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For those of you who are interested in following up on the topic of this month’s episode, Kent Schmor recommends the following overview article: “Carnap’s Logical Structure of the World,” Christopher Pincock For more background on the Vienna Circle, the philosophical group with whom Carnap was affiliated early in his career, see: “The Vienna Circle,” Thomas Uebel Kent writes: “Strictly speaking, the Circle didn’t go public until 1928, the same year the Aufbau was published....

Subscribe to Elucidations:       This month, we discuss Rudolf Carnap’s Aufbau with Kent Schmor, visiting philosophy instructor at the University of Pittsburgh. Click here to listen to our conversation. Why, Carnap would ask, did independent philosophers keep attempting to rehash huge domains? Scientists, Carnap noticed, each work on a focused problem, broadening knowledge collaboratively. In 1917, Carnap began a thesis relating to both science and philosophy....

Would you like to follow up on our previous episode? Susan James recommends looking at the following sections from Spinoza’s classic work: Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, Chapter 2 Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, Chapter 3 Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, Chapter 4 If you really want to do a deep dive, she also recommends the following secondary material: Collective Imaginings: Spinoza, Past and Present, eds. Moira Gatens and Genevieve Lloyd Spinoza on Philosophy, Religion, and Politics: The Theologico-Political Treatise, Susan James...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       This month, we discuss Benedict de Spinoza’s work on the good embodied life with Susan James, Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London. Click here to listen to our conversation. Spinoza (1632-1677) was born in what was then one of Europe’s most free Jewish communities, in Holland. Perhaps thanks to that, he developed ideas centuries ahead of his time....

Please join me in welcoming Dominic Surya, our new blogger! We are excited to have him with us. Matt Teichman...

If you’d like to do more reading on the topic of our last epsiode, check out Christel Fricke’s paper, Adam Smith: The Sympathetic Process and The Origin and Function Of Conscience, in the Oxford Handbook of Adam Smith. Matt Teichman...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       This month, we discuss the moral philosophy of Adam Smith with Christel Fricke, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oslo, and Research Director at the Center for the Study of Mind in Nature in the Department of Philosophy, Classics, and History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo. Click here to listen to our conversation....

For those of you who would like to follow up on our previous episode, Mark Lance recommends the following website, which is quite a thorough resource! http://anarchism.pageabode.com/afaq/index.html Matt Teichman...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       This month, we talk political philosophy with Mark Lance, Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Justice and Peace at Georgetown University. Click here to listen to our conversation. Anarchy. Sounds like the wild west or something, doesn’t it? Lawlessness indeed sounds pretty terrifying. But our guest argues that anarchism isn’t at all about lawlessness; that anarchists are indeed very much in favor of society being governed....

So a good starting point for those of you who are curious to read up on the topic of our last episode would be John Protevi’s own ‘Darwin, Disaster, and War.’ Our distinguished guest also recommends looking at the website for a course he recently taught on the topic: http://www.protevi.com/john/Morality/index.html Happy reading! Matt Teichman...