Podcasts about world became modern

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Best podcasts about world became modern

Latest podcast episodes about world became modern

Slate Culture
Culture Gabfest: The Creator of Succession Takes on the Broligarchy Edition

Slate Culture

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2025 64:02


On this week's show, longtime hosts Julia, Stephen, and Dana are all together in-person to talk about Mountainhead, the new HBO Max movie from Jesse Armstrong, creator of Succession. Then, they dig into the new Amazon Prime series Overcompensating. Finally, they talk about the new PR junket, full of spicy food and odd quizzes, inspired by this Vulture article by Nicholas Quah.  Endorsements: Dana: The Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt.  Julia: Restauranteur Keith McNally's memoir, I Regret Almost Everything.  Stephen: Sarah Beckwith's piece in The New Yorker, “Returning to the Scene of My Brutal Rape.” and the novel 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Want more Culture Gabfest? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Culture Gabfest show page. Or, visit slate.com/cultureplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate Daily Feed
Culture Gabfest: The Creator of Succession Takes on the Broligarchy Edition

Slate Daily Feed

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2025 64:02


On this week's show, longtime hosts Julia, Stephen, and Dana are all together in-person to talk about Mountainhead, the new HBO Max movie from Jesse Armstrong, creator of Succession. Then, they dig into the new Amazon Prime series Overcompensating. Finally, they talk about the new PR junket, full of spicy food and odd quizzes, inspired by this Vulture article by Nicholas Quah.  Endorsements: Dana: The Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt.  Julia: Restauranteur Keith McNally's memoir, I Regret Almost Everything.  Stephen: Sarah Beckwith's piece in The New Yorker, “Returning to the Scene of My Brutal Rape.” and the novel 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Want more Culture Gabfest? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Culture Gabfest show page. Or, visit slate.com/cultureplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Teaching, Reading, and Learning: The Reading League Podcast

Jeannine Herron, Ph.D. is a research neuropsychologist. After ten years of dyslexia research at University of California at San Francisco, she became founder/CEO of Talking Fingers. She was the Principal Investigator on five Small Business Innovation Research grants from the National Institute of Child Health (NICHD) to develop and do research with early literacy software, in collaboration with Joe Torgesen, Carol Connor, Linnea Ehri, Patricia Mathes, Margie Gillis, and others whose mentorship enriched her research and her life. She is the author of several books, including  Making Speech Visible: How Constructing Words Can Help Children Organize their Brains for Skillful Reading.Additional Resources: Talking Fingers (Includes more about Jeannine Herron as well as information about Talking Shapes;  Read, Write and Type;  and Wordy Qwerty). Books by Jeannine Herron: Neuropsychology of Left-Handedness  Voyage of the Aquarius Our Big Blue Schoolhouse Making Speech Visible: How Constructing Words Can Help Children Organize Their Brains for Skillful Reading Jeannine's Picks: The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Steven Greenblatt   The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, and Civilization by Martin Puchner   Norman Geschwind Marianne Diamond Writing Road to Reading by Ramalda Spalding  Select Publications by Jeannine Herron: Torgesen, J.K., Wagner, R.K., Rashotte, C.A., Herron, J. and Lindamood, P; Computer-assisted instruction to prevent early reading difficulties in students at-risk for dyslexia: Outcomes from two instructional approaches.  Annals of Dyslexia, vol 60, p 40-46, 2009. Galin, D., Raz, J., Fein, G., Johnstone, J., Herron, J., and Yingling C.D., EEG spectra in dyslexic and normal readers during oral and silent reading. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 82:87-101, 1992. Galin, D., Herron, J., Fein, G., Johnstone, J., and Yingling C.D., EEG measures of hem. spec. in dyslexic and normal reading children. Brain and Language 35:241-253, 1988. Fein, G., Galin, D., Yingling C.D., Johnstone, J., Davenport, L., & Herron, J., EEG spectra in dyslexic and control boys during resting conditions. EEG Clin. Neuro. 63:87-97, 1986. Brown, B., Haegerstrom-Portnoy, G., Herron, J., Galin, D., Yingling, C.D., and Marcus, M., Static postural stability is normal in dyslexic children. J. Learning Dis. 18:31-34, 1985. Johnstone, J., Galin, D., Fein, G., Yingling C.D., Herron, J., and Marcus, M., Regional brain activity in dyslexic and control children during reading tasks: Visual probe event-related potentials. Brain and Language 21:233-254, 1984. Fein, G., Galin, D., Yingling C.D., Johnstone, J., and Herron, J., EEG in dyslexia. In C. Susskind (Ed.) Interdisciplinary Studies, Report 83-1, College of Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, pp. 86-92, 1983. Brown, B., Haegerstrom-Portnoy, G., Adams, A.J., Yingling, C.D., Galin, D., Herron, J., and Marcus, M., Predictive eye movements do not discriminate between dyslexic and control children. Neuropsychologia, 21: 121-128, 1983. Brown, B., Haegerstrom-Portnoy, G., Yingling, C.D., Herron, J., Galin, D., and Marcus, M., Dyslexic children have normal vestibular responses to rotation. Arch. Neurology, 40: 370-373, 1983. Galin, D., Ornstein, R., Herron, J., and Johnstone, J. Sex and handedness differences in EEG measures of hemispheric specialization. Brain and Language 16, 19-55, 1982. Herron, J. Integrating Electrophysiology into Research in Learning Disabilities. International Neuropsychological Society, Atlanta, February, 1981. Ornstein, R., Johnstone, J., Herron, J., and Swencionis, C. Differential right hemisphere engagement in visuospatial tasks. Neuropsychologia, Vol. 18 pp. 49 to 64. 1980. Herron, J. Two Hands, Two Brains, Two Sexes. Chapter in Neuropsychology of Left-Handedness, Academic Press, 180.

KPFA - Radio Wolinsky
Stephen Greenblatt, “Will in the World,” 2005

KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2021 81:18


Stephen Greenblatt, 2004 Stephen Greenblatt, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky about his book Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, recorded in 2005. Stephen Greenblatt is a literary historian and an expert on Shakespeare. Among his other books on Shakespeare are  Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England, Hamlet in Purgatory, Shakespeare's Freedom, and most recently Tyrant: Shakespeare in Politics, set in motion by his feelings about the Trump presidency. Host Richard Wolinsky interviewed Stephen Greenblatt twice afterward, for his award-winning best-seller, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, and in 2016 for The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve. Will in the World focuses on William Shakespeare's life, and how that life and the events in his world affected his work. The interview looks at, among other plays, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth and Richard III and gives a brief overview of London in the waning days of the 1500s.   The post Stephen Greenblatt, “Will in the World,” 2005 appeared first on KPFA.

SHAPE Shorts Podcast
How a poem changed western civilization

SHAPE Shorts Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2021 52:11


On this episode, we have Stephen Greenblatt, an author with high accolades! Stephen is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of fourteen books, including Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics; The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve; and The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. He is General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and of The Norton Shakespeare. His honors include the 2016 Holberg Prize from the Norwegian Parliament, the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and the 2011 National Book Award for The Swerve. He was recently inducted into the British Academy. We talk about the inspiration he had in writing the book, The Swerve. Tony, Stew, and Stephen discuss about the variations in Lucretius' poem and the impact transcription could have on this poem. You'll also learn about how Lucretius was ahead of his time but also alone in his thoughts, as the concepts he wrote about were the exact opposite of the thinkings of the people of that time. This episode is full of information and taught in a way that anyone can learn from!   Find Stephen on IG @harvardenglish! Find us on IG @s.h.a.p.e.shifters

Talking Beats with Daniel Lelchuk
Ep. 83: Stephen Greenblatt

Talking Beats with Daniel Lelchuk

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2021 64:59


"Shakespeare's world was not that of the 'Renaissance Pleasure Fair.' It was a world of oppression, spying and betrayal, mass executions, censorship. But understanding how we got something precious from that should be part of what strengthens our grasp of what we have received from the past." The great literary scholar and Shakespeare expert Stephen Greenblatt is here for a discussion about The Bard--- his plays, his influence, and how one goes about teaching Shakespeare. Themes that have come up before on this show reappear here, notably what does one do with the uncomfortable, sometimes disturbing content of The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, or The Merchant of Venice? What is a college class supposed to make of all this in America in 2021? How does Greenblatt take lessons from the history of world art and culture and funnel them through Shakespeare to his students, to the readers of his books? Also included here is a deep dive into Verdi's Otello-- what Greenblatt believes to be a profoundly moving treatment of one of Shakespeare's great masterpieces. Support Talking Beats with Daniel Lelchuk on Patreon. You will contribute to continued presentation of substantive interviews with the world's most compelling people. We believe that providing a platform for individual expression, free thought, and a diverse array of views is more important now than ever. Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of fourteen books, including Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics; The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve; The Swerve: How the World Became Modern; Shakespeare's Freedom; Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare; Hamlet in Purgatory; Marvelous Possessions; and Renaissance Self-Fashioning. He is General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and of The Norton Shakespeare, has edited seven collections of criticism, and is a founding editor of the journal Representations. His honors include the 2016 Holberg Prize from the Norwegian Parliament, the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and the 2011 National Book Award for The Swerve, MLA’s James Russell Lowell Prize (twice), Harvard University’s Cabot Fellowship, the Distinguished Humanist Award from the Mellon Foundation, Yale’s Wilbur Cross Medal, the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre, the Erasmus Institute Prize, two Guggenheim Fellowships and the Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of California, Berkeley. Among his named lecture series are the Adorno Lectures in Frankfurt, the University Lectures at Princeton, and the Clarendon Lectures at Oxford, and he has held visiting professorships at universities in Beijing, Kyoto, London, Paris, Florence, Torino, Trieste, and Bologna, as well as the Renaissance residency at the American Academy in Rome. He was president of the Modern Language Association of America and a long-term fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin. He has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Philosophical Society, the Italian literary academy Accademia degli Arcadi, and is a fellow of the British Academy.

The Book XChange Podcast
Episode 19: Top Books of the Year, Part 1 (Non-Fiction)

The Book XChange Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2020 99:55


To close out our first year in podcasting, your Book XChange hosts offer a two-part series of episodes highlighting our favorite non-fiction and fiction titles of 2020. As always with our show, titles are not limited to those released in 2020 - they could be from any era, as long as they were read by one of us this year. Part 1 covers non-fiction: we each choose one book that stood out during our year in reading, and get a little more in-depth about why it stood out. In our next episode, we'll cover our favorite fiction reads of the year. As the year comes to a close, we want to sincerely thank all of you listeners who gave a little of their time to listen and read along with us this year, we've greatly appreciated all the feedback and support. Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas/Happy New Year to you all! BOOKS DISCUSSED/MENTIONED/RECOMMENDED IN THIS EPISODE What John is currently reading/plans to read next: 'Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Making It in America," Barbara Ehrenreich - Short story collection TBD soon - What Jude is currently reading/plans to read next: 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,' James Joyce - TBD - Jude's Top Non-Fiction Read of 2020: 'The Swerve: How the World Became Modern,' Stephen Greenblatt - John's Top Non-Fiction Read of 2020: 'The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity,' Douglas Murray - Planned next episode of the Book XChange podcast: Part 2 of our End of Year series: the BXC co-hosts choose and discuss their top fiction reads of the year.

The Book XChange Podcast
(SPECIAL) Episode 15: ”50 Years of Reading”

The Book XChange Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2020 146:15


Two weeks before their 50th birthday, the Book XChange brothers/co-hosts had the ultra-rare opportunity to get together in an isolated location, celebrate that we've somehow made it through a half-century, and talk books and reading face to face. The result was this one-time only, special episode of the podcast: a free-form, no holds barred, personal discussion about our lives as readers, how great books and writers have changed and challenged us across various stages in our lives, and the ultimate value and utility of reading. We won't often get so personal and self-reflective as in this show, but for this special occasion, we thought it would be appropriate to celebrate all that the Book XChange has meant to our lives, going back literally decades before the internet and podcasting enabled us to expand the conversation across the globe! We hope you will indulge us for this unique episode and give it a chance - it may even get you thinking about your own journey as a reader, and where it might be headed. As ever, thank you one and all for listening! BOOKS DISCUSSED/MENTIONED/RECOMMENDED IN THIS EPISODE: literally too many to mention, considering we are covering a combined 100 years of reading (!)... but trust us, a LOT of interesting ground is covered! What Jude is currently reading/plans to read next: 'Mosquitoes,' William Faulkner; 'Love in the Time of Cholera,' Gabriel Garcia Marquez; What John is currently reading/plans to read next: 'Budding Prospects: A Pastoral,' T. C. Boyle; 'The Swerve: How the World Became Modern,' Stephen Greenblatt Planned next episode of the Book XChange podcast: Favorite and notable Debut Novels

Context with Brad Harris
What If Our Ignorance Outgrows Our Potential?

Context with Brad Harris

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2019 35:03


There is an overlooked rule in history: far more is lost and forgotten than is preserved and remembered. Humanity has made incredible progress - we know more and we’re more powerful than we’ve ever been. But, are we getting wiser?  What if our ignorance outgrows our potential? What happens when rich and powerful societies lose their wisdom and forget what made them great in the first place?  It's happened before, and there is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by historian Stephen Greenblatt that tells the tale, titled, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. Here, we look to this book for insight on how a paradise of wisdom was once lost. This episode is supported by Keeps, the easiest way to keep your hair. Visit keeps.com/context to get your first month free. To access ad-free and bonus episodes, visit patreon.com/context. For more information, visit bradharris.com.

KPFA - Letters and Politics
Fund Drive Special – The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

KPFA - Letters and Politics

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2019 59:58


More than two thousand years ago, in ancient Rome lived a poet named Lucrecious whose work on the nature of things revolutionized the way people understood the universe. Lucrecious thought that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles in eternal motion, colliding and swerving in new directions. This idea fueled the Renaissance, inspiring artists such as Botticelli and thinkers such as Giordano Bruno; it shaped the thought of Galileo and Freud, Darwin and Einstein; and had a revolutionary influence on writers such as Montaigne and Shakespeare and even Thomas Jefferson. Guest: Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University.  He is the author of many books, including The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. Support KPFA, Please DonateToday! Book: The Odyssey by Homer. Translated by Emily Wilson  $100. USB Letters & Politics: The Ancient History Pack (Over 30 interviews) $180 Combo Book + USB $250 The post Fund Drive Special – The Swerve: How the World Became Modern appeared first on KPFA.

The Biblio File hosted by Nigel Beale
Stephen Greenblatt on his book Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics

The Biblio File hosted by Nigel Beale

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2018 29:42


Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of thirteen books, including The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve; The Swerve: How the World Became Modern; Shakespeare's Freedom; and Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. He is General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and of The Norton Shakespeare, has edited seven collections of criticism, and is a founding editor of the journal Representations. His honors include the 2016 Holberg Prize from the Norwegian Parliament, the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and the 2011 National Book Award for The Swerve.  Among his named lecture series are the Adorno Lectures in Frankfurt, the University Lectures at Princeton, and the Clarendon Lectures at Oxford. He has held visiting professorships at universities in Beijing, Kyoto, London, Paris, Florence, Torino, Trieste, and Bologna, as well as the Renaissance residency at the American Academy in Rome.  We met at the the Brattleboro Literary Festival in Vermont to talk about his most recent book Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics, in which Donald Trump's name isn't mentioned once. I, however, make a point of mentioning it frequently. 

Free Library Podcast
Stephen Greenblatt | The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve

Free Library Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2018 64:53


Watch the video here. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, Stephen Greenblatt is widely acclaimed as the father of New Historicism, which strives to understand works of literature within their historical and social contexts. His other books include the New York Times bestselling Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, Hamlet in Purgatory, and Learning to Curse: Essays in Early Modern Culture. A two-time Guggenheim fellow and former president of the Modern Language Association, Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. The Rise And Fall of Adam and Eve delves into the boundless creation story of the founding parents of all humanity.  (recorded 9/15/2017)

Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

Comprising only a few ancient verses, the story of Adam and Eve has served as a mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole, long history of our fears and desires. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stephen Greenblatt, a Harvard professor and general editor to The Norton Anthology of English Literature, explores its literary and cultural history in The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve. He will be joined onstage by interviewer Lesley Hazelton—veteran author and journalist, and former Town Hall Scholar-in-Residence. Tracking the tale into the deep past, Greenblatt and Hazelton delve into the tremendous theological, artistic, and cultural investment over centuries that made these figures so profoundly resonant in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim worlds and, finally, so very “real” to millions of people even in the present. The biblical origin story, Greenblatt argues, is a model for what the humanities still have to offer: not the scientific nature of things, but rather a deep encounter with problems that have gripped our species for as long as we can recall and that continue to fascinate and trouble us today. Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of thirteen books, including The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve; Shakespeare’s Freedom; and The Swerve: How the World Became Modern—and he is General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and The Norton Shakespeare. His honors include the 2016 Holberg Prize from the Norwegian Parliament, the 2012 Pulitzer Prize, two Guggenheim fellowships, Harvard University’s Cabot Fellowship, and Yale’s Wilbur Cross Medal. Lesley Hazelton is a Seattle-based author, psychologist and journalist—and inaugural Town Hall Scholar-in-Residence—whose work has focused on religion and politics. She has written for The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Esquire, Vanity Fair, The Nation, and more. Her most recent books include After the Prophet, Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother and Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible’s Harlot Queen. Recorded live at Seattle University by Town Hall Seattle Monday, October 2, 2017

Think Again – a Big Think Podcast
118. Stephen Greenblatt (humanities scholar) – Irresistible Fictions

Think Again – a Big Think Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2017 58:16


An ancient, one-and-a-half-page-story that just won't let us go. Humanities scholar Stephen Greenblatt and host Jason Gots discuss how Adam and Eve have shaped and been shaped by Western art, culture, and science, in this, Big Think's latest brain-fertilizing podcast. Greenblatt is the Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University, General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and the author of thirteen books, including the Pulitzer prize-winning The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. His latest, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve, traces the cultural history of that most primal of stories about a man, a woman, God, and a snake. It’s a couple thousand years old and only about two pages long, but it’s still exerting a powerful cultural influence today. Surprise conversation-starter clips in this episode: Salman Rushdie on recent white supremacist clashes in America and Virginia Heffernan: The Internet is not a neurotoxin -- About Think Again - A Big Think Podcast: Since 2008, Big Think has been sharing big ideas from creative and curious minds. Since 2015, the Think Again podcast has been taking us out of our comfort zone, surprising our guests and Jason Gots, your host, with unexpected conversation starters from Big Think’s interview archives. You've got 10 minutes with Einstein. What do you talk about? Black holes? Time travel? Why not gambling? The Art of War? Contemporary parenting? Some of the best conversations happen when we're pushed outside of our comfort zones. Each week on Think Again, we surprise smart people you may have heard of with short clips from Big Think's interview archives on every imaginable subject. These conversations could, and do, go anywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited
Stephen Greenblatt on Shakespeare's Life Stories

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2016 28:36


There are a surprising number of characters in Shakespeare who propose or ask or even demand that someone tell their life’s story. (Think of Hamlet’s dying words to Horatio: “And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain / To tell my story.”) While that may not seem surprising on the face of it – Shakespeare was a storyteller after all – this idea of re-imagining your life so that it tells a story was not a common one in Shakespeare’s time. In this episode of Shakespeare Unlimited, Harvard University’s Stephen Greenblatt expands upon the talk he gave earlier this year for the Folger Institute’s Shakespeare Anniversary Lecture Series, about how Shakespeare shapes characters and narratives. He also explores how the French Renaissance writer Montaigne influenced Shakespeare, and how Shakespeare pushed back on some of Montaigne’s ideas. Stephen Greenblatt is the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of – among other books – "Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare" and "The Swerve: How the World Became Modern." Professor Greenblatt was interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published November 15, 2016. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. “Teach him how to tell my story” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had help from Professor Greenblatt's assistant, Aubrey Everett; from Anna Steinbock in the Harvard Office of Public Affairs & Communications and from Jeff Peters and the staff of the Marketplace studios in Los Angeles. http://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited/stephen-greenblatt

Free Thoughts
The Moral Arc of Science and Reason

Free Thoughts

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2015 43:29


This week we’re joined by Michael Shermer to talk about his book The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom (2015).What exactly is science, and how does a belief in science advance culture? How are natural rights related to science? How does Shermer define human flourishing—and how does science and reason help us achieve it? What’s the difference between science and pseudoscience, and how can we tell? What, if anything, does government have to do with all this? And lastly, how do scientific beliefs change over time?Show Notes and Further ReadingMichael Shermer, The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom (book)Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (book)Benjamin R. Barber, If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities (book)Sam Harris, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (book)Peter T. Leeson, The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Science and Religion
Intelligence Test for Religion

Science and Religion

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2013 7:14


A review of "The Swerve: How the World Became Modern" by Stephen Greenblatt.

Free Forum with Terrence McNally
Q&A: STEPHEN GREENBLATT, National Book Award Winner, THE SWERVE: How the World Became Modern

Free Forum with Terrence McNally

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 20, 2012 24:43


Aired 01/15/12 In the winter of 1417, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late thirties plucked a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. The man was Poggio Braccionlini, the greatest book hunter of the Renaissance. His discovery was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic, On the Nature of Things by Lucretius—a beautiful poem of the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles in eternal motion, colliding and swerving in new directions. The copying and translation of this ancient book fueled the Renaissance, inspiring artists such as Botticelli and thinkers such as Giordano Bruno; shaped the thought of Galileo and Freud, Darwin and Einstein; and had a revolutionary influence on writers such as Montaigne and Shakespeare and even Thomas Jefferson. Stephen Greenblatt is John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. Among his books are Will of the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, a Finalist for the 2004 National Book Award in Nonfiction and a New York Times best seller, and Hamlet in Purgatory. He holds honorary degrees from Queen Mary College of the University of London and the University of Bucharest.