Welcome back. Today’s episode features two returning guests: Xavier Bonilla and Angel Eduardo. Xavier has a doctorate in psychology and is a professor of psychology in Maryland. Xavier is also the host of a podcast called "Converging Dialogues" which can be found here. Angel is an Advisory Board member and Director of Messaging and Editorial for th…

In this episode, I speak with Brian Earp. Brian is the Associate Director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics and Health Policy at Yale University and The Hastings Center, and a Research Fellow for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford and is currently finishing a joint Philosophy and Psychology PhD at Yale University. Given Brian’s wide …

In this episode, I speak with Matt Dinan and Andrew Moore. Matt has a PhD from Baylor University and is an associate professor in the Great Books program at St. Thomas University. Andrew has a PhD from Western University and is an associate professor in the Great Books program also at St. Thomas University. We explore what is a liberal arts educati…

Today’s episode is the next in an on-going series I am doing on this podcast on collectibles and community. In this episode of that series, I speak with TMReviews who has a YouTube channel called “TMReviews.” On this channel, TM reviews collectibles and provides discussion and commentary for the community that has developed around those collectible…

Today’s episode is the next in an ongoing series I am doing on this podcast on collectibles and community. In this episode, I speak with TMan978 who has a YouTube channel called “TMan978.” On this channel, TMan reviews collectibles and provides discussion and commentary for the community that has developed around those collectibles. Like others who…

This is an episode in an on-going series on liberal arts education. In this episode, I speak with Jonathan Marks. Jonathan has a PhD from the University of Chicago and is a Professor of Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Ursinus College. We explore what is a liberal arts education and how it relates to the “great …

This episode is the first in on-going series on classical liberal arts education and the importance that it may play in the contemporary university. In this episode, I speak with John Peterson. John has a PhD from the University of Dallas, where he is the Manager of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs in the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts.…

In this episode, I speak with Henry Paik who has a YouTube channel called “Paik4Life.” On this channel, Paik reviews collectibles and provides discussion and commentary for the community that has developed around those collectibles. Like others who engage in this kind of review and commentary, he deals some with official products but also with unli…

I speak with Jon Carney. Jon is the director of bands at New Palestine High School, a suburb of Indianapolis. Jon as a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a Master’s in Tuba Performance and Literature. We speak about the importance of music education in public education, the role that music can play in lives, and the importance that music play…

In this episode, I speak with Bobby “Skullface”. Bobby has a YouTube channel where he reviews collectibles and provides discussion and commentary for the community that has developed around those collectibles. Primarily, his work deals with what are called third-party figures, Third party figures are those that are not made by the owner of the inte…

In this episode, I speak with Scott Johnson, a high school science teacher who lives in Plainfield, Indiana. Scott has been a science educator for nearly 20 years with nearly a decade of that educating advanced and ambitious students in his anatomy and physiology courses. We speak about how he came to the teaching profession, what lessons he has le…

I speak with Angel Eduardo, a staff writer for idealist.org and a columnist for the Center for Inquiry, who is also a musician, photographer, and designer who lives in New York City. Angel has a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts and Creative Writing so we spend time discussing the role of arts in how we communicate and also the art of communicating, spe…

In this episode, I speak with Alex Priou, who teaches at the Herbst Center at the University of Colorado - Boulder. Alex has a PhD from Tulane University and his research focuses on Plato and the Pre-Socratics. This is the first conversation on my podcast that is dedicated to political philosophy and some of the questions inherent to the study of p…

In this episode, I speak with Iona Italia. Iona has a PhD in literature from Cambridge University and is an editor at Areo Magazine and currently lives in London. We speak about her background, both personally and academically, including her experience living in multiple countries and how that has shaped her worldview, how to be a good writer and i…

Today, I speak with Xavier Bonilla, who has a doctorate in psychology and is a professor of psychology in Maryland. We speak about a wide range of topics including reacting to the seditious mob invading the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, then transitioning to conversations about political centrism, how to find meaning in a world that seems so often …

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Alex Natale, who is a professor of physics. We talk about fundamental elements in physics, including dark matter, dark energy, and neutrinos, and the role they play in giving an account of nature, the relationship between physics and political philosophy, and the nature of the university and how we educate students…

Today, in the second of two episodes, I continue my conversation with Roc, a data and systems analyst who currently lives in New York City. In this discussion, we discuss how talking to academics can be a struggle and perhaps why that is the case, what it means to be part of a community and the weight that may or may not come along with it, how we …

In the first of two episodes, I speak with Roc, a data and systems analyst who currently lives in New York City. In this episode, we discuss Roc's life living in various places in the United States and the unique perspective this generates as well as having a fairly long exploration of our relationship with social media. Introductory music was writ…

Today, in the third of three episodes, I continue my conversation with Dr. Damir Kovačević who is a professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and with Dr. Martin Claar who is a lecturer of Political Science at Loyola University – Chicago. We take up two primary questions in this final episode: How stable is a multi-…

Today, in the second of three episodes, I continue my conversation with Dr. Damir Kovačević who is a professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and with Dr. Martin Claar who is a lecturer of Political Science at Loyola University – Chicago. We build on our prior conversation and then move on to explore why norms fail…

Today, in the first of three episodes, I speak with Dr. Damir Kovačević who is a professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and with Dr. Martin Claar who is a lecturer of Political Science at Loyola University – Chicago. We speak about the various theories of international relations, the uses and norms surrounding ch…

Welcome back. Today, in the third of three episodes, I speak with Dr. Nicole Loring. Dr. Loring is an assistant professor of political science at Rivier University. We continue our discussion of Aung Sang Syu Ki and the controversies surrounding her support of human rights, on why we should care about international relations even given the domestic…

Welcome back. Today, in the second of three episodes, I speak with Dr. Nicole Loring. Dr. Loring is an assistant professor of political science at Rivier University. We discuss who is Aung Sang Syu Ki and her importance to Myanmar, the legacy of colonialism and the growth of human rights, and the contradictions that are raised by applying principle…

This is the first of three episodes where I speak with Dr. Nicole Loring. Dr. Loring is an assistant professor of political science at Rivier University. This conversation lays out broad themes taken up by political scientists who study international relations including things like what is international relations, what is the distinction between au…

Part two of my discussion with YouTube content creator Benjamin Boyce. Our conversation, again, was very broad and we cover a lot of ground but some of the highlights include comedy and conventions, the rational and the irrational, and the relationship between the truth, the sacred, and storytelling. Benjamin's channel can be found here. Introducto…

In this episode, I speak with YouTube content creator Benjamin Boyce. This is a wide-ranging conversation moving from what things fundamentally shaped our minds to musing on the quest for beauty and then shifting to the importance of narratives. Benjamin, ever the interviewer, was a great interlocutor for this conversation, even turning the tables …

My discussion today with Dr. Stewart builds on our prior one but shifts focus away from just the Civil War by expanding into questions of the Second Amendment, the cost of citizenship, and then, even more broadly, to the importance of learning history. This does not mean learning from history but to learn history; to learn about people in the past …

In today's episode, I speak with Dr. Stewart about conscription, specifically about conscription during the Civil War and the way it can help us better understand the nature of that conflict. We also discuss the ways in which conscription was resisted during the Civil War, which can help us better understand why the draft has been historically unpo…

This is the second part of my conversation with Oliver Traldi, a graduate student at Notre Dame, about this piece discussing how an specific kind of elite education may be best understood as a kind of guild. In this part of the discussion, we explore potential historical lines for this kind of education, what is the purpose of a college education, …

I speak with Oliver Traldi, a graduate student at Notre Dame, about this piece discussing how an specific kind of elite education may be best understood as a kind of guild. We explore what this new kind of education is, how it is working in the marketplace, and speculate on why it is functioning this way. Introductory music was written by Alex Yode…

In this second episode from our discussion, Dr. Kushner and I continue our discussion of Cherokee political thought, the ways that American political thought conflicts with Cherokee thought, and perhaps what we might learn from examining both systems. Introductory music composed by Alex Yoder. Find him here: http://www.alexyoder.net/ Please conside…

Welcome to the Struggle to Understand. Introduction music written by Alex Yoder. Find him here. Consider supporting this podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support!

In this first of two episodes, Dr. Kushner and I discuss Cherokee political thought, the ways that American political thought conflicts with Cherokee thought, and perhaps what we might learn from examining both systems. Introductory music composed by Alex Yoder. Find him here: http://www.alexyoder.net/ Consider supporting the podcast here and follo…