Channel Title: Premier État Philosophy Channel Description: An invisible college and refuge for aristocrats of spirit in these thin times. This is a place to discuss art, religion, and philosophy, what Hegel called the domain of Absolute Spirit. The name for the channel, Premier État, is drawn from European history. It was one of the three estates of the Ancien Régime in medieval France. The First Estate, Le Premier État, was the clergy (those who prayed), The Second Estate the nobility (those who fought), and the Third Estate the common folk (those who labored). While I am not a member of the clergy and am quite critical of the Roman Catholic Church, I nonetheless appreciate how spirituality was thought to play an essential role in culture in the medieval era. In fact, I see the idea of a Premier État as an expression of what Coleridge would later identify as a Clerisy—a class devoted to the preservation and renewal of the spiritual culture of a people. <video> The Iliad and the Wisdom of Mourning : How to Live in a World of Collapsing Values Description: For coaching and consulting: https://premieretat.com/coaching-consulting/ Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@premieretat:f And Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/fXnF9i6mf5Ig/ You can find a corresponding essay here: https://premieretat.com/the-iliad-and-the-wisdom-of-mourning/ In this video I explore a response to cultural collapse that can be found in Homer's Iliad. Though the story is ostensibly about rage, ultimately this rage gives way to the wisdom of mourning. The conflict begins with a showdown between Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Greeks, and Agamemnon, the chief ruler. I then examine how the Iliad presents the collapse of three core values of Homeric culture: Marital Virtue, Political Virtue, and Divine Virtue. The video concludes with a consideration of the wisdom of mourning. The images used in this video are in the public domain. The image of Hera from Pompei is under a CC0 license and can be found here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marriage_of_Zeus_and_Hera_(detail)_Pompeian_Art.jpg </video> <video> The Phenomenology of Exaltation: Elevated Planetary Powers in Traditional Astrology Description: For coaching and consulting: https://premieretat.com/coaching-consulting/ Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@premieretat:f And Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/fXnF9i6mf5Ig/ A corresponding essay can be found here: https://premieretat.com/the-phenomenology-of-exaltation-an-exploration-of-elevated-planetary-powers-in-traditional-astrology/ In this video, I examine the doctrine of exaltation in Hellenistic Astrology. I first argue that the traditional justifications of Porphyry and Rhetorius for the exaltation assignments are misguided. I argue instead, that more progress can be made by examining what function the exaltations play within traditional astrology. I propose a model inspired by Manilius's account of tutelary deities and Heidegger's theory of dwelling, and then apply this model to each of the planets following the Chaldean order. Timestamps Intro: 00:00-4:02 Failed Justifications: 4:03-9:10 Function: 9:11-18:51 Saturn: 18:52-20:58 Jupiter: 20:59-24:11 Mars: 24:12-27:14 Sun: 27:15-28:20 Venus: 28:21-35:41 Mercury: 35:42-38:53 Moon: 38:54-42:03 Conclusion: 42:04-42:49 The images used in this video are in the pubic domain, under a creative commons license, or created by me. The fresco of Vesta is under a CC0 license and can be found here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fresco_of_Vesta-Hestia_from_Pompeii.jpg </video> <video> Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days: A Philosophical Introduction Description: "These days are a great boon for those on the earth. But the others are random, doomless, they bring nothing. One man praises one kind of day, another another; but few are the ones who know. One time one of these days is a mother-in-law, another time a mother. Happy and blessed is he who knows all these things and does his work without giving offense to the immortals, distinguishing the birds and avoiding trespasses" (Hesiod, Works and Days, trans. Most, 822-828). A corresponding essay can be found here: https://premieretat.com/the-individual-and-the-struggle-of-the-olympian-order-an-analysis-of-hesiods-work/ You can also find my videos on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@premieretat:f And Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/fXnF9i6mf5Ig/ In this lecture, I present a philosophical introduction to Hesiod's two great poems: the Theogony and the Works and Days. I argue that the concept of individuality is central to understanding the importance of Hesiod's work, given that he was the first writer in the Western literary tradition to stand forth as an individual poet and insert himself and his biography into the content of his songs. His newfound sense of individuality appears to derive from his encounter with the numinous when he met the Heliconian muses. Yet, Hesiod is involved in a paradox, since in order to articulate his new identity rooted in the realm of the wholly other, he still must employ the concepts, images, and metaphors derived from his previous experience. As a result, the mythology that Hesiod fashions is substantially shaped by the pessimism that his infused his previous life as a Boetian peasant. This pessimism is then examined as it emerges in central episodes in the Theogony and the Works and Days. </video> <video> Against Psychologism: A Critique of the Therapeutic Conception of Values Description: For coaching and consulting: https://premieretat.com/coaching-consulting/ Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@premieretat:f And Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/fXnF9i6mf5Ig/ A corresponding essay can be found here: https://premieretat.com/value-in-therapy/ It is considered a truism in the self-help industry and in the culture at large that values are important. Yet the way that these values are understood fundamentally differs from the way they have been traditionally understood in the humanities. In short, values today are psychologized and relativized. In this video, I point out some fundamental problems with such an approach, criticizing some views popular in positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy. The images used in this video were either created by me, memes generated on imgflip, or in the public domain. </video> <video> Thales and the Origin of Western Philosophy Description: In this video, I explore the philosophy of Thales, a philosopher whom many believe to have inaugurated the Western philosophical tradition. Most contemporary accounts of Thales portray him as cutting ties to Greece's mythological past and instead adopting a thoroughly naturalistic and empirical approach to reality, an approach that is said to characterize the whole of Western philosophy. In this video, I contend that this naturalistic picture of Thales is misguided and substantially outstrips our available historical evidence. First, I show how this interpretation requires a naïve appropriation of Aristotle's assertions concerning Thales. When we look at Aristotle's account in context, we can see that he isn't so much trying to articulate an objective historical account of previous philosophers as he is trying to set forth a whigish history of philosophy that culminates in his own metaphysics. Second, I demonstrate that contemporary interpreters also ignore Aristotle's observations that Thales account parallels the mythological accounts of Homer and Hesiod. Third, I show that the contemporary view ignores the animistic implications of Thales claim that "all things are full of gods" and I argue against a Spinozistic interpretation of Thales' assertion. Fourth, I show that even the standard anecdotal stories about Thales life are more ambiguous than the naturalistic interpretation would have us believe. And finally, I argue that Goethe offers a better myth of Thales than the current naturalistic myth by examining the Classical Walpurgis Night scene in Faust Part 2. A corresponding essay can be found here: https://premieretat.com/beyond-naturalism-demythologizing-thales/ The images used in this video are in the public domain. </video> <video> Manilius and the Inverted World: An Alternative Account of the Planetary Joys (Lecture). Description: This is a talk I gave recently for the Nightlight Astrology speaker series. In it, I present a detailed exegesis of Manilius's alternative theory of the planetary joys and argue that Manilius's model is informed by Pythagorean philosophy. </video> <video> Socrates and the Limits of Love: The Erotic Philosophy of Plato's Symposium Description: For coaching and consulting: https://premieretat.com/coaching-consulting/ Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@premieretat:f And Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/fXnF9i6mf5Ig/ A corresponding essay can be found here: https://premieretat.com/socrates-and-the-limits-of-love-the-erotic-philosophy-of-platos-symposium/ Bookmarks: 0:00-2:21 Intro 2:22-6:03 Phaedrus 6:04-8:44 Pausanias 8:45-12:39 Eryximachus 12:40-18:45 Aristophanes 18:46-23:42 Agathon 23:43:-43:22 Socrates (Diotima) 43:23-59:07 Alcibiades 59:08-103:18 Conclusion In this video, I examine Plato’s account of erotic love set forth in the Symposium. Unlike other dialogues, the symposium is constituted by a series of speeches, rather than one continuous argument. However, when viewed abstractly, one can nonetheless see a dialectical progression at play. The first speech, that of Phaedrus, claims (as do evolutionary psychologists today) that the chief function of love is to bolster society, and hence, communal survival. Pausanias, in his speech, then observes that love does not always do this. Rather, there are two kinds of love: heavenly and earthly, and only the former supports the social order. Eryximachus, in his speech, argues that love does not merely support the social order, but orders the cosmos as well. It is a metaphysical principle of harmony. Aristophanes then offers a psychological account of love which appears to have been overlooked. Agathon, then, in his speech, claims that people so far have only praised love’s effects, not his intrinsic properties. And, in Socrates’ speech, he criticizes Agathon’s account of the intrinsic character of love, identifying him not with a god but with a great daimon who mediates between gods and men. Socrates’ account is a reiteration of what he learned from the priestess Diotima. Finally, Alcibiades crashes the party and offers a speech in praise of Socrates, portraying him as a sage who conceals himself in irony. The images used in this video were either created by me, memes made on imgflip, or in the public domain. </video> <video> A Renaissance Account of Human Nature: Pico Della Mirandola's Oration on the Dignity of Man Description: For coaching and consulting: https://premieretat.com/coaching-consulting/ Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@premieretat:f And Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/fXnF9i6mf5Ig/ A corresponding essay can be found here: https://premieretat.com/a-renaissance-account-of-human-dignity/ In this video, I compare a popularized existentialist account of human nature with that of the renaissance thinker Pico Della Mirandola. Initially, both seem to affirm that man's existence precedes his essence and that, as a result, he is condemned to be free. But, for Renaissance thinkers, unlike existentialists, this choice occurred within a word of objective value. Man is responsible for who he will become, but his choice can be evaluated based on an objective structure of value flowing forth from God in a Great Chain of Being. The images used in this video are in the public domain. </video> <video> Prelude to Lecture on Manilius: places, joys, and "the Hellenistic TRADITION". Description: This is an introductory section to a lecture I recently gave on Manilius and the planetary joys. I had to cut most of the material in the actual lecture because of time constraints, but I've decided to include the full version here because I think the issues raised are worth exploring in their own right. In this video, I discuss the concept of the places in ancient astrology and whether they should be conceived as referring to concreta or abstracta, and I examine the nature of tradition in "Hellenistic" astrology. </video> <video> Boethius and The Consolations of Philosophy: To What Extent Can Philosophy Console? Description: For coaching and consulting: https://premieretat.com/coaching-consulting/ Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@premieretat:f And Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/fXnF9i6mf5Ig/ You can find a corresponding essay here: https://premieretat.com/consolation/ In this video I examine the extent to which philosophy can console us amidst the tragedies of life, through an exegesis of Boethius's famous work "The Consolations of Philosophy". Boethius lived at the end of the classical world and the beginning of the medieval one. It was thanks to him, and his Latin translations, that what little was retained of Plato and Aristotle was preserved in the middle ages. If anyone had grounds to complain about the injustice of life, it was Boethius. Having devoted himself to a life of service and scholarship he was nonetheless imprisoned and ultimately executed by the Ostrogothic king Theoderic. But, in this work, written in prison, he recounts a series of visions he had of Lady Philosophy who justifies the ways of God to men. Timestamps: Intro: 00:00-3:57 Lady Philosophy: 3:58-10:41 Fortune's Wheel: 10:42-17:31 Illusory Goods: 17:32-28:20 The True Good: 28:21-37:28 The Good Better Off Than the Wicked: 37:29-47:04 The images used in this video are in the public domain or memes generated on imgflip. </video> <video> Parmenides of Elea: An Introduction to His Life and Thought Description: To the gentry... soli deo gloria. You can find my corresponding essay here: https://premieretat.com/making-the-eleatic-stranger-parmenides-and-the-phenomenology-of-non-ordinary-reality/ In this video, I argue that the life and work of Parmenides of Elea is substantially weirder than it is assumed to be in standard accounts in the history of Western philosophy. Rather than a proto-rationalist who denounces experience to cling to a realm of pure logic and deductive inference, Parmenides was a skilled shaman and experiencer, and his account of his journey to encounter an unnamed goddess parallels those of earlier iatromantis figures and contemporary alien abductees. Likewise, the argument he propounds in his poem "On Nature" is best understood as a phenomenology of two forms of consciousness, with one section, The Way of Truth, focusing on the ecstatic experience of non-ordinary reality, and the other, The Way of Opinion, focusing on the everyday experience of ordinary reality. Parmenides' presence at the foundations of Western metaphysics injects an irreducible element of high-strangeness into the very foundations of Western culture and thought. </video> <video> The Usurpation of the University: Lessons from Homer's Odyssey (or Why You Should Leave the Academy) Description: For coaching and consulting: https://premieretat.com/coaching-consulting/ Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@premieretat:f And Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/fXnF9i6mf5Ig/ You can find a corresponding essay here: https://premieretat.com/the-usurpation-of-the-university/ In this video I discuss the current state of the university and attempt to draw some lessons from Homer's Odyssey. These thoughts were originally formulated several years ago as my own contribution to quit lit, but they remain relevant. In it, I argue that the best way to view the current state of academia is through the concept of usurpation. The values that have previously guided higher education, values such as beauty, truth, goodness, and nobility, have been displaced by business interests. I go on to contend that lessons can be drawn from Homer's Odyssey, if we liken our own plight to that of Telemachus as his patrimony is wasted away by brazen suitors. The images used in this video are in the public domain and memes were made on imgflip. Timestamps: Quit Lit: 00:00-4:05 Conversion Narrative: 4:06-4:42 Loss Narrative: 4:43-6:15 Usurpation Narrative: 6:16-7:04 Homer on Usurpation: 7:05-12:57 Principles from the Odyssey: 12:59-26:39 </video> <video> Pherecydes of Syros and the Occult Roots of Philosophy Description: In this video I explain the mythology of Pherecydes of Syros and show how it anticipates many later developments in Greek philosophy. Pherecydes articulates a concern for finding a first principle or Arche, an ethical conception of the gods, a concept of a demiurge, and a doctrine of the immortality of the soul. In the process of examining his work, I show how the common cliche stipulating that the roots of Greek philosophy lie in demythologization is misguided, and that the roots of philosophy are actually grounded in myth. You can find a corresponding essay on my website: https://premieretat.com/pherecydes-of-syros-and-the-occult-roots-of-philosophy/ The images used in this video are in the public domain. </video> <video> Deducing Beauty: The Grounds of Beauty in Schiller's Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man Description: In this video, I examine Schiller's transcendental deduction of the beautiful set forth in his Letter's On the Aesthetic Education of Man. Whereas in my previous video, I articulated Schiller's account of the social and political effects of beauty, here I attempt to explain Schiller's view of Beauty itself. Following Kant, he attempts to offer a transcendental deduction of the beautiful, arguing that if human perfectibility is possible, then beauty must exist as a necessary condition of that possibility. In the process, I distinguish between contemporary and Kantian meanings of the term "transcendental", and explain Schiller's accounts of the form drive, the sensual drive, and the play drive. I also consider some differences between Schiller's account of beauty and human perfections and more traditional Platonic accounts. A corresponding essay can be found on my website: https://premieretat.com/deducing-beauty-beauty-and-human-perfection-in-schillers-aesthetic-letters/ Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@premieretat:f And on Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/fXnF9i6mf5Ig/ Timestamps Intro: 0:00-0:46 Transcendental Arguments: 0:47-3:10 The Phenomenon of Humanity: 3:11-7:01 The Paradox of Perfectibility: 7:02-12:04 Sensuous and Form Drives: 12:05-19:08 The Play Drive: 19:09-30:48 Transcendental Deduction of the Beautiful: 30:49-38:06 Concluding Reflections: 38:07-42:44 </video> <video> Schiller's Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man: Cultivating Beauty (the Politics of Art) Description: You can find a corresponding essay on my website: https://premieretat.com/cultivating-beauty-schiller-on-the-political-effects-of-art/ Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@premieretat:f And on Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/fXnF9i6mf5Ig/ In this lecture, I examine the Schiller's account of the political uses of art set forth in his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of man. I will explore his transcendental deduction of the beautiful in a future lecture. Instead, I here examine Schiller's more practical account of the function of beauty within society. Schiller begins by defending art from its cultured despisers who say it is frivolous in light of the political crisis inaugurated by the French Revolution. Schiller responds that art is, in fact, the only way out of the vicious circle that society is entrapped in. To reform an unjust state, the people carrying out the revolution must be just, and to reform an unjust people, the state undertaking their reform must be just. Yet, when BOTH state and people are unjust, it appears that there is no way out of the dilemma. Schiller argues that it is at precisely this point art can intervene by offering redemption from another quarter. For Schiller, it is art that holds the key to saving us from civilizational collapse, and, as a result, the artist takes on the mantle of the prophet. Timestamps: Intro: 0:00-1:08 Art's Cultured Despisers: 1:09 - 9:05 Aesthetics and Cultural Evolution: 9:06 - 16:26 The Natural Grounds of Beauty: 16:27 - 22:15 The Aesthetic State: 22:16 - 24:11 The Prophetic Call of the Artist: 24:12 - 30:21 On the Aesthetic Education of the Helping Professions: 30:22 - 35:00 </video>

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An invisible college and refuge for aristocrats of spirit in these thin times. This is a place to discuss art, religion, and philosophy, what Hegel called the domain of Absolute Spirit.

The name for the channel, Premier État, is drawn from European history. It was one of the three estates of the Ancien Régime in medieval France. The First Estate, Le Premier État, was the clergy (those who prayed), The Second Estate the nobility (those who fought), and the Third Estate the common folk (those who labored). While I am not a member of the clergy and am quite critical of the Roman Catholic Church, I nonetheless appreciate how spirituality was thought to play an essential role in culture in the medieval era. In fact, I see the idea of a Premier État as an expression of what Coleridge would later identify as a Clerisy—a class devoted to the preservation and renewal of the spiritual culture of a people.

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