What’s the purpose of meditation? What is the nature of the mind? What is the nature of the self? I got to ask these questions to Phra Maha Chanomkorn Prakai, a Buddhist monk, while in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Videos
-
Ep. 59 – Can You Approach Infinity? | Dr. Michael Huemer
The most popular resolution to Zeno’s paradoxes is to say, “Calculus solves it!” But, as I’ve written and spoken about before, the logic of calculus is likely dubious.
My guest this week is Dr. Michael Huemer, who has recently written a book called Approaching Infinity, where he claims that the modern theories of infinity do need to be revised – that calculus does not solve Zeno’s paradoxes – and that we have to distinguish between completable and non-completable infinities.
Though Dr. Huemer and I disagree on the metaphysics of mathematics, and I have an even more radical position on infinities, we agree that more work needs to be done to place modern mathematics onto sounder footing.
Guest’s Book: Approaching Infinity
“Publishing in Philosophy”
Guest’s Website -
Ep. 58 – The Psychology of Postmodernism | Dr. Stephen Hicks
Postmodernist philosophy is famous for being paradoxical. Claims like “the truth is that there is no truth” or “everything is relative” are popular – especially among academics. Many proponents are even OK with logical contradictions in their worldview.
To me, a contradiction is a demonstration of error, and not caring about intellectual consistency is synonymous with being irrational. But according to Dr. Stephen Hicks, that’s because I have a certain psychological response to contradictions. Postmodernists have a different psychological response, and so they aren’t as bother by inconsistency.
Dr. Hicks thinks it’s possible to be intellectually respectable while defending internally-inconsistent views. I don’t think it’s possible. What do you think?
Explaining Postmodernism: From Rousseau to Foucault
Previous Episode with Dr. Hicks