Zeitgeist und Geschichte

In this episode, we interview Emeritus Professor Raymond Geuss (FBA) on the
relationship between Genealogy and Critique. We discuss the relationship
between Adorno, Heidegger and Nietzsche, the dangers of normative moral and
political discourse, and the role of theory today.

In this episode, we interview Professor Edward Baring on the relationship
between religion and Phenomenology in the early 20th century. Why did
Phenomenology come to dominate European philosophy, and what did
Catholicism have to do with it? What made Phenomenology a useful philosophy
for religious thinkers? Following the war, why was Germany such a fertile
place for existentialist thought? And what was the impact of this religious
legacy upon later thinking?

Edward Baring is Associate Professor of History and Human Values at
Princeton University.

In this episode, we interview Dr Martin Alexander Ruehl, Senior Lecturer in
German Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge.

In this episode, we interview Professor Peter Gordon about the philosopher
and social theorist Theodor Adorno (1903 - 1969). Adorno’s name is largely
synonymous with what today is called ‘critical theory’, a figure who’s
influence can be felt across disciplines as varied as philosophy, political
theory, sociology, literary studies, film studies, and art history. Here we
ask Professor Gordon about his new book “a Precarious Happiness”, as well
as questions pertaining to intellectual history, the peripheral position of
Jews in early 20th century Germany, the significance of Auschwitz, and the
writings of Adorno more broadly in relation to the critical tradition.

In this episode, we interview Professor Richard Bourke about the
philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 - 1831). Hegel’s philosophy
casts an enormous shadow over the German philosophical tradition, yet the
import and significance of his work has been highly contested by scholars
since. Here we ask Professor Bourke about his new book “Hegel’s World
Revolutions”; What did Hegel really think about the French Revolution? How
should we relate him to other traditions of German thoughts? How did
thinkers of the post-Hegelian reaction of the 60s and 70s understand him?
And is Intellectual History itself, in some sense, ‘Hegelian’?