Unlimited Opinions - Philosophy, Theology, Linguistics, & More

Do conservatives achieve any victories past the 19th century? Find out on this (somewhat depressing) episode of Unlimited Opinions, as we look at how conservatives struggle to make any lasting change in early 20th-century England. We discuss George Gissing's critique of "the science," Arthur Balfour's inability to make any lasting impact, and the truly great insights of W.H. Mallock on religion, culture, and ability. Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

What happens to conservatism in a world full of technological and societal change? In this episode, we discuss four pessimistic American thinkers: James Russel Lowell, E.L. Godkin, Henry Adams, and Brooks Adams. While hurt by their pessimism for the American future, they still have deeply relevant thoughts on progress, the media, and economic conditions. We also discuss our run-ins with Stoicism and a self-professed Epicurean.Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Can a coalition of people opposed to the excesses of liberalism, socialism, and utilitarianism really be classified as conservative? At the very least, Russell Kirk sees them as relevant to the history of conservatism! Join us as we discuss the thoughts of James Fitzjames Stephen, Henry Maine, and W.E.H. Lecky, and how they relate to the idea of conservatism. Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

What is the best counter to Marxism? To Disraeli and Newman, imagination. To the former, a richer view of the necessity of the nation; to the latter, a view of education as being oriented toward virtue and God. Join us as we discuss the various approaches to countering 19th-century liberalism in this episode of Unlimited Opinions!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

From Unitarianism to socialism to Roman Catholicism, Orestes Brownson shows the potential of American conservatism founded on a deeper truth. Join us in this episode as we discuss the various philosophical movements in the transitional period of early- to mid-19th century America. Alongside Brownson, we discuss John Quincy Adams, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, analyzing their relation to conservativism.Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

How do we conserve liberty in a society? Is it by curtailing the dangers of democratization? By using religious and social institutions as a bulwark? By increasing technological capabilities? Find out this and more as we discuss Thomas Babington Macaulay, James Fenimore Cooper, Alexis de Tocqueville, Elon Musk, J.D. Vance, Josh Hawley, and more!Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Do Randolph and Calhoun make convincing arguments for a coherent southern conservatism? How can you advocate for a political philosophy while still supporting slavery? More importantly, is love really love? All this and more as we continue discussing Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Has conservatism really defeated utilitarianism? Or are modern conservatives just utilitarians at their core? Find out as we discuss Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, John Stuart Mill, Walter Scott, George Canning, and Samuel Coleridge in their war for English politics!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Was Adams truly the most conservative voice among the Founding Fathers? How does he compare to Alexander Hamilton and Fisher Ames? What has been the impact of Adams' influence on the United States to this day? Find out all this and more as we continue discussing Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Is Edmund Burke really the founder of modern conservatism? What do his insights into prejudice, natural law, and divine providence mean for us today? Was he justified in opposing the French Revolution so strongly? Find out as we discuss Chapter 2 of Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Season premiere! Join us as we begin discussing Russell Kirk's 1953 The Conservative Mind, reading Kirk's discussion of the history of conservatism from Edmund Burke to T.S. Eliot. In this first episode, we break down Kirk's goal in writing the book, his six canons of conservatism, and the four major claims of its opponents. Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

What do we think of Plato's Republic overall? Find out as we conclude our discussion of this cornerstone work as we read the Book X, in which Plato elaborates on his theory of art and representation; describes how he views the soul as immortal; and provides a case for the practical rewards of being a justice person. Give us your opinions here!Give us your opinions here!

Can you pursue happiness by chasing fleeting pleasures? If not, how can we finally demonstrate that? Join us for our thoughts on Plato's conclusion that the pursuit of knowledge leads to the highest form of happiness, demolishing any argument in favor of pursuing any lower goods!Give us your opinions here!

How does Plato's ideal state collapse? What kind of society does it become, and what does the soul of the person represented by that society look like? Find out as we discuss the origin and development of timarchy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny, as well as their corresponding faults!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

The perfect society can only be achieved by banishing everyone over the age of 10 and starting fresh! At least, according to Plato. Join us as we discuss Book VII of the Republic, discussing what the allegory of the cave really means and Socrates' description of the ideal education for the philosopher-king.Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

What makes someone truly a philosopher? How does knowledge differ from opinion? Does evil really exist? Find out as we discuss all this and more, breaking down Plato's definition of what a philosopher is, and whether it is possible to put philosopher-kings in place. Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Is this the worst book of the Republic? Does Plato think that anything he is describing is achievable? Find out as we discuss Book V, in which Socrates outlines the sameness of men and women, the benefits of having children in common, and the beginning of what it means to be a philosopher.Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Join us as we discuss Book IV of Plato's Republic, which we (surprisingly) both enjoyed! We continue our discussion by reflecting on the necessity of education for the existence of a culture, whether a state needs to be a certain size for unity to exist, and ultimately how Socrates' imagine state reflects the soul. Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Is Plato prescribing what he says in the Republic as literal guidance on how to run a state, or is this all just an extreme allegory for the ordering of the soul? Listen to us debate this exact question on this episode of Unlimited Opinions, discussing what messages in art ought to be outlawed; the relation of moral character and beauty; the different classes of citizens; and much more!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Thrasymachus, didn't do that bad of a job of arguing in favor of injustice, did he? Glaucon and Adeimantus seem to think so! Join us as we consider the stronger argument in favor of acting unjustly, discussing the Ring of Gyges, the origins of society, and the beginning of Socrates' discussion of the education of the Guardians!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Is it better to be just than unjust, and what makes something subjective? Find out as we discuss Book I of Plato's Republic, breaking down the opening discussion on old age, Polemarchus' traditional definition of justice as doing good to your friends and harm to your enemies, and Thrasymachus' view of justice as what is in the interest of the stronger party. Additionally, we consider what it means to strive for human excellence.Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Join us as we begin our discussion of one of the most foundational texts in Western history: Plato's Republic! In this episode, we talk about our prior knowledge and opinions of Plato, the historical background leading up to the writing of the work, and what we hope to gain from reading it again. In this season, we are reading Sir Desmond Lee's Penguin Classics translation of the work, but will also be pulling insights from the original Greek and Paul Shorey's Loeb translation, as well as Allan Bloom's. We also discuss an opportunity to get a free 1 of 2000 limited edition official Unlimited Opinions matchbook!Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

In the end, what does Allan Bloom recommend in The Closing of the American Mind? Not much, as it turns out. After an excellent diagnosis of the problems facing American higher education, Bloom ends on a pessimistic note, stating that no reforms can fix the problems in the university. Is this true? Find out as we discuss our thoughts on Bloom's work and ideas on how to fix the university!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Where have Allan Bloom's descriptions of the modern university gotten us? Where have all of these philosophical trends ended up? Join us as we discuss the first half of the last chapter of The Closing of the American Mind, examining what the fight for the university looked like in 1987, and how that fight has changed (or larger remained the same) for us today.Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Why did all university professors and administrators capitulate to the insane mobs of student radicals in the sixties? Find out as we continue discussing Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, discussing how the 1960s carried along the most damaging threads in prior educational history, ultimately ripping out the foundations of what education ought to be.Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

What does Gulliver's Travels have to do with the development of the modern education system? Why does classical scholarship see renewed interests in periods of philosophical interest? Why spend 70 pages on one chapter detailing various components of philosophic history before getting to your point on education? Find out as we continue discussing Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Was Socrates really all that great? What does he have to say about education, anyway? Find out as we discuss Socrates' impact on the idea and purpose of philosophy, as well as the reasons for our modern society favoring nameless globalist scientists as the architects of civilization!Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Can education actually exist without tradition? In the equalizing system of democracy, is education ever really valuable? Should we just give up on the whole idea of a university altogether? Join us for this and more as we continue discussing Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind!Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

How do we recover Western Civilization from its current state? How do we get people to recognize that there is more to our foundations than we realize, and that America is more than just the past century? Allan Bloom's answer: raising the important questions. Join us for this and more, as we discuss how to create a Turning Point in American history.Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

Marxism is boring now. So says Allan Bloom. Join us as we discuss the omnipresence of Marxism among the Left, and why the philosophy of the class struggle may not be exactly the crux of the Left, but a desecration of the dignity and depth of man.Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

What happens to a culture when rationalism takes precedence over belief in anything eternal? Exactly what we've seen over the past 70 years, of course! Join us as we discuss Allan Bloom's thoughts on values, the issues of cultural relativism, and what the future holds for societies with unstable foundations.Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

What exactly is culture? Is it just the food, clothing, and habits of a people, or is it something more? Does human nature really exist, or should we just be studying the differences between cultures to investigate humanity? Is culture downstream of politics, and what does this mean for the Cracker Barrel rebrand? Find out as we continue discussing Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind! Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

What is man, really? Do we have a purpose, or should we just listen to our desires and shape the world the way we want it to be? Are the ends of things real, or just fictitious imaginations based on our desires? Find out as we continue to discuss Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind!Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

What differentiates America from France? Is it our value of life and stability in our Revolution, or is it a distinction between the bourgeois of America and the deeper thinkers of the Continent? Join us as we discuss this and more in this episode of Unlimited Opinions!Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Where does modern American nihilism stem from? According to Allan Bloom, ultimately from Nietzsche! Join us as we discuss the impact of German thinking on modern American life, talking about the issues with value relativism and self-actualization, and many other such concepts. Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Why has modern society failed to recognize the purpose of marriage? Or, for that matter, the purpose of love, life, and relationships as a whole? Find out as we discuss more of Allan Bloom's thoughts on relationships, examining the complete independence of the modern student, the increased prevalence of divorce, and the lack of love.Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Does American society support the same kinds of relationships that it did in generations past? Find out in this episode, as we continue discussing Saul Bellow's The Closing of the American Mind, in which we examine the rise of self-centeredness, the doctrine of absolute equality, the deterioration of race relations, and the problems with modern ideas of sex.Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Do young people even read anymore? What's up with their obsession with music? Such questions are not as boring as they sound, as Allan Bloom describes in the next chapters of The Closing of the American Mind! Join us as we discuss the importance of literature and good music on the formation of the soul and the coherence of political society! Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Do Americans have a national book? What is America's defining ideology? Is it structured by the Constitution and the Bible, or something else entirely? Such are the questions that Allan Bloom raises in The Closing of the American Mind, and that we discuss in this episode of Unlimited Opinions! Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

What is the purpose of education? What is the truth? What is man? Find out in this season of Unlimited Opinions, as we read Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students. In this episode, we discuss Saul Bellow's Foreword, as well as Bloom's Preface and Introduction, as the authors lay out the "new virtues" of relativism, openness, and freedom as the basis of our failing education system.Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Join us as for the finale of Season 11, as we discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford, given in 1959 as he retired from the University. We break down his attitude towards the modern state of research-focused education, the problems in separating Language from Literature, and why Tolkien's essays matter more and more today.Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

How weird is it to make your own language? Find out as we discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's "A Secret Vice", in which he describes his own evolution in making languages, the beauty in such a hobby, and language itself being an art form. Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

"I was born in the wrong language!" now ranks among perhaps one of the oddest phrases said during an active tornado warning. Join us as we discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's essay "English and Welsh", examining what makes a people a people and the beauty present in studying other languages! Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Join us as we conclude our discussion on Tolkien's fantastic essay "On Fairy-stories"! In this episode, we discuss why fairy-stories are not just for children, what true fantasy really is, the proper attitude of escapism, and why the Gospels are at the heart of it all. Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Join us for the first part of our discussion on one of the greatest essays ever written: J.R.R. Tolkien's On Fairy-stories! In this episode, we examine what is and is not a fairy-story, what is really meant by Faërie, how such stories are made, and much more!Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Is Sir Gawain underappreciated as a Catholic story? How did 14th-century English poets reconcile courtly honor and Christian love? Find out as we discuss Tolkien's essay on the great Middle English poem, as well as our thoughts on people's misconceptions about the pope!Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Why should we care about poetry? Are we just too stupid to really understand it? Find out as we discuss Tolkien's thoughts on how to properly translate an Old English poem into prose, and the many errors that a translator can fall into in the process.Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Is Beowulf still relevant today? How often do we destroy towers to investigate their component parts, failing to recognize that we could have seen the sea from the top of them? These and other important questions are discussed, as we begin diving into J.R.R. Tolkien's The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, discussing the best of Tolkien's scholarly writings and what they mean for us today. Follow us on X! Give us your opinions here!

Season Finale! Join us as we discuss how Thomas Sowell's early life and upbringing shaped his career, and our thoughts on several of his best one-liners.  We also talk about our opinion of his writings overall, and our plans for Season 11! Follow us on X, and give us suggestions for Season 11!Give us your opinions here!

Does a university really need a student recreation center with a sauna and a smoothie bar? Find out as we finish our discussion on Thomas Sowell's thoughts on the modern education system! We talk about teachers who don't know very much, the necessity for gifted students to have opportunities, the problems with the "publish or perish" attitude, and much more!Send us suggestions on X for books to cover for Season 11! Give us your opinions here!