The Wes Cecil Podcast

Q & A #1 - WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture I: "What is an American?" Apologies for the audio quality on this one—it improves as the series moves along.

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LECTURE 2: NO HISTORY FOR YOU!

In my second lecture I explore the bizarre and necessary historical amnesia that besets American culture. For the first 200 years of American settlement, the Native American culture was forcibly erased, then actively ignored once the ‘Natives’ problem had been “solved”. Also, the invisibility of the African American presence in much of the US, which represented 40-50% of the population in some states, ...

LECTURE 3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM:

This lecture explores the evolution of the American conception of the individual and why it has become so dominant within American culture. Devoid of a deep history and often in strange surroundings with strange people, many Americans have, for generations, felt thrust out on their own. What for most societies was considered a severe punishment - banishment - became, in America, a common and perha...

Q & A #3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture III: American Individualism

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LECTURE 4 - NIHILISTIC MATERIALISM

That American culture is materialistic is an accurate but often unhelpful distinction as it is our particular kind of materialism that America manifests that is important to understand. In this lecture, I explore the peculiar Nihilistic elements that shape American materialism. Significantly, all the standard critiques of materialism - that material goods will not give your life meaning, that shopp...

Q & A #4 - NIHILISTIC MATERIALISM

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture IV: Nihilistic Materialism

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LECTURE 5 - AMERICAN CALVINISM

In this lecture I explore the deep and abiding influence of Calvinism on the American cultural outlook. Whether Christian or not, Americans believe in purity, the centrality of moral judgements, visible signs of success and more. These attitudes are rarely traced back to their true origin - the specific beliefs and social forms developed by John Calvin. America is a Calvinist country par excellence.

LECTURE 6 - THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION - 1935 - 1949

The twin catastrophes of the Great Depression and World War II utterly transformed America. In just 20 years, the structure of government, focus of the economy, tax policy, and America’s global position fundamentally altered. A country with a tiny tax base, miniscule military, isolationist politics and nascent federal government became a global super power with the largest economy i...

INTELLECTUAL HOMELESSNESS:

This series will explore the contemporary state of the world of arts and ideas and how we can begin to build lives centered around culture and philosophy. We are often misled as to the nature and purpose of intellectual pursuits. I hope to clarify the history and cultural forces that shape our understanding of and participation in the house of the intellect. Unfortunately, Barzun’s book The House of the In...

Q & A #6 - THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION: 1935 - 1949

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture VI: THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION

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ADDENDUM - CALVINISTIC MATERIALISM VS. NIHILISTIC MATERIALISM

Does America practice a particular type of Nihilism? A follow up to clarify the notion of why Nihilism - the belief that there is no order or meaning in the world - is fundamental to the type of materialism practiced in America. Perhaps the clearest example is the rise of off-site storage where people pay to store material goods that, by definition, they cannot readily ac...

A work that I think embodies, quite consciously on the part of Jung, many of the contradictions, challenges, and paradoxes of the modern mind trying to come to grips with a world that simply does not cohere with our general materialist, rationalist worldview. I hope to use this as both a great text to explore and an example of how one can read in a very different manner. It was working with great teachers who helped me learn t...

MAJOR THINKERS - NIETZSCHE - EP. 1

An intellectual biography of Nietzsche kicks off this series discussing the life and philosophy of a series of major thinkers. I explore some of the key ideas and influences that shaped Nietzsche’s thinking including his loathing of Christianity and the influence of classical literature in shaping his ethical outlook. This is an improved audio version of a lecture I delivered over a decade ago.&nb...

LECTURE 7 - LIBERTARIANISM

Is it healthy to pretend that you're doing it on your own? The notion that the best world is one in which each individual is maximally free and operates independently of all other individuals has been a powerful force in American cultural and political history. The expressions of libertarianism we see today are founded on a deep ethos that rejects all forms of government, law, taxation or any limitation on...

DIGNITY AND INTEGRITY:

It may seem a bit abstract, which I imagine it is, however I feel the disappearance of the concepts of Dignity and Integrity from the world of education, art, philosophy and culture generally is one of the greatest challenges to a sense of intellectual community today. Recognizing our own dignity allows us to appreciate the value of our contributions to the world of ideas and well as appreciate those of other...

Wow, so I did mention this is a crazy, difficult text didn’t I? So Jung’s conscious attempt to break from the thought processes and values of his society created an intellectual and emotional crisis that shaped the creation of the Red Book. The most significant note for contemporary readers is that he is trying to return in some way to the approaches to knowledge and wisdom that shaped the first 4,000 years of civilization. This ma...