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Ep. 15: Thinking Like Lenin, with Gary Saul Morson
Ep. 15: Thinking Like Lenin, with Gary Saul Morson
ratings:
Length:
65 minutes
Released:
Nov 4, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
In this episode, I speak with Professor Gary Saul Morson about the thought of Vladamir Lenin and how Lenin's ideas and way of seeing the world influences us today. We discuss his New Criterion essay, "Leninthink" and some of the key aspects of Lenin's thought, including Who-Whom: adherence to all politics and life as a win-lose, zero-sum game, the rejection of truth, Party-ness and ideological commitment over all, affirmation of violence, and philosophical materialism. We discuss moral relativism and the adherence to lying that many Western intellectuals failed to understand. Morson gives examples from Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon, Richard Wright's American Hunger, and G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown stories. If "Leninthink" sounds a bit like the situation we are in today, it is because Lenin's ideas are alive and well. Visit https://www.themoralimagination.com/episodes/gary-saul-morson for show notes and resources.
Released:
Nov 4, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (58)
Ep. 11: Leviathan Inc.: Robert Nisbet, Decentralization, & Localism, with Brad Birzer: In this episode, I speak with Brad Birzer about the American Sociologist Robert Nisbet and his critique of the Modern Nation State. Nisbet was a strong proponent of decentralization and a multiplicity of associations. We discuss some of his ideas,... by The Moral Imagination