The Wes Cecil Podcast

byWes Cecil

EducationHistorySocietyCulturePhilosophy

My lectures are dedicated to making Philosophy in particular and the world of ideas in general available to everyone. My exploration of topics and thinkers is designed to provide a foundation for listeners to engage in further reading and thought and develop their own conceptions of the topics I introduce. I have PhD in Literature and Philosophy and was a college professor for over 20 years. I am working to remove the barriers that prevent many from experiencing and understanding the lives and thoughts of some of the world's greatest thinkers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes(40 episodes)

Season 8 - Episode 27

Artificial (Intelligence) Mythology - Live Lecture From Maastricht, The Netherlands, 4.29.26

Hello everyone! I want to share the audio of my live lecture from Maastricht, the Netherlands a couple Wednesdays ago, April 29.The lecture is on the phenomenology of AI in the mytho-poetic mind. Hope you enjoy. Here's the write-up:AI, in itself, may not actually be that interesting. However, the way we perceive and respond to the idea of AI marks a central tendency of human civilization, spanning the rise of the mytho-poetic outlook, to centralized religions through digital technology and, now, AI. By reflecting on how the narrative of AI is presented...

Published: May 13, 2026Duration: 45m 18s

Season 15 - Episode 7

Values: Ep. 7 - Wisdom

Almost completely forgotten as a value today, it was THE central value of a series of different philosophical systems across several different civilizations over 1,000s of years. Without Wisdom as a value, we have less capacity to develop nobility, joy, or beauty as discussed in earlier episodes. Yet, we still seek to understand ourselves and our world and likely wisdom will never truly go away.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, addi...

Published: May 11, 2026Duration: 50m 23s

Season 16 - Episode 3

Reading The Bhagavad Gita: Book 2

Krishna explains that the soul is immortal and that rebirth is unending so there is no need to worry about killing one’s family as you aren’t really doing anything that matters. Instead, focus on wisdom and duty to achieve one’s dharma and everything else that follows will be right. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course materials, and audio diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. S...

Published: May 8, 2026Duration: 25m 29s

Season 15 - Episode 6

Values: Ep. 6 - Heroism

Unlike the other values discussed, Heroism would seem to be a central value of contemporary society. However, upon closer inspection, it is clear that traditional notions of heroism - of which there are a range - are not all that represented. While the idea of suffering and sacrifice remain, the overall vision of transformation, agency and a transcendent goal seem to largely be ignored. While a prominent ideal, our current understanding would be met with derision by many thinkers of the past.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes...

Published: May 4, 2026Duration: 49m 29s

Season 16 - Episode 2

Reading The Bhagavad Gita: Book 1

A great opening! “Why, Krishna, should I kill my family and friends?” This question is the ethical question at the center of the work that allows for a complete re-imagining of Hinduism and the spiritual and social contract of ancient India. The layers of background that inform seemingly even simple passages is a bit overwhelming but hopefully this introduction will help out a little. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course m...

Published: May 1, 2026Duration: 28m 50s

Season 15 - Episode 5

Values: Ep. 5 - Joy

Who could be opposed to Joy? Well, it turns out that despite being a central value in several different philosophical systems for 1,000s of years, contemporary society has little use for the cultivation of Joy. A diffuse concept, I focus on providing several literary examples and suggestions for further study and reflection. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course materials, and audio diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Ac...

Published: Apr 27, 2026Duration: 52m 14s

This week! Two live lectures in Maastricht, the Netherlands

Hello everyone, I'm very excited to announce that I will be giving two live lectures this week in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The subjects of these lectures and registration for them is included below.If you are in or nearby the Netherlands and are able to attend I would love to see you there.Artificial (Intelligence) MythologyWednesday 29 April, 19:30Karl Dittrich Hall, Student Services Centre, Bonnefantenstraat 2, MaastrichtAI, in itself, may not actually be that interesting. However, the way we perceive and respond to the idea of A...

Published: Apr 26, 2026Duration: 3m 14s

Short Q & A on "Values" Series

A few questions and my own musings on the latest Values episode about the nature of Nobility as seen through the eyes of T.S. Eliot. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course materials, and audio diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Published: Apr 22, 2026Duration: 22m 27s

Season 15 - Episode 4

Values: Ep. 4 - Nobility

Not just a value that is out of fashion, but one that is actively and consistently attacked by our society. The notion of cultivating a noble self governed by humility, self-control, wisdom and uprightness seems both wildly out of fashion and arrogant. However, for millennia, this was a central goal of major philosophical systems. Contemporary culture sees any sense of nobility as a cover for some kind of scam or corruption. We allow little space to see others, and hence ourselves, as possibly or even genuinely Noble in character.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get...

Published: Apr 20, 2026Duration: 49m 45s

Season 16 - Episode 1

Reading The Bhagavad Gita - Intro

In 2 weeks we will begin a new series exploring the Bhagavad Gita as a means of orienting oneself within the vast and fascinating literature and thought of classical Hindu thought. An extraordinary and central text that works on a number of important levels within the larger epic of the Mahabharata while also representing an inflection point in the development of Hindu thought. I wanted to share this intro with you in advance so you can have time to acquire a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. The Penguin edition is the version I will be using. <...

Published: Apr 18, 2026Duration: 19m 48s

Addendum on "Beauty": Piet Oudolf and Georgia O’Keeffe

A reflection on the power of biography to inspire and help guide us in our pursuit of beauty. These two examples are, at least for me, immensely helpful in shaking off the cultural assumptions and outlooks that try to shape our goals and, hence, decision making. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course materials, and audio diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for m...

Published: Apr 17, 2026Duration: 24m 33s

Season 15 - Episode 3

Values: Ep. 3 - Beauty

With Health, Beauty has historically been considered an intrinsic value. However, our contemporary society does not just undervalue beauty, it actively works to prevent beauty from being perceived either as a value or, even more insidiously, as an active evil. By taking a moment and reflecting on our own perception of beauty and looking to cultivate in our environment we can use a sense of personal values to fundamentally transform our experience of the world.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)<...

Published: Apr 13, 2026Duration: 58m 42s

Season 8 - Episode 26

Is the US a Democracy?

Not a rhetorical ploy, but an actual question. The strange form of American ‘Democracy’ today raises the very real idea that at some point a lack of competition in elections, the duopoly of the hold on power and the control exerted over the process of elections by un-elected officials produces a system that is functionally no longer really a democracy. Further, and I forgot to mention this in the lecture, the current structure ensures that the most senior and powerful members of both parties are not, functionally, forced to face an actual election. Sign-up for Wes’s PATRE...

Published: Apr 10, 2026Duration: 47m 34s

Season 15 - Episode 2

Values: Ep. 2 - Health

Often discussed as an ‘implicit’ good, health is nonetheless a relatively low priority in many modern societies. We have both a poor understanding of what constitutes health as well as a strong cultural resistance to pursuing health as a key value in our lives. Any attempt to prioritize health will generally provide a powerful education in the underlying cultural values that shape our lives and, more often than not, resist the notion of health as a core good.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patre...

Published: Apr 6, 2026Duration: 57m 0s

Season 8 - Episode 25

The Power of Abstraction

A reflection on our capacity to overwhelm our actual experience of the world with abstract concepts that somehow is often more powerful than even our immediate physical surroundings. I was prompted to these thoughts by recent experiences mowing my lawn and spending time in some very different kitchens.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course materials, and audio diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...

Published: Apr 3, 2026Duration: 28m 57s

Season 15 - Episode 1

Values: Ep. 1 - Introduction

A brief introduction to the field of values and why they matter as a subject of reflection. Fundamentally, we understand the world through our values so reflecting on our values and potentially even changing them gives us the opportunity to dramatically alter our experience of the world. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course materials, and audio diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

Published: Mar 30, 2026Duration: 45m 17s

Season 8 - Episode 24

A brief argument in favor of reading biographies as a warmup for a new series that will be coming very soon!Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course materials, and audio diaries from France. Only $2 / month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Published: Mar 27, 2026Duration: 36m 58s

Commodification vs Financialization

A long footnote to the Late Capitalism series in which I discuss the, at least to me, very important difference between these two concepts. While commodification is still going on, it is really the advent of this new financial world that has come to dominate our world in many quite dangerous ways. Perhaps a long discourse that interests only me.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course materials, and audio diar...

Published: Mar 23, 2026Duration: 37m 51s

Season 8 - Episode 23

How to be Wrong and Why!

An invitation to explore the power of being wrong. In a culture that emphasizes the importance of rightness over a whole range of other possible values like harmony, beauty, health, fabulousness, inspiration, and so on, being wrong can be a liberating and enlightening experience. Once one begins being wrong, it lifts a burden of outlook and opens up a whole range of different experiences and orientations that are simply impossible within the RIght/Wrong dialectic.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)<...

Published: Mar 20, 2026Duration: 33m 32s

Season 13 - Episode 18

Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide, Ep. 18 - Conclusion 2 "Us"

While our particular brand of history is unique, people have been living history for a long time. By looking back to some earlier patterns of living that were more health-giving and joy-supporting than the form of life relentlessly promoted to us today, we can gain a few clues as to how we can adapt in the face of our challenges. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON community to get your questions answered by Wes! (Yes, Wes is very active on Patreon)Plus, gain access to bonus lectures, peer discussions, additional course materials, and audio diar...

Published: Mar 16, 2026Duration: 1h 1m 5s