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Begins at 6:43 time stamp,
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This episode’s discussion was seeded by the following themes:
Any humanism that denies man’s capacity for transcendence
is actually not a true humanism.
Changing perceptions and emphases in recent decades in the liberal arts and humanities.
John’s distinction between humanism and ethos.
*Note: The Roger Scuton talk I mentioned,
“Scientism and the Humanities,” is here.
Scruton makes a key point, one that directly relates
to this Learning In Public episode,
by stating that modern science often starts with a conclusion
and then seeks evidence to support it.
Also, on a small point, contrary to what I’d said, The Wheatley Institution
is in fact part of Brigham Young University.
Approximate Time Stamps of Conversation Topics:
7:00
Line from Renaissance humanism to current new atheists etc.
15:00
The seduction of applying the scientific method to anything and everything in life.
23:00
The subject-subject relationship is what makes us human and this
is what is missing in a mechanistic approach.
27:00
Truth and knowledge used to be seen as one,
but this implied a hierarchy in intellectual pursuits.
30:00
Science is valueless so assumes its dominance,
nothing outside of it keeps it in check—necessarily at odds with humanities?
37:00
Science started as an experimental method but became an ideology.
Science assumes /dismisses
the arbitrariness of “feelings” inherent in humanities and arts.
45:00
Putting sharper definition on modern science,
as contrasted with prior disciplines in engineering,
medicine, mathematics etc (i.e. as defined in the classical world).
Reductionist tendency of modern science, strict causalities–
whereas in older times a cosmos could be approached/understood
from different disciplines, with philosophy being the whole
that contained/synthesized all of these pursuits.
56:00
Did Renaissance humanism leave itself open to
this takeover by science? By denying the transcendent?
1:02:00
Science and magical worldview. Science pointing to something beyond it.
The numinous, why we long for it, experiences of awe and beauty.
Eros.
1:13:00
Transhumanism, “post-human world.”
1:15:00
Difference between science and other modalities of methodology / experimentations.
1:25:00
Holistic order, harmonization. Argument against downloading
your consciousness into a hard to drive, etc. the promises of “transhumanism.”
~
Please see the growing collection of Learning in Public episodes and short clips here.
You can watch here on The Great Order site while we are broadcasting live.