Aug 5, 2019
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...
Jul 1, 2019
Today, we explore the origin of the modern concept of a fact.
We take facts for granted, but they represent an invaluable intellectual technology less than 400 years old, which was forged in a fight between two of history’s brightest thinkers battling over the best way to rescue their society from the madness...
Jun 3, 2019
Today I'm speaking with Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, a historian from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It would be hard to find a scholar better equipped to enhance our historical perspective on how we decide what's true.
Jennifer and I challenge each other's thinking on several questions, including:
Were...
May 2, 2019
Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, published in 1987, became one of the most influential books of the last 50 years by instigating a battle over the soul of the American University that's been raging ever since.
The book sold millions of copies, becoming a powerful weapon in Bloom's fight against what he...
Apr 4, 2019
In this episode, we witness the debate that raged over the birth of what is perhaps the most powerful idea in history; the idea that supports our ability to make the world a better place, and the idea that defines the meaning of America. This is the idea that conversation, that argument, that free expression represent...