Hanging with History

Apr 17 2024 517

Hanging with History Podcast artwork

The first season focuses on the origins of the Industrial Revolution or the Great Enrichment, we go deep into history to gain enough background knowledge to actually understand the various theories of the origins of the Great Enrichment. Eventually we learn that we also need to know how the miracle was consolidated, as the many other close approaches to the Industrial Revolution failed.A kwirky style, but intellectually ambitious with the goal of understanding history well enough to understand the miracle that happened that one time. It's gonna be a long series.

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Preparation for War; End of the 2nd hundred Years War part 3

Apr 17 2024 30 mins

Spycraft was one of Britain’s advantages during the 2nd hundred years war.What were the other advantages Britain took into the end of the 2nd hundred years war? Pitt hired a number of reformers who drove through unpopular reforms in communications, shipyard construction and efficiency. There were a number of reforms that also foundered, such as trying to remove the dockyard worke

138. The Unlikely Rise to Power of William Pitt

Apr 03 2024 38 mins

William Pitt goes toe to toe against a large coalition led by Charles Fox and Lord North. George 3 is on firmly on his side, all the power of the crown is bent to his support. And yet this is not enough until public opinion finds a clear expression. We cover the background to the rise of William Pitt, what was going in France at the time to weaken the French government, and Charles

137. End of the 2nd Hundred Years War; Part 1

Mar 20 2024 44 mins

A summary of the 1793-1815 period is provided along with brief descriptions of the themes we will be following.Intensity:WW1 level financial and human commitmentThere are many wars inside these warsModernizing in both administration and communicationsRepression vs FreedomContinuities in the 2nd hundred years warEconomic WarfareSmall country vs large countryGlobal impact is epically

136. Newton and Locke discovered by Europe

Mar 06 2024 40 mins

Newtonian philosophy, and John Locke, along with Francis Bacon has an exciting empirical philosophical package that took Europe by storm in the 1740s, with the able assistance of Voltaire. Locke offered an epistemology interesting to philosophers, but people like Montesquieu were more taken by his description of the interaction between political players, early public choice theory.

Gottfried Leibniz; The Last Universal Genius

Feb 22 2024 45 mins

The last universal genius. There are minutes spent just lightly covering Leibniz’s contributions to science and his place in history, they are so extensive. He is put forward as the father of modern computing and patron saint of cybernetics. What you may not realize is that in philosophy he was also a detective and a spy. Then we cover his biography from the time he is a young ma

Benedictus Spinoza Part 3 ; Radical Enlightenment

Feb 08 2024 41 mins

Spinoza’s conflicts with contemporary scientists like Boyle and Huygens center on Spinoza’s insistence on the primacy of philosophical reason over empirical experimentation and empirical reasoning. Spinoza’s argument against Boyle’s experiments are presented.Jonathon Israel highlights the influence of Spinoza by showing that much of the Boyle’s later work, on reconciling

133. Baruch Spinoza, Part 2, Radical Enlightenment Part 3

Jan 24 2024 42 mins

Spinoza’s philosophical framework laid out, along with several points of disagreement with the moderate Enlightenment Newtonians and Leibnizians. We get to some of Spinoza’s specific arguments with other scientists. With Steno, he had a non rational disagreement, with Huygens, he was accused of focusing too much on reason rather then experiment which inevitably leads to error,

132. Radical Enlightenment Part 2; Spinoza, Part 1

Jan 11 2024 38 mins

We look at the tragedies of Spinoza's life. The clique that forms around him. The tragi comic end of his friend and mentor Van Den Enden.Primarily we cover Spinoza's views, and here we introduce the idea that we live in a fully mechanistic, fully determined world, where there is no room for free will or God's providence.

131. Radical Enlightenment; The Crisis of the European Mind Part 1

Dec 27 2023 37 mins

The first of a six episode arc on the Early Enlightenment. We emphasize the clash of ideas, then the content of ideas, then biography.This episode lays out the 3 way battle for the dominant philosophy between the Aristotelian Scholastics, the dominate group in 1600, the moderate Enlightenment (which itself consisted of 3 battling elements, Cartesians, Newtonians and Leibnizians) an

130. The State and the Industrial Revolution, Part 3, The Fiscal-Military State

Dec 14 2023 27 mins

The Fiscal Military State concept is a valid tool for analyzing the role of government in this era, not to imply it's an ideal form of analysis. British central government employees, well, 90% had a taxing or fund raising function. And 90% of funds raised were spent on war and to pay debts from previous wars.And of course we summarize the context we gained in all 3 parts.