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  • The note he wrote that provoked two nations to hunt you

    The note he wrote that provoked two nations to hunt you
    2026/10/30
    A dangerous idea, written in a book, makes a man a fugitive for 16 years. Two nations want him arrested for it.

    The note he wrote that provoked two nations to hunt you

    This episode explores the life of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a man whose philosophical writings led to warrants for his arrest in France and Geneva. It delves into the formative experiences that shaped his "free and republican spirit" and the profound impact of his ideas.

    Person: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
    Date: July 2, 1778
    Location: Northern France
    Status: Fugitive
    Topic: Dangerous ideas

    - Jean-Jacques Rousseau was hunted across Europe for 16 years by France and Geneva for a book he wrote.
    - Rousseau's childhood in Geneva was influenced by the city-state's governance and the suppression of democratic reformers.
    - His father, Isaac, instilled in him a "free and republican spirit" through readings of Plutarch's Lives.
    - At fifteen, Rousseau left Geneva after finding the city gates locked past curfew, an unplanned act of defiance.
    - He converted to Catholicism at the age of fifteen, a decision that cost him his Genevan citizenship.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 分
  • The Dissertation That Pitted You Against God

    The Dissertation That Pitted You Against God
    2026/10/29
    A Texas mathematician challenges a prominent atheist philosopher to a public debate on God. What drives such a massive audience?

    The Dissertation That Pitted You Against God

    This episode explores the story of Thomas Warren, a mathematician turned philosopher, and the extraordinary public debate he held with British atheist Antony Flew. It delves into what compels 25,000 people to attend a four-night philosophy debate on the existence of God.

    Person: Thomas Bratton Warren
    Opponent: Antony Flew
    Event: Philosophy debate on the existence of God
    Location: Denton, Texas
    Date: September 1976

    - Thomas Warren grew up in Carrizo Springs, Texas, and served as an aerial navigator in the United States Air Force during World War II.
    - He pursued advanced degrees, including a master's in religion and a doctorate in philosophy from Vanderbilt University.
    - Warren's doctoral dissertation, "God and Evil: Does Judeo-Christian Theism Involve a Logical Contradiction?", tackled the problem of evil, considered the atheists' strongest argument.
    - By 1971, he was a Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Apologetics at Harding Graduate School of Religion.
    - In 1972, Warren published "Have Atheists Proved There is No God?", directly challenging the academic world.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 分
  • Thirty Seconds That Asked What You Would Risk

    Thirty Seconds That Asked What You Would Risk
    2026/10/28
    A British professor tries to cross a guarded border with a risky bag. What would you risk for a dangerous idea?

    Thirty Seconds That Asked What You Would Risk

    This episode explores the life of Roger Scruton, a philosopher who challenged established ideas and faced significant personal and political consequences for his beliefs. It delves into the origins of his convictions and the moments that shaped his intellectual journey.

    Person: Roger Scruton
    Date: 1985
    Location: Czechoslovak border
    Status: Undesirable Person
    Topic: Philosophy

    - Roger Scruton was placed on Czechoslovakia's Index of Undesirable Persons in 1985 for his philosophical ideas.
    - His family name, Scruton, may have originated from a building in Yorkshire, reflecting an early life surrounded by unconfirmed secrets.
    - Scruton's father, Jack, a working-class man, stopped speaking to him when Roger was admitted to Cambridge, seeing it as a departure from their world.
    - While studying Natural Sciences at Cambridge, Scruton switched to Moral Sciences, focusing on philosophy.
    - A pivotal moment for Scruton occurred in Paris during May 1968, witnessing students destroying things they had not built.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • The assumption that meaning must be explicit traps you

    The assumption that meaning must be explicit traps you
    2026/10/27
    A philosopher risks peers' ire by challenging his field’s core. What happens when the foundation of an entire academic discipline is questioned?

    The assumption that meaning must be explicit traps you

    This episode explores the life and work of John McDowell, a philosopher who spent six decades challenging the fundamental assumptions of analytic philosophy. It delves into his quiet but profound resistance to established frameworks and the dangerous idea that shaped his career.

    Person: John McDowell
    Date: 1942 (born)
    Location: Boksburg, South Africa
    Field: Philosophy of language
    Period: 1960s-present

    - John McDowell was born in 1942 in Boksburg, a mining town in South Africa.
    - He left southern Africa for Oxford in 1963 as a Rhodes Scholar, carrying a degree from a university that would soon cease to exist.
    - McDowell arrived at Oxford, then considered the center of the philosophical universe, with a quiet conviction that much of analytic philosophy's machinery was unnecessary.
    - He began reading the later Wittgenstein, who argued that philosophy's task is to dissolve confusion rather than construct systems.
    - McDowell challenged the "manifestability" principle in philosophy of language, which demanded that understanding a word must be publicly demonstrable.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • You Have Seventy Articles - Which One Would You Write?

    You Have Seventy Articles - Which One Would You Write?
    2026/10/26
    A Dominican friar dedicates his life to a single philosophical question: does the existence of evil prove God does not exist? His answer challenges everything.

    You Have Seventy Articles - Which One Would You Write?

    This episode explores the lifelong work of Brian Davies, a Roman Catholic priest and philosopher, who has spent over four decades examining the problem of evil. It delves into his unique perspective that questions the very premise of the debate.

    Person: Brian Davies
    Field: Philosophy of Religion
    Topic: Problem of Evil
    Period: 1970s-2020s
    Affiliation: Dominican Order

    - Brian Davies published seventy journal articles and nine books on the problem of evil.
    - He is a Dominican friar and a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University.
    - Davies completed his doctorate at King's College London by age twenty-four.
    - The classical philosophical problem of evil argues that suffering disproves the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and wholly good God.
    - Davies's work examines the assumption that God is a moral agent subject to human-like moral obligations.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • The Book That Saved a Language When Empires Tried to Kill It

    The Book That Saved a Language When Empires Tried to Kill It
    2026/10/25
    A scholar, appointed to lead a war-torn country he never reached, makes a decision that reshapes how the Irish language survives the 17th century.

    The Book That Saved a Language When Empires Tried to Kill It

    This episode explores the life of Aodh Mac Aingil, a scholar whose actions ensured the survival of the Irish language against overwhelming odds. It delves into the extraordinary measures taken when a person's homeland can no longer protect what they cherish.

    Person: Aodh Mac Aingil (Mac Aingil, Hugo Magnesius)
    Date: 1597
    Location: County Down, Rome, Salamanca, Leuven
    Event: Nine Years' War

    - Aodh Mac Aingil, born in County Down, was a tutor in Hugh O'Neill's household during the Nine Years' War.
    - He trained in bardic schools, ancient institutions of memorization, poetry, and genealogy that were under pressure from English administration.
    - Mac Aingil was sent to Spain by Hugh O'Neill to seek military assistance, a mission that ultimately failed.
    - After the Flight of the Earls in 1607, he established the Irish Franciscan College of Saint Anthony of Padua in Leuven, Spanish Netherlands.
    - The college became a scriptorium, where scholars collected and copied Irish manuscripts, producing texts in a language without institutional support.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 分
  • The Manuscript That Made You Europe's Most Wanted Man

    The Manuscript That Made You Europe's Most Wanted Man
    2026/10/24
    A 14th-century physician pens a controversial political manuscript condemned as heresy. What would you risk for an idea?

    The Manuscript That Made You Europe's Most Wanted Man

    This episode explores the story of Marsilius of Padua, a physician and scholar whose manuscript challenged the established religious and political order of 14th-century Europe. It delves into the intellectual courage required to publish ideas that could cost you everything.

    Person: Marsilio Mainardini (Marsilius of Padua)
    Date: 1324
    Location: Padua, Paris, Avignon, Bavaria
    Topic: Political philosophy, heresy, papal authority
    Status: Manuscript declared heresy

    - Marsilius of Padua, a physician and Rector of the University of Paris, wrote a manuscript in 1324.
    - His work, titled "Dictiones," systematically argued that sovereignty resides in the people, not the pope.
    - The manuscript claimed the papacy is a human institution and that secular rulers can remove corrupt leaders, including a pope.
    - Pope John XXII, based in Avignon, declared Marsilius's doctrines heretical in 1327.
    - Marsilius fled France and found refuge at the court of Louis of Bavaria, who was in open conflict with the papacy.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • He Quietly Gave Away a Chair That Rewired Christianity

    He Quietly Gave Away a Chair That Rewired Christianity
    2026/10/23
    A sixty-something Franciscan rides through winter France carrying an invisible decision: what would you have done?

    He Quietly Gave Away a Chair That Rewired Christianity

    In this episode, we follow Alexander of Hales as he returns to Paris after the First Council of Lyon, tracing a quiet administrative choice that shifted theological teaching for centuries. How did one classroom decision - and the texts he chose - ripple outward through intellectual history?

    Person: Alexander of Hales
    Date: 21 August 1245 (death); winter 1245 (transfer)
    Location: Paris; rode through France after the First Council of Lyon
    Topic: Adoption of Peter Lombard’s Sentences as primary teaching text
    Event: University of Paris disputes over teaching texts and Aristotle (strike of 1229; embassy to Rome)

    - A regent master in Paris by 1220-1221, Alexander switched from lecturing on the Bible to lecturing on Peter Lombard’s Sentences.
    - His lecture notes, written down by students in the 1220s, survived as working teaching material rather than polished treatises.
    - In 1229 the University of Paris went on strike and masters, including Alexander, engaged in embassies to Rome over what texts could be taught.
    - Aristotle’s works were formally banned at times, yet Alexander quoted Aristotle openly because those tools helped him discuss being, cause, and possibility.
    - His summa and disputations provoked polarized responses-praised by some like Roger Bacon and declared authoritative by a group of doctors-while much of his work remains unpublished.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 分