Episodes
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Today I decided on a whim to bring up some classical source text I think more people should be aware of and mindful of on the subject of weapons, gun-control (and knife-control, for you dangerous Brits), and disarmament more generally.
It is often assumed that our position today is fundamentally different, due to differences in technology and arguments that were foreign even 100 years ago, before the horrifically deadly ASSAULT RIFLE. Yet when we look back to Machiavelli, to Plato, and to Homer, we find a striking similarity in the nature of the arguments and in the motivations for making them.
As always, I encourage everyone to read the source texts directly, for their own edification as well as for understanding the true nature of often misused quotations. The Odyssey, the Republic, and the Prince are all works in the public domain, and can be read (or listened to) online.
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today I'm joined by Coach Josh Wood of Strong for Life to explore some of the psychology behind health and fitness.
Does good health preceed confidence and a healthy mind? Or is it the other way around? What exactly is the relationship between physicality and problem solving? Is it something you just have or don't, or are physicality and confidence things you can build up over time? And are there any philosophical implications to any of this?
These are some of the questions Josh and I attempt to answer in our conversation, which fits within a broader, somewhat Nietzschean understanding of the importance of the body to philosophy, especially when it comes to resilience and the endurance of pain.
You can follow Josh Wood on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/coachjoshwood/
or on his website https://strongforlife.online/Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Episodes manquant?
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Why are there so many Holocaust museums scattered around the world?
Today I'm joined by Daniel Clancy -- aka 03OG -- to discuss political power, the difference between "power" and "influence," and the strange role of Israel in our political landscape. Starting from what got us both into the military as teenagers, we wind up in the domain of political philosophy more broadly, from Plato and Nietzsche to Machiavelli and Mosca to Herzel and Biden; from Dante's de Monarchia to the Balfour Declaration and the October 7th attack.
Our conclusion to the general question of power is a hopeful (but far from optimistic) kind of message for other young men who may be considering something like joining the military... but the takeaways go far beyond (perhaps begin far beyond) teenagers, and might be useful -- or, at the very least, entertaining -- to people of all ages over 30.
You can follow Daniel on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/03_og/
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today I'm joined by Sierra to discuss the extraordinary explosion of autism diagnoses, and the social mechanisms by which autism appears to have been increasing... but might not be. Is it Marxism? Pharmaceutical financial interests? Chinese subversive influence through TikTok? Perhaps a little bit of all? And perhaps more importantly, how are people persuaded that they might have autism when they are, in fact, normal and functional human beings?
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
I have RETVRNED! Today we dive into flat earth theory... beginning with an appreciation for the value of the debate, which is often dismissed as annoying or irrelevant. Looking at one argument for flat earth and one argument against flat earth, we go over how such a debate might at least start. We also go over some of the history of the flat earth movement, which is less philosophical though still relevant in thinking about how to approach claims.
Referenced links:
"Can we see too far?" (the water test):
https://postcardsfromtheageofreason.com/2023/09/06/can-we-see-too-far/The Coriolois effect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX7dcl_ERNsWho started Flat Earth conspiracy theories? (Ryan Reeves):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yfyWSs3wRILeave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today I'm joined by Kyle Brickell from Sol Anahata who joins me on an informal, exploratory dive into grail myth. What is the grail? Is it a cup? A stone? A woman? A cave? By what mechanism does it bestow immortality? Bouncing back and forth between Julius Evola, Christianity, and Homer, we don't exactly resolve any mysteries, but manage to come up with a few intersting ideas.
Follow Kyle's work with Sol Anahata at:
https://sol-anahata.bandcamp.com/
Follow Kyle on Instagram at:
https://www.instagram.com/solarus_cascadia/
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today we turn biographical and attempt to answer a common question from Instagram: how did you become the way you are?
From philosophy courses and walks with friends to religion and the military, we dig through my life to try to find clues and ideas to help others who aspire to philosophize... as well as ask (but perhaps not answer) the question: "is it desirable to become a philosopher?"
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today I'm joined by Dylan Bain, who guides us through the wild and sometimes counterintuitive world of systems, from education and standardized tests to business and economic infrastructure. We look at the epistemological strengths and limitations of systems-based thinking, as well as the value in a systems-based understanding of the world in terms of understanding it and in terms of changing your own life.
Follow Dylan Bain on
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedylanbain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6dMcYA1aPjtrFffoPD6xUl Finance: https://dylanbain.com/Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Is Maverick a Gryffindor? Is Iceman a Slytherin?
Today I'm joined by Sierra to discuss what began as an Instagram poll about Top Gun characters for a wide ranging discussion -- ostensibly about Top Gun (1986), but varying across J.K. Rowling's personality theory disguised as a school house sorting system, personality theories more generally, Homer's Iliad, generational relationships, and more.Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today I'm joined by Awen (aka Lilith) to discuss the world of Druidry, from its historical origins through to its modern practice today. We go over the social and political role of the Druids within ancient Celtic society, their views of the afterlife, human sacrifice, the path to druidry, and much more... as well as mentioning the organizations that have maintained the living tradition of druidry to the present.
Her work can be found at https://www.primaldruidry.com/
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today I'm joined by Sierra to counterbalance our discussion of feminism from before and talk about Men's Rights Activists (MRAs). We try to give a (very) brief history of the movement, as well as going over some of the things we like and dislike about their positions, especially in relationship to marriage.
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today I'm joined by Josh Tyler for a wide-ranging conversation on physicality and the dangers of quantitative thinking. We take turns bashing power-lifters and philosophers and other unbalanced modes of thinking, in an attempt at something more balanced and higher quality in our experience of life.
You can follow Josh Tyler's work on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/joshtylermma/
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today I'm joined by Joe Peters to discuss the business side of the health industry and how that often-neglected logistics side influences science and healthcare. Ranging over sales experiences in hospitals and personal experiences with doctors and nurses and struggling with our own challenges, we try to get down to the question of how to be healthy people in an age where the financial and insurance requirements of the industry don't always permit them to prioritize the patient in the way that we might hope... and whether science is the problem or the solution to the challenges of bureacracy.
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Picking up on themes from Episode 42, I'm joined again by Ben Brower to delve deeper into the value of working with one's hands. We meander through our own experiences in the trades (while occasionally borrowing from the works of Robert Pirsig and Matthew Crawford) in an attempt to describe how making and fixing things changes how manual competence changes how we think, how we speak, even how we see... and also how other people see us.
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today we go back a few years to talk about Bo Burnham's production "Inside," a performance of himself, by himself, trapped inside during COVID lockdowns. We go over the psychology of the internet, of oversocialized leftism, of pandemic disgust associations, as well as the artistic merit of the production itself.
Original essay:
https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/2021/07/10/inside-bo-burnham/
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today we look back over a few of the more recent podcasts, slightly rehashing the drag discussion and the relation between the word "drag" and the behavior being described, along with digging back up Plato and the podcast about work to explore some of the themes a little bit further... with the aid of White Claw and a woman's weigh-in.
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Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today I'm joined by Sean Bradley to explore some of the arguments against Nick Bostrom's famous Simulation Argument, as well as a wide-ranging and meandering dive into the world of Artificial Intelligence and its implications for our society, our economy, and perhaps our existence.
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Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ -
Today we dive into the question of work -- is it for suckers, and a waste of time? A necessary evil? A path to power and status? Meaningless vanity? Worthwhile in its own right? Or something else?
We dive into some of the modern thinkers and philosophers on work -- namely, Tim Ferriss, Andrew Tate, and Mike Rowe, along with a Biblical interlude to flesh out some of the different philosophies and approaches to work within the broader context of life.
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson -
Today we dive into perhaps the most important and also misunderstood thinker in all of philosophy: Plato.
Was Plato an idealist who believed we are trapped in a cave of unreality? Was he a totalitarian, advocating the "noble lie" and censorship? Or is there more going on in this (in)famous text that is somehow both the foundation of Western philosophy and also -- seemingly -- the aggregation of everything most hated by Western man?
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Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson--
Intro clip courtesy of the digitally-banished Stefan Molyneux.
(Mirror of his full 4 minute rant (NSFW) can be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJRYhx42rss) -
Today Sierra and I spend an evening on the patio with the wrong (or right) beverage, going over our disagreements about drag performances and feminism. Is drag always an insult to women, like "black-face" with gender? Was there, at one point, a good argument for feminism? And how much concession is worthwhile in conversations with friends before it begins to become insidious?
Leave a rating and review, it really helps others to find the podcast.
Find more Caffeine and Philosophy content online: https://caffeineandphilosophy.com/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caffeineandphilosophy/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherRobertson - Montre plus
