the way language developed, and continued to develop, for us, will play a leading role in our description.

***SEASON ONE READINGS AND SOURCES***

A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, by Pierre-Simon Laplace

Consciousness Explained, by Daniel C. Dennett (Paul Weiner, Illustrator)

Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting, by Daniel C. Dennett

Freedom Evolves, by Daniel C. Dennett

Meditations on First Philosophy, by René Descartes

Mystery of the Mind: A Critical Study of Consciousness and the Human Brain, by Wilder Penfield

Subjectivity, Realism, and Postmodernism: The Recovery of the World in Recent Philosophy, by Frank B. Farrell

Copyright 2023 Cori Di Biase

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A Freedom of Ideas - Season 1 Re-Cap & Season 2 Primer
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03/15/22 • 52 min

In this episode, we’ll talk about what’s new and exciting in the world of A Freedom of Ideas, we’ll do a re-cap of our conclusions from Season One. We’ll line ourselves up to hit the ground running for Season Two, in preparation for talking about the philosophy of Mill, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Hegel, and others.

If you were not able to listen to Season One, I believe the recap, here, should suffice to dive into Season Two.

A FREEDOM OF IDEAS may be found online at afreedomofideas.com.

Support the Podcast... and the Podcaster through Patreon, or by buying some AFOI Merch(andise) at the show's Redbubble shop.

***SEASON TWO READINGS AND SOURCES***

On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill

John Locke's 2nd Treatise on Civil Government, by John Locke

Meditations on First Philosophy, by René Descartes

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, by Tyson Yunkaporta

A Treatise of Human Nature [Books 1-3], by David Hume

Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes

The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The Encyclopedia Logic (Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences Series #1), by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Philosophy of Mind: Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences (Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences Series #3), by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Hegel's Philosophy of Right, by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (Thom Brooks, Editor)

Copyright 2023 Cori Di Biase

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In Season 2 - our FOUNDATIONS series - we’ll examine European philosophers from the 17th through the 19th centuries, to see how their views have shaped and defined our own... whether we realize it or not.

As we continue our look at Mill’s ON LIBERTY, we see him establish a dangerous formula by which to justify Imperialism. Mill’s contention that some societies should be viewed as “immature” – and thus not capable of the rationality required for liberty - opens the door to a definition of freedom that recognizes permissible despotism.

We’ll use this deeply troubling conclusion as a lens through which to better understand the relationship between European modes of reason, bigotry, and freedom – or the lack of freedom. We’ll look more closely at the institution of Imperialism as the ultimate expression of what we’ll call “rational chauvinism”.

A FREEDOM OF IDEAS may be found online at afreedomofideas.com.

Support the Podcast... and the Podcaster through Patreon, or by buying some AFOI Merch(andise) at the show's Redbubble shop.

***SEASON TWO READINGS AND SOURCES***

On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill

John Locke's 2nd Treatise on Civil Government, by John Locke

Meditations on First Philosophy, by René Descartes

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, by Tyson Yunkaporta

A Treatise of Human Nature [Books 1-3], by David Hume

Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes

The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The Encyclopedia Logic (Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences Series #1), by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Philosophy of Mind: Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences (Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences Series #3), by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Hegel's Philosophy of Right, by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (Thom Brooks, Editor)

Copyright 2023 Cori Di Biase

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A Freedom of Ideas - FOUNDATIONS: John Stuart Mill, Part 1
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03/17/22 • 55 min

In Season 2 - our FOUNDATIONS series - we’ll examine European philosophers from the 17th through the 19th centuries, to see how their views have shaped and defined our own... whether we realize it or not.

We begin with the thesis statement from Mill’s ON LIBERTY. In what amounts to a fundamentally libertarian view of freedom – that my own freedom should not be limited, so long as I am not doing harm to others – we begin by asking:

  • What constitutes harm?
  • How must differing perspectives and power dynamics be weighed and considered?
  • What does it means that the currency and mechanisms of our freedom, and the institutions of civil society that are designed to protect and ensure that freedom, are rooted in basic dynamics of European reasoning?

A FREEDOM OF IDEAS may be found online at afreedomofideas.com.

Support the Podcast... and the Podcaster through Patreon, or by buying some AFOI Merch(andise) at the show's Redbubble shop.

***SEASON TWO READINGS AND SOURCES***

On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill

John Locke's 2nd Treatise on Civil Government, by John Locke

Meditations on First Philosophy, by René Descartes

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, by Tyson Yunkaporta

A Treatise of Human Nature [Books 1-3], by David Hume

Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes

The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The Encyclopedia Logic (Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences Series #1), by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Philosophy of Mind: Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences (Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences Series #3), by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Hegel's Philosophy of Right, by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (Thom Brooks, Editor)

Copyright 2023 Cori Di Biase

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A Freedom of Ideas - Prolegomena

Prolegomena

A Freedom of Ideas

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09/15/21 • 34 min

By way of an introduction, we'll begin to explore what we mean by "freedom," and what freedom means to us.

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A Freedom of Ideas - FOUNDATIONS: Mid-Season Re-Cap
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06/14/22 • 43 min

In Season 2 - our FOUNDATIONS series - we’ll examine European philosophers from the 17th through the 19th centuries, to see how their views have shaped and defined our own... whether we realize it or not.

In this episode, in preperation for a deep dove on reason, freedom, and Imperialism, we'll re-cap the season thus far.

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In Season 2 - our FOUNDATIONS series - we’ll examine European philosophers from the 17th through the 19th centuries, to see how their views have shaped and defined our own... whether we realize it or not.

Having contended that Imperialism served to “change the minds” of much of the world – meaning, to re-make the human understanding of how the mind operates in relationship to the world – for the next three episodes we’ll talk about how, exactly, that mind-changing took place.

We’ll begin by discussing “Indian Boarding Schools” in the United States as one of a number of brutal, genocidal practices used by Imperialists in native or indigenous communities. Indigenous communities generally suffered far more explicit cruelty than victims of Imperialism in more settled societies. This, in itself, is a further example of European “rational chauvinism” – the belief that peoples exist on a scale of “maturity”, rationality, and civilizational quality.

In this all-too-brief look at these brutal institutions, we’ll see how their operations sought to change the minds of native youth in America, and the broader impacts these “schools” had on the communities and civil society of the families that experienced them.

Sources for toady’s show include:

Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report

Federal Indian Boarding School System Intentionally Sought to Destroy Native Families

“Kill the Indian, save the man”: Remembering the stories of Indian boarding schools

Survivors Of Native American Boarding Schools Discuss Dark History In The US

Stolen Children | Residential School survivors speak out

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A Freedom of Ideas - Epiphenomena: Quantum Entrancelment
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10/27/21 • 46 min

Keeping a promise I made you folks (in passing, but still) way back at the beginning of this series, today we’ll explore how - or if - Quantum Physics can help us escape determinism, and maybe even explain free will... and mind, and consciousness, and all the rest.

***SEASON ONE READINGS AND SOURCES***

A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, by Pierre-Simon Laplace

Consciousness Explained, by Daniel C. Dennett (Paul Weiner, Illustrator)

Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting, by Daniel C. Dennett

Freedom Evolves, by Daniel C. Dennett

Meditations on First Philosophy, by René Descartes

Mystery of the Mind: A Critical Study of Consciousness and the Human Brain, by Wilder Penfield

Subjectivity, Realism, and Postmodernism: The Recovery of the World in Recent Philosophy, by Frank B. Farrell

Copyright 2023 Cori Di Biase

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Today we’ll continue with Wilder Penfield’s ground-breaking work and research in neuroscience, and what it can teach us about the mind.

After a career spent exploring the brain, Penfield concluded that the brain, alone, was not sufficient to create the mind. But is this a consequence of Penfield’s work in the “hard sciences” – the objective outcomes of his direct experiments? Or is Penfield re-telling a story of mind that has been passed down to us from prevailing religious traditions and assumptions from Medieval Europe and before?

***SEASON ONE READINGS AND SOURCES***

A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, by Pierre-Simon Laplace

Consciousness Explained, by Daniel C. Dennett (Paul Weiner, Illustrator)

Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting, by Daniel C. Dennett

Freedom Evolves, by Daniel C. Dennett

Meditations on First Philosophy, by René Descartes

Mystery of the Mind: A Critical Study of Consciousness and the Human Brain, by Wilder Penfield

Subjectivity, Realism, and Postmodernism: The Recovery of the World in Recent Philosophy, by Frank B. Farrell

Copyright 2023 Cori Di Biase

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In Season 2 - our FOUNDATIONS series - we’ll examine European philosophers from the 17th through the 19th centuries, to see how their views have shaped and defined our own... whether we realize it or not.

We continue our discussion of Mill’s justification for “despotism” as a means of cultivating maturity in societies in their “nonage”.

Following Hannah Arendt, we begin by looking at the rational justifications for racism as they developed in Europe, and how this related to Mill’s notion societal immaturity. We use this discussion to cast further light on the relationship between European notions of reason and both freedom and its opposite.

A FREEDOM OF IDEAS may be found online at afreedomofideas.com.

Support the Podcast... and the Podcaster through Patreon, or by buying some AFOI Merch(andise) at the show's Redbubble shop.

***SEASON TWO READINGS AND SOURCES***

On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill

John Locke's 2nd Treatise on Civil Government, by John Locke

Meditations on First Philosophy, by René Descartes

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, by Tyson Yunkaporta

A Treatise of Human Nature [Books 1-3], by David Hume

Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes

The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The Encyclopedia Logic (Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences Series #1), by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Philosophy of Mind: Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences (Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences Series #3), by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Hegel's Philosophy of Right, by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (Thom Brooks, Editor)

Copyright 2023 Cori Di Biase

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FAQ

How many episodes does A Freedom of Ideas have?

A Freedom of Ideas currently has 27 episodes available.

What topics does A Freedom of Ideas cover?

The podcast is about Society & Culture, History, Podcasts and Philosophy.

What is the most popular episode on A Freedom of Ideas?

The episode title 'Free Will (or Not?) Part 7: Conclusion' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on A Freedom of Ideas?

The average episode length on A Freedom of Ideas is 52 minutes.

How often are episodes of A Freedom of Ideas released?

Episodes of A Freedom of Ideas are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of A Freedom of Ideas?

The first episode of A Freedom of Ideas was released on Sep 15, 2021.

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