The Cunning of Geist

Apr 14 2024 81 ep. 25 mins 84

The Cunning of Geist Podcast artwork

Gregory Novak explores philosophy, psychology, and science with an emphasis on Hegel. For seekers and scholars alike.

Society & Culture Religion & Spirituality

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081 - The Fermi Paradox - Are We Alone in the Universe? Can Rationality Ever be Alone?

Apr 14 2024 29 mins

It is estimated that over 2 billion stars in our own Milky Way galaxy have planets orbiting them that could sustain life. Are we on planet Earth a lottery winner, a one in 2 billion chance for establishing life and intelligent beings? The odds suggest life exists elsewhere. However, although it took billions of years to life on Earth to evolve to where we are today, there are stars

080 - Is There a God? - Creation, Becoming, and the Fate of the Universe

Feb 25 2024 22 mins

"Creation ex nihlilo (creation out of nothing) or "Ex nihilo nihil fit" (from nothing comes from nothing)?The notion of a creator God is fundamental to Western religions. But is it true? The opening of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, studied so long and hard by the Kabbalists suggests so, and the Big Bang theory gave reason for many to believe the cosmological argument for God (everyt

079 - Using Hegel's Triad as a Model for Success

Jan 28 2024 21 mins

Hegel's "triad" of Being, Nothing, and Becoming are central to his ontology. And it can also be used as a framework for personal achievement. This episode explains how. The Being/Nothing/Becoming dialectic comes first in Hegel's Science of Logic, but it also presents the pattern for his overall project of Mind (Idea), Nature, and Spirit (Geist). And it is just this framework that o

078 - Jung's Synchronicity: Demonstrating the Mental/Physical Unity of the Cosmos

Dec 28 2023 24 mins

Hegel famously said in his Phenomenology of Spirit, "Everything turns on grasping and expressing the True, not as Substance, but equally as Subject." (Miiler trans., ¶17). That the true - truth - is equally substance and subject. He makes this explicitly clear in the following statement, “What seems to take place outside it, to be an activity directed against it, is its own doin

077 - The Journey Not the Destination: The Case for Universal Purposeful Evolution

Nov 19 2023 20 mins

Does Spirit evolve? How about God?And what exactly does the term panentheism mean?This episode takes a deep dive into process philosophy, process theology, and the evolutionary nature of "becoming." The pioneer work of Charles Hartshorne, Alfred North Whitehead, Charles Sanders Peirce, and of course Hegel, all in a way process philosophers, is addressed. Support the show

076 - Language Games: Wittgenstein, Hegel, and the Split in Philosophy

Oct 22 2023 21 mins

Wittgenstein is often mention as the most influential philosopher of the 20th century. His focus on the meaning of words became an integral part of the so-called "Analytic" branch of the discipline. The later Wittgenstein contended that words are but tools, defined by their use within the context of the “language game” of the arena they are used, which is societally based and c

075 - A Matter of Life & Death: How Philosophy Underpins Politics, Law, Science, and Morality.

Sep 23 2023 32 mins

Is philosophy just mental masturbation? Nothing but air?Many today see no value in philosophy because there seems to be little agreement among philosophers on anything, and much of what they say seems to have little or no impact on one's life, or society in general. Is this the case?An examination of the major pillars upon which society stands - political systems, the law, science,

074 - Is the Unconscious Mind Real or Fantasy? - B.F. Skinner, Freud, & Hegel

Aug 27 2023 22 mins

The behaviorism of B.F. Skinner took the psychology world by storm. His 1971 book "Beyond Freedom and Dignity" was hailed as the most important psychological publication of the 20th century. And this was from someone who denied mind and free will. It was an attempt to dignify psychology as a hard science, based on experiments and what can be observed, rather than what people think

073 - Who Needs Philosophy? - You Do!

Jul 30 2023 31 mins

Developing one's own philosophy of life can be one of the most rewarding experiences. ll can serve as the basis for a productive and happy experience in this world. What many don’t realize is that our beliefs, values, and actions are based on a grounding in a particular philosophy, whether we understand it or not. Examining the underpinnings of our concept of self and the world c

072 - Pillars of the Collective Unconscious: How Jung's Feminine & Masculine Archetypes Manifest in the Psyche and Brain

Jun 27 2023 33 mins

This episode explores psychologist Carl Jung's conception of the psyche, from the ego and the persona it shows to the world, down through the personal and collective shadow, finally reaching the two core archetypes of the collective unconscious - the anima and the animus. This fundamental polarity is seen in myths and narratives throughout the ages, including the yin/yang symbol, h