Shows
The Overtones PodcastS2E14. Our Dear Doctor Johnson: How Samuel Johnson Kept the Faith in a Secular AgeSamuel Johnson was a critic, poet, and essayist, and the author of one of the most influential English dictionaries in history. As one of the finest minds eighteenth-century England, Johnson was in the centre of debates around the place of Christianity in the moral life of the nation, and the role of faith in a post-Enlightenment world.
Dr Kirsten Herlin of the University of Austin joins Christy, Joe, and LaRae, to discuss Samuel Johnson's life and faith, as well as his engagement with an increasingly secular intellectual culture. How did Johnson deal with his personal struggles of...2025-03-0530 min
Conversations with Peter BoghossianThe Power of Literature w/Kirsten Hall Herlin, Assistant Professor at UATXI had the pleasure of conversing with Kirsten Hall Herlin, an Assistant Professor at UATX, a distinguished scholar of literature, and the managing editor of the Genealogies of Modernity Journal. We discussed the intricacies of writing and the role of literature in shaping our lives and understanding the world. Kirsten and I explored the impact of AI and Critical Social Justice on the humanities. Could AI ever win a Pulitzer Prize? Does human consciousness play a crucial role in the writing process? Are the nuances of personal experience, emotional understanding, and subjective thought beyond AI’s reach? Or...2024-09-2550 min
New Books in Intellectual HistoryGenealogies of Modernity Episode 8: The Enemy of Morality Is Not Modernity, It’s MeThe great English essayist and linguist Samuel Johnson was writing during the Enlightenment – the period some historians identify as the beginning of the modern age. American author and philosopher David Foster Wallace worked more than two centuries later, in the “post-modern” style. But these two writers shared a common problem: once modernity fractured society’s sense of shared moral norms, how could you write persuasively about morality? This episode looks at how Johnson and Wallace attempted to solve this problem; what struggles plagued their solutions; and why our modern, pluralistic landscape makes their work more valuable than ever.2023-12-2944 min
New Books in Literary StudiesGenealogies of Modernity Episode 8: The Enemy of Morality Is Not Modernity, It’s MeThe great English essayist and linguist Samuel Johnson was writing during the Enlightenment – the period some historians identify as the beginning of the modern age. American author and philosopher David Foster Wallace worked more than two centuries later, in the “post-modern” style. But these two writers shared a common problem: once modernity fractured society’s sense of shared moral norms, how could you write persuasively about morality? This episode looks at how Johnson and Wallace attempted to solve this problem; what struggles plagued their solutions; and why our modern, pluralistic landscape makes their work more valuable than ever.2023-12-2944 min
Genealogies of ModernityThe Enemy of Morality Is Not Modernity, It’s MeThe great English essayist and linguist Samuel Johnson was writing during the Enlightenment – the period some historians identify as the beginning of the modern age. American author and philosopher David Foster Wallace worked more than two centuries later, in the “post-modern” style. But these two writers shared a common problem: once modernity fractured society’s sense of shared moral norms, how could you write persuasively about morality? This episode looks at how Johnson and Wallace attempted to solve this problem; what struggles plagued their solutions; and why our modern, pluralistic landscape makes their work more valuable than ever. Resea...2023-12-2044 min
Ministry of IdeasGenealogies of Modernity Episode 8: The Enemy of Morality Is Not Modernity, It’s MeThe great English essayist and linguist Samuel Johnson was writing during the Enlightenment – the period some historians identify as the beginning of the modern age. American author and philosopher David Foster Wallace worked more than two centuries later, in the “post-modern” style. But these two writers shared a common problem: once modernity fractured society’s sense of shared moral norms, how could you write persuasively about morality? This episode looks at how Johnson and Wallace attempted to solve this problem; what struggles plagued their solutions; and why our modern, pluralistic landscape makes their work more valuable than ever.2023-12-2044 min