What's the point in fasting? How do we stick to a diet that works? These are some of the questions we ask in this episode as we explore Julian Baggini's book, Virtues of the Table.
The debates and attitudes around knowing when not to eat are equally as crucial to flourishment as questions concerning where food comes from and the importance of good cooking. We explore how blanket rules and blind adherence can confuse these practices in a "post-death-of-god" world and how misunderstood nutritional health can be in the contemporary times. Gordon Ramsay on Onions Julian Baggini
Edited by Connor.
Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
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Food and the issues surrounding it have never been more important. Culinary attitudes and traditions can reveal a lot a about a period or place and we live in a world of staggering choice and raging debates. Cultivating attitudes and questions to not just what we eat and how we do it but where it comes from, what it says about us, how it fits into broader ideas relating to how we live our lives, how we think about meals and when to stop eating are some of the most unavoidable, fundamental and neglected areas of ethics. From animal rights and cultural traditions to class issues, food says a lot. If you like either philosophy or food then this one's probably gonna be worth a listen... If you like both then you're laughing!
The first in a three part series, this one in particular focuses on contemporary philosopher Julian Baggini and the issues surrounding the sourcing of food... Where does "good" food come from and how can we be sure? Should we shop local or at large "commercial" chains? Is veganism the way forward? Is there a moral reason to shop seasonally? How should we feel about labels like FairTrade, free range and organic? We also talk about nutrition, moral virtues and most importantly, how most of these ideas are all interconnected. Over the next few episodes we'll talk about fasting and dieting as well as cooking and eating. - The points we made, summarised - Julian Baginni's website - Peter Hitchens ranting about skinny cappuccino - Bow hunter, Cameron Hanes - Sam Harris' wife on pansychism - Weston's Cider - 'Gangster gardener', Ron Finely
Edited by Connor.
Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
Across the world, thousands of religious adherents believe they can "experience God", but what exactly does this mean? Back for series 3, but still podcasting over Discord, Connor, Sam and Joe set up their microphones to talk about mysticism.
This chat takes us to the poetry, dancing and sword swallowing of Islamic Sufi mystics to Zen Buddhists and even bonkers English esoteric traditions. We talk about these more experiential branches of faith and what they get up to. In a heated discussion, we also discuss why "spiritual", might be an unhelpful word. Drawing upon the philosophy and psychology of religion from thinkers like William James, we offer our thoughts on religious experience and how they fit into what we might call "unconventional" religion. …Connor also invents the phrase "whatever your biscuit". - Some thoughts on religion, mysticism and spirituality - Sufi music mixed with tales of coming of age - Our thoughts on the topic
Edited by Connor.
Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
In this more laidback episode, we create something of a time capsule, discussing our thoughts on how lockdown has shaped communities, the role that celebrities play (or have tried to play) in a time of crisis, social distancing while shopping, lockdown drinking habits, Captain Tom Moore and clapping for carers.
We also lend our thoughts to some altogether more difficult topics - gaining insight to the pros and cons of home schooling from a teacher, discussing how stoicism can help fortify the mind in a time of crisis, the role of commercialism in crisis and the potential legacy of our current plight. We're still getting used to discord so apologies for any audio errors. A great video by CGP Grey about how to live through a crisis
Edited by Connor.
Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (Harmonica, mandolin)
Still under lockdown, Sam and Connor discuss "flow". A man with an unpronounceable name, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, coined and developed the concept in the last half of the 20th century. Whether you're absorbed in work, sport or music you're probably experiencing flow. When musicians, sufi mystics, sportsmen, soldiers and artists are "in the zone" they're usually in a flow state. Religious and secular arts have been coveting and teaching flow as critical parts of their practices for hundreds of years but understanding it in broader contexts could be the secret to happiness itself…
The red-pill diagram we mention Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's TED Talk Explaining Flow
Edited by Connor.
Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
The Forest of Dean is an area in and around Gloucestershire brimming with local heritage and communal history. We talk about the Forest's mining culture, as well as some of its historical quirks, before hosting the world's first (and only) Forest dialect quiz!
We then explore the controversy of the decline of mining culture and its impact on communities, the dilemmas of wild boar and finally solve the age-old mystery of who killed the bears. Finally we finish up with some ghost stories, folklore and ponder whether the Beast of Dean is a load of old bollocks. We'd love to chat more about history, heritage and culture on these podcasts so let us know if you know any spooky stories or interesting places… - The story of who killed the bears can be found, as well as many other of the tales we mention can be found here. - Some dialect poetry about sheep "Varest Ship" by Keith Morgan - Here is some info on free mining and a website on freemining. - A documentary on Freemining. FOREST OF DEAN FREEMINERS. - Some stuff on Dennis Potter here. - The world's strangest place - Littledean Jail - Our thoughts on the topic Edited by Connor. Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
Well our plan was to dig into some of the conventional questions surrounding the philosophy of sport… however in true philosophy fashion we ended up bickering for half an hour about how to define sport itself!
After we were finally done with the semantics we explored some aspects of self-realisation through control and harnessing skill. Drawing inspiration from experiences with boxing, e-sports, jujitsu, darts and more, we discussed how sport can challenge and encourage personal growth. Identity is distilled into the expressive form of sports - not dissimilar to art. As we discuss, its all about learning boundaries while incorporating the shadow of the self; both testing and tempering our physical and moral limits. We also talked a little about "accessing" sport and fan culture.
Editing by Connor.
Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
Sam and Connor sit down to talk about another ancient classic that lots of people pretend to have read - this time its Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Written over 2000 years ago, the book is still very much alive today. Quoted by generals of the Gulf War, with around 250 annual publications in East Asia alone that apply it to areas such as business and sport, it features on the required reading lists of military recruits worldwide. Its a book that has a concrete cultural legacy that is still being felt globally.
A succinct guide to war, we talk about how and why this book is relevant to civilians of the 20th century and how it has survived to this day, as well as the history of its authorship and how Sun Tzu's martial philosophy compares to the Taoists and Hellenistic works of his contemporaries. We also talk briefly about The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, a bunch of other works and some ideas on war ethics, the value of public reading and religious attitudes to war. (Sorry about the lorries and planes.)
Editing by Connor. Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
High on caffeine and life one morning, Sam rushes to tell Connor about stoicism. For once we aren't drinking, as we unpack the ideas of the Ancient Greek and Roman stoics and how their attitude to life is useful today. We talk about reducing anxiety, mental illness and finding meaning in life, all while exploring some of the criticisms of stoicism. From the Myth of Sisyphus, and the Ancient wisdom of Aristotle, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius to modern Virtue ethicists, online happiness courses and mindfulness projects, we explore our initial reaction to the school of thought. Reading from the "philosophy chair", Sam offers up wisdom from over 2000 years ago that is better than most self-help books today.
Apologies for the poor audio quality. This is something we will be fixing in the near future. Edited by Connor. Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica)
What's that ominous light in the sky? That's right, today is a particularly weird one as Connor digs up one of the more niche areas of modern religiosity in the form of UFO religions. Joe, Sam and Nye offer up their thoughts on questions like "Why do people join cults and believe in aliens?" and "what makes religions legitimate?". From Melanesian cargo cults to Jediism and from Scientology to the Universal Industrial Church of the New World Comforter, we discuss all kinds of bizarre religions, strange cultural movements and dangerous cults.
As it was sunny spring morning and perfect barbecue weather we left the window open... with no concern for our listeners. So we hope you like traffic, planes and seagulls. Here is an article written by Connor which explores the religious nature of UFO movements. Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica) |
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