How did the grandeur of Rome dissolve into the fragmented landscapes of medieval Europe? In this series, we trace the long arc from antiquity to feudalism through the lens of Perry Anderson’s classic work, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism. Exploring the collapse of slave-based economies, the transformation of rural life, and the shifting power of kings, lords, and the Church, we uncover how social structures, not just battles, forged the medieval world. This is history told as a story of systems — the struggles between land and labor, empire and village, freedom and servitude — that still echo in today’s institutions.

Join us for a singular deep dive into Meditations, the private reflections of Marcus Aurelius. In this episode, we unpack his insights on virtue, self-discipline, and the art of facing life’s challenges with clarity and purpose. Ancient wisdom meets modern reflection—perfect for anyone seeking to think more deeply about how to live well.

In this episode of Light & Origin, we examine Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue, a piercing critique of modern moral philosophy and a call to recover the lost coherence of virtue ethics. Tracing the collapse of teleological thinking from Aristotle through the Enlightenment to today’s emotivist fragmentation, MacIntyre argues that our moral language has become unmoored from any shared framework of meaning. We explore how this ethical drift has shaped culture, politics, and personal identity—and why a return to classical traditions of character, narrative, and community might be the only way forward.

This episode undertakes a critical exposition of central themes in Aristotle’s Metaphysics, with particular emphasis on the notions of substance (ousia), causation, and the Unmoved Mover. Through close textual analysis and philosophical commentary, we explore Aristotle’s attempt to articulate a science of being qua being, his classification of the four causes as explanatory principles, and his postulation of a prime, immaterial substance as the final cause of all motion. Designed for students and scholars of philosophy, this discussion situates Aristotle’s metaphysical framework within the broader context of ancient thought and highlights its enduring influence on metaphysics, theology, and the philosophy of science.

In the third preface, Justinian returns to address the Senate, declaring that while the names of the ancients are preserved, the Digest itself is a forward-looking law, rejecting the confusion of the past. This episode reflects on how memory and progress coexist in the law, much as a Stoic learns from the past but lives in the present, guided by the reason that transcends any single age. We explore the emperor’s audacious belief that the law, once clarified, becomes an instrument for peace, justice, and the flourishing of human souls—an earthly echo of the divine order Stoicism teaches us to seek.

With the Digest assembled, Justinian’s second preface is a proclamation to the Senate and all peoples: the law is now confirmed, purified, and ready to govern Rome’s vast empire. We examine how this moment echoes Stoic cosmopolitanism, where laws align with the rational nature of all humanity, transcending provincial customs in favor of universal principles. We discuss how Justinian’s vision sought to replace the fracturing chaos of the old laws with a system in which contradictions dissolve and justice flows clearly—paralleling the Stoic’s pursuit of a tranquil soul in harmony with the divine order.

Before a society can flourish, it must learn to govern itself. In this episode, we enter the mind of Emperor Justinian as he commissions Tribonian to gather the tangled, contradictory mass of Roman law into a unified body of justice. Drawing on Stoic ideals of logos—the rational order that underpins the cosmos—we explore how Justinian’s first preface reflects a deep desire for a law that mirrors the harmony of nature, even invoking god as the source of order. What does it mean for a civilization to bring clarity from chaos, and can the law itself become a form of spiritual discipline?

What does it mean to be a citizen, not just of a city, but of the cosmos itself? This episode explores the revolutionary political and ethical ideas of the Stoics, who were the first to fully develop the concept of a natural law guided by universal reason. Journey from the founding of the school by Zeno of Citium to the personal reflections of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Discover how the Stoic ideal of "living in accordance with nature" shaped a powerful philosophy of cosmopolitanism, where all rational beings belong to a single, universal homeland. We'll unravel how their concepts of virtue, duty, and the control of emotions were not just tools for inner peace, but the very foundation for justice and a new way of imagining human society.