Philosophy on the Fringes

In this episode, Megan and Frank discuss esotericism, as both a type of, and approach to, knowledge. Are there hidden messages in the classic texts? Can some truths only be approached indirectly?

Special guest: Earl Fontanellle of The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Strauss, L. - PERSECUTION AND THE ART OF WRITING | JSTOR

Melzer, A. - Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing

Philebus, by Plato

Phaedrus, by Plato

The Esoteric Plato – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)

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In this episode, Megan and Frank discuss the secret CIA mind control program known as MKUltra. Is mind control really possible? What ethical norms should govern human subjects research? And should those rules be flexible in the face of an existential threat?

To investigate some of these questions, this episode contains a guest interview with Dr. Justin Bernstein (University of Virginia). Dr. Bernstein joins the podcast to discuss questions relating to research ethics, the relationship between politics and morality, and trust in public health institutions.

Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

John Lisle, "Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKULTRA" (St. Martin's Press, 2025)

Reciprocity, Vulnerability, and the Moral Significance of Herd Immunity - Bernstein - 2023 - Journal of Applied Philosophy

Interim Framework for COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation and Distribution in the United States

Justin Bernstein, Athmeya Jayaram & Brian Hutler, Assessing The Liberty-Based Case Against Pandemic Lockdowns - PhilPapers

Building trust while influencing online COVID-19 content in the social media world - PMC

Political Realism | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

We Built Reality - Hardcover - Jason Blakely - Oxford University Press

Machiavelli - The Prince | Project Gutenberg

Rawls - A Theory of Justice: Revised Edition

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In this episode, Megan and Frank reflect on the mission of Philosophy on the Fringes. Why think about "fringe" topics, such as near-death experiences, aliens, and past life memories? Are these topics any weirder than what passes for respectable in mainstream academic philosophy? And most important, does taking fringe topics seriously make one a crank?

To investigate some of these questions, this episode contains a guest interview with Dr. Joshua Blanchard (Oakland University). Dr. Blanchard joins the podcast to discuss the "problem of unwelcome epistemic company", the problem of finding yourself in agreement with some morally or intellectually suspect sources.

Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

From Aliens to Bigfoot: A Philosopher's Guide to the Strange Audiobook by Frank Cabrera, Megan Fritts, The Great Courses

Joshua Blanchard, The Problem of Unwelcome Epistemic Company

Neil Levy, When Is Company Unwelcome?

Adam Piovarchy, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Ignore Unwelcome Epistemic Company

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate dreams and dream interpretation. Are dreams random hallucinations? Hidden desires? Messages from the gods? What, if anything, can dreams tell us about ourselves, and how might media shape our dreaming experiences? Thinkers discussed include: Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Artemidorus of Daldianus, Rene Descartes, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Norman Malcom, Eric Schwitzgebel, and David Lynch.

Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Genesis 41 ESV - Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dreams - Bible Gateway

Daniel 2 NIV - Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream - In the - Bible Gateway

Sirach 34 GNT - Dreams Mean Nothing - Foolish people - Bible Gateway

Artemidorus' Oneirocritica - Daniel E. Harris-McCoy - Oxford University Press

Peter Thonemann - An Ancient Dream Manual: Artemidorus' The Interpretation of Dreams

The Internet Classics Archive | On Dreams by Aristotle

The Internet Classics Archive | On Prophesying by Dreams by Aristotle

LacusCurtius • Cicero — De Divinatione: Book I

Plato's Republic Book 9 [Allan Bloom's translation]

Sigmund Freud: The Interpretation of Dreams

Wegner et al. - Dream Rebound

Dreaming | Norman Malcolm | Taylor & Francis eBooks

Scientists entered people’s dreams and got them ‘talking’ | Science | AAAS

Human Behavior and Psychology | The Great Courses(Episode 14)

Eric Schwitzgebel - Why did we think we dreamed in black and white?

Dreaming, Philosophy of | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Descartes - Meditations on First Philosophy

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate aphantasia, the inability to generate mental imagery. What can aphantasia tell us about the nature of the mind, in particular, "the hard problem" of consciousness? Should aphantasia be considered a disorder, or merely another variation in human experience? And is it possible to meaningfully talk about our inner experiences, or would that necessarily constitute a kind of private language? Thinkers discussed include: Adam Zeman, Merlin Monzel, Elizabeth Barnes, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Soren Kierkegaard.

Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Some People Can’t See Mental Images. The Consequences Are Profound | The New Yorker

Zeman et al. 2015 - Lives without imagery - Congenital aphantasia - PubMed

Zeman et al. 2020 - Aphantasia-The psychological significance of lifelong visual imagery vividness extremes - PubMed

Monzel et al. 2021 - Aphantasia, dysikonesia, anauralia: call for a single term for the lack of mental imagery-

Krempel & Monzel 2024 - Aphantasia and involuntary imagery

Monzel et al. 2023 -Aphantasia within the framework of neurodivergence

The Private Language Argument | Issue 58 | Philosophy Now

Disability: Definitions and Models (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability | Oxford Academic

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In this episode, Megan and Frank explore the prophecies of Nostradamus. Nostradamus was a prophet--but what is a prophet? What should we make of his seemingly accurate predictions of major world events? Do prophetic powers imply that the future is determined? Or are we simply bound to an immovable fate? And what, if anything, does Nostradamus have to tell us about our futures? Thinkers discussed include: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Friedrich Nietzsche, Brian Leiter, and David Foster Wallace.

Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Nostradamus : how an obscure Renaissance astrologer became the modern prophet of doom : Gerson, Stéphane (source for biographical details, anxiety vs. fear, and WWII propaganda)

The prophecies : a dual-language edition with parallel text : Nostradamus, 1503-1566

Nostradamus' grim predictions for 2026 revealed

David Foster Wallace and the Challenge of Fatalism | Blog of the APA

Future Contingents | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophyhttps://www.gutenberg.org/files/51356/51356-h/51356-h.htm

The Birth of Tragedy, or Hellenism and Pessimism, by Friedrich Nietzsche.

The Twilight of the Idols, by Friedrich Nietzsche.

Brian Leiter- Moral Psychology with Nietzsche

Moral Psychology with Nietzsche | Reviews | Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Nietzsche’s Moral and Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Intersubjective Accountability: Politics and Philosophy in the Left Vienna Circle

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the Mandela Effect. Why do so many people "remember" Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s, or the Fruit of the Loom logo as containing a cornucopia, or the existence of a movie starring Sinbad as a genie? What explains these collective mis-rememberings: parallel dimensions, a government cover-up, a glitch in the matrix? Or should we just conclude that human memory is inherently unreliable? How do false memories arise, and how can we distinguish the real from the imagined? Despite our cultural obsession with preserving every memory, could there be some value in forgetting the past? Thinkers discussed include Augustine of Hippo, Friedrich Nietzsche, Edmund Husserl, and Elizabeth Loftus.

Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

The Visual Mandela Effect as Evidence for Shared and Specific False Memories Across People

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories

Understanding Memory and the Human Lifespan | Plus

Loftus & Pickrell 1995 - The formation of false memories.

Loftus & Palmer 1974 - Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory

Chloe Wall - Knowing (from) me, knowing (from) you: Essays on memory and testimony

Total recall: the people who never forget | Memory | The Guardian

Nietzsche: 'On the Genealogy of Morality' and Other Writings

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In this episode, Megan and Frank discuss the alternative medicine practice known as "Reiki," a kind of touch energy healing. What is Reiki, and how is it supposed to work? Is there scientific evidence of Reiki's effectiveness, or is it all just a placebo? And if so, would that really be a problem?

Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Frontiers | Does Reiki Benefit Mental Health Symptoms Above Placebo?

What is Reiki? Energy Healing and Chakra Work — Lisa Kern

Does Reiki Work? - The Atlantic

Evidence and explanation in Cicero's On Divination

Tylenol Is Popular and Safe, Yet Nobody Knows How It Works | Scientific American

Siegel - Predictive Analytics, Revised and Updated

The Phantom Pattern Problem - Gary Smith; Jay Cordes - Oxford University Press

A radical new hypothesis in medicine: give patients drugs they know don’t work | Vox

The weird power of the placebo effect, explained | Vox

The Power of Mind over Body | Plus

Placebos Work—Even Without Deception | Harvard Medical School

Hume, David: Causation | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Researchers are still working to prove that antidepressants are more effective than placebo

Medical Nihilism - Jacob Stegenga - Oxford University Press

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In this episode, Megan and Frank examine the Apocalypse. How should we define "the apocalypse"? How does religious apocalyptic thought apply in a secular context? What are the dangers of apocalyptic thinking? And why do we always seem to be in the end times? This episode pays special attention to the book Apocalypse Without God: Apocalyptic Thought, Ideal Politics, and the Limits of Utopian Hope by Ben Jones. Other thinkers discussed include: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Engels, and Rawls.

Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Ben Jones - Apocalypse without God

Revelation 1 NIV - Prologue - The revelation from Jesus - Bible Gateway

The Rapture Was Predicted to Happen Today. TikTok Has Some Advice. - The New York Times

AI 2027

Opinion | An Interview With the Herald of the Apocalypse - The New York Times

Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy — Harvard University Press

Roland Boer - Revelation and Revolution: Friedrich Engels and the Apocalypse

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In this episode, Megan and Frank continue their discussion of the Illuminati. Here, the focus is on the afterlife of the Bavarian Order. How did conspiracy theories involving the Illuminati arise? Why is so much pop culture full of Illuminati imagery? And are there any good reasons to believe in such conspiracy theories? Thinkers discussed include: Dostoyevsky, Kierkegaard, and Maarten Boudry.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Michael Taylor- Illuminati in the US - American History Hit | Acast

The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati (Primary source documents)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Illuminati

Kierkegaard - The Crowd is Untruth

The Grand Inquisitor, by Feodor Dostoevsky

Barruel - Memoirs Illustrating The History Of Jacobinism

From Thomas Jefferson to Bishop James Madison, 31 January 1800

Did an Illuminati Conspiracy Theory Help Elect Thomas Jefferson? - POLITICO

Nesta Webster - World revolution; the plot against civilization

Zionism versus Bolshevism - Churchill

Boudry, Maarten - Why We Should Be Suspicious of Conspiracy Theories. A Novel Demarcation Problem

[Reddit] why do the large shadow organizations leave clues that could lead to their downfall?

Megan Fritts & Frank Cabrera, Fake News and Epistemic Vice: Combating a Uniquely Noxious Market

Are Republicans and Conservatives More Likely to Believe Conspiracy Theories? - PMC

The psychological and political correlates of conspiracy theory beliefs

Is Conspiracy Theorising Irrational? - Neil Levy

Predictors of belief in conspiracy theory

Conspiracy theory and cognitive style: a worldview

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, a secret society founded in 1776 by the Enlightenment philosopher Adam Weishaupt. This conversation covers who the Illuminati were, what they believed, and how they attempted to bring about a "new world order." Thinkers discussed include: Adam Weishaupt, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Mencius, and Alasdair MacIntyre.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati (Primary source documents)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Illuminati

Illuminaten - Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism

Perfectibilists | Independent Publishers Group

Kant. What is Enlightenment

Hegel - Philosophy of Right

After Virtue - A Study in Moral Theory - Alasdair MacIntyre

How Mengzi came up with something better than the Golden Rule | Aeon Ideas

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the Enneagram. Is the Enneagram a legitimate science of personality? What even is personality? And how much of our lives does personality determine? Join them as they examine the classic book, "Discovering Your Personality Type: The Essential Introduction to the Enneagram" by Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson. Other thinkers discussed include: Aristotle, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and John Doris.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson - Discovering Your Personality Type

Empirical Approaches to Moral Character (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Pseudoscience and the Demarcation Problem | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

Situationism, Moral Improvement, and Moral Responsibility | The Oxford Handbook of Moral Psychology

Virtue Ethics | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the strange phenomenon of past life memories. Are past life memories evidence for reincarnation? Is what we remember a good guide to who we are? And how might a single identity span different lifetimes? Thinkers discussed in this episode include Plato, Pythagoras, Thomas Reid, J.M.E. McTaggart, and Michael Sudduth.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Timaeus by Plato

Diogenes Laërtius: Pythagoras

The Next Dalai Lama: Preparing for Reincarnation and Why It Matters to India

Claire White, Robert M. Kelly & Shaun Nichols, Remembering Past Lives

Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

Children Who Report Memories of Past Lives - Division of Perceptual Studies

The Case of James Leininger_ An American Case of the Reincarnation Type

Jim Tucker - Response to Sudduth’s “James Leininger Case Re-Examined”

The Science of Reincarnation—VIRGINIA Magazine

The Philosophy of Dr. McTaggart.

S2, Episode 6: The Self and Survival (Mar. 27th, 2018) – Hi-Phi Nation

New evidence shows false memories can be created | UW News

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In this episode, Megan and Frank discuss the philosophical dimensions of prehistory. What and when is the “prehistoric”? How was prehistory "discovered", and what explains our fascination with it? Is ancient archeology safe from our biases? And how did archaic man’s meaning-making differ from our own? Thinkers discussed include: Colin Renfrew, Hegel, Charles Taylor, Mircea Eliade, and Wittgenstein.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Prehistory: The Making of the Human Mind - Colin Renfrew

Hegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of History

Cave of Forgotten Dreams - Official Trailer | HD | IFC Films

Bewitched by an Elf Dart: Fairy Archaeology, Folk Magic and Traditional Medicine in Ireland - Dowd

A Secular Age — Harvard University Press

Theory and Observation in Science (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

From things to thinking: Cognitive archaeology - Currie & Killin

Cognitive Archaeology and the Minimum Necessary Competence Problem - Killin & Pain

An Ape's View of the Oldowan - Wynn & McGrew

Neuroscience, evolution and the sapient paradox - Colin Renfrew

Sapient paradox: Why humans got stuck in prehistory -Gossip Trap- Big Think

The Myth of the Eternal Return | Princeton University Press

Eliade_Mircea_The_Sacred_and_The_profane_1963

Wittgenstein - Notebooks, 1914 - 1916, 2nd Edition | Wiley

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In this episode, Megan and Frank examine astrology. What is astrology, and why do people practice it? What are the strongest objections to astrology? Should astrology count as a science? If not, why not? What can the case of astrology teach us about the role of science in a democratic society? And why does the ancient practice of reading the stars prompt us to ponder the deepest aspects of human experience? Thinkers discussed include: Aristotle, Cicero, Ptolemy, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend, Carl Sagan, Ian James Kidd, and Massimo Pigliucci.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Philosophy of Science and the Occult | State University of New York Press (first section is an invaluable resource, containing the 1975 manifesto, Feyerabend's critique, and articles summarizing statistical studies disconfirming astrology)

Cabrera - Evidence and explanation in Cicero's On Divination

LacusCurtius • Ptolemy — Tetrabiblos

LacusCurtius • Cicero — De Divinatione: Book I

A double-blind test of astrology | Nature

Readings in the Philosophy of Science: From Positivism to Postmodernism (See for short selections from Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos)

Ian James Kidd - Why did Feyerabend Defend Astrology? Integrity, Virtue, and the Authority of Science (An excellent paper that very much informed our discussion of the science & society question)

M. Pigliucci - Was Feyerabend Right in Defending Astrology? A Commentary on Kidd

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In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate ghosts and hauntings. Are ghosts some kind of spirit, physical beings, or something in between? Is there a natural explanation for ghostly encounters? And what can ghosts teach us about the depths of human experience? Thinkers discussed include: Descartes, Philip Goff, and Beverley Clack.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Ghosts of Philosophy LaBossiere | A Philosopher's Blog

Victorian ectoplasm-producing mediums: freaks or fakes? | Children's books | The Guardian

Philip Goff, Ghosts and Sparse Properties

The wisdom of ghosts - Clack | Religious Studies | Cambridge Core

Braude, Immortal Remains: The Evidence for Life After Death

Podemore, et al. - Phantasms of the Living

The Best Ghost Story - by Alexander J. Zawacki

LEGION OF THE DAMNED - ghostwalkbrighton.co.uk

Time | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Megan Fritts, Arresting Time's Arrow: Death, Loss, and the Preservation of Real Union

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In this episode, Megan and Frank examine hypnosis. What evidence is there that hypnosis is a real phenomenon, and why does hypnosis have a dubious reputation? Does hypnosis alleviate pain, or just mask it? What is the nature of hypnotic consciousness? And does hypnosis prove there’s no true self? Thinkers discussed include: William James, Ernest and Josephine Hilgard, Derek Parfit, Sigmund Freud, and Tim Bayne.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Uncovering the new science of clinical hypnosis

The Morpheus Clinic for Hypnosis

Hypnobirthing - Google Books

Hypnosis and Conscious States: The Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective

Hypnosis to quit smoking: What to know

Neural functional correlates of hypnosis and hypnoanalgesia: Role of the cingulate cortex

Hypnotic Suggestion and the Modulation of Stroop Interference

Hypnosis in the Relief of Pain

Mary Haight, Hypnosis and the Philosophy of Mind

Hypnotism and Mesmerism | Vox

Hypnosis in History - American Hypnosis Association

Hidden observer - Oxford Reference

Hidden Observer APA Dictionary

The split brain: A tale of two halves | Nature

Derek Parfit. Here's why he mattered. | Vox

Tim Bayne, Hypnosis and the unity of consciousness

Tim Bayne - The Unity of Consciousness | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

Bilingual “I Hear a Pickle/ Oigo Un Pepinello” (kidizen.com)

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In this episode, Megan and Frank tackle the growing trend of "hacking" one's biology to increase longevity and possibly attain immortality. Are biohackers right to fear death, though? Would immortality be desirable? And is the human condition worth preserving? Thinkers discussed include: Epicurus, Bernard Williams, Schopenhauer, John Martin Fischer, Martha Nussbaum, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

What Is Biohacking And How Does It Work? – Forbes Health

Challenging Bryan Johnson On His “Never Die” Biohacking Protocol (youtube.com)

Letter to Menoeceus by Epicurus (mit.edu)

Is Death Bad for You? by Shelley Kagan (chronicle.com)

Williams on Immortality.pdf (nd.edu)

John Martin Fischer Response to Williams

Gift of Ilúvatar | The One Wiki to Rule Them All | Fandom

Nussbaum - Mortal immortals

Schopenhauer - The vanity of existence

Brooke Alan Trisel, Human extinction and the value of our efforts

Being and Becoming in Modern Physics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Megan Fritts, Arresting Time's Arrow: Death, Loss, and the Preservation of Real Union

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In this episode, Megan and Frank continue their discussion of myths and mythology. Join them as they further explore different approaches to interpreting and understanding myth. How have creation myths differed across cultures? Should myth be regarded as an allegory? Is the point of myth to justify society’s norms? Is myth a tool for exploring the subconscious aspects of our minds? And do we have any use for myth in the modern world? Thinkers discussed include Joseph Cambell, Carl Jung, Karl Popper, and Mary Midgley.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Powell - A Short Introduction to Classical Myth (earlhaig.ca) (Chs. 2-3 for an excellent overview of theories of myth)

Classical Mythology - Prof. Vandiver (A great lecture series we learned a lot from)

Myth in Human History - Grant Voth (Another great lecture series we drew from)

Myth and Knowing: An Introduction to World Mythology (quoted a few times in the episode)

Teaching Jung - Kelly Bulkeley; Clodagh Weldon (Ch. 5 by Robert Segal was very helpful!)

Campbell's "Other" Monomyth - The Hero's Journey: Life's Great Adventure

A Secular Age — Charles Tayllor

Conjectures & Refutations - Karl Popper

The Myths We Live By - Mary Midgley

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In this episode, Frank and Megan discuss myths and mythology. What role has myth played in philosophy? What's the relationship between myths, history, and truth? And did the ancients really believe their myths? Join us as we engage with thinkers such as Thales of Miletus, Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, Augustine, Paul Veyne, and R.G. Collingwood. This is the first part of a two-part episode.

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Hosts' Websites:

Megan J Fritts (google.com)

Frank J. Cabrera (google.com)

Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com

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Bibliography:

Powell - A Short Introduction to Classical Myth (earlhaig.ca) (Main source for claims about history of word "mythos" and its use in Plato/Herodotus/Aristotle. Highly recommended!)

Hesiod - Theogony

Thales - Fragments

Lehoux - All things are full of gods": naturalism in the classical world

R. G. Collingwood - The Idea of History

The Herodotus - The Histories (See also BBC "In Our Time" podcast episode on Herodotus)

Thucydides - The History of the Peloponnesian War (See also BBC "In Our Time" podcast episode on Thucydides)

Plato’s Myths - (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Plato - Gorgias

Julia Annas - Plato's Myths of Judgement(Discusses Aristotle critique of Plato's geography in the myth in the Phaedo)

Paul Veyne - Did the Greeks Believe in Their Myths?

Dana L. Burgess - Review of Veyne's "Did the Greeks Beleive in Their Myths?"

Augustine - Two Books on Genesis

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Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs

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