Johannes A. Niederhauser

In this wide-ranging conversation Thomas Jockin and yours truly converse around the importance of beauty in Plato’s philosophy. We bring in Aristotle’s nous and potentiality to make us see that yes it is possible to see the forms, to see the ideas in the medium of the Beautiful. We also emphasise that studying the Beautiful in Plato is one of the best ways to be introduced to Plato and thus philosophy more broadly. So we hope to see you at our upcoming course on Plato on Beauty and Virtue. Here is the link to enrol. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halkyon.substack.com

Our new Plato course is now officially open for enrolment! Join our summer school today and rethink what you thought you knew about beauty. We tend to think of beauty today as primarily if not exclusively aesthetic.In fact, we consider beauty as subjective, as a matter of personal taste, in the eye of the beholder. But for Plato beauty is ontological and integral to his entire philosophy. Without beauty we cannot see the Idea of the Good — and vice versa. Thus, for Plato beauty is also intimately related to virtue and the Good Life.We invite you to deepen your understanding of beauty, to remember in the sense of anamnesis what beauty in a primal sense means so as to learn how to find beauty in your life. Thomas hat put together a wonderful course for us on beauty. This is the link to enrol. We have seen a lot of interest in this course so we hope that you can enrol soon to make sure you get a spot in  the seminars. A careful reading of Plato’s work reveals that beauty plays a crucial role in Plato's metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, and ethics. In this lecture series we will read six Platonic dialogues oriented around the topic of The Beautiful. So together we will read sections from Greater Hippias, Symposium, Phaedrus, Meno, Cratylus, and Parmenides.There will be a selection of short readings for each session. (And a selection of longer readings for those who have the time).  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halkyon.substack.com

We tend to think of beauty today as primarily if not exclusively aesthetic. In fact, we consider beauty as subjective, as a matter of personal taste, in the eye of the beholder. But for Plato beauty is ontological and integral to his entire philosophy. Without beauty we cannot see the Idea of the Good — and vice versa. Thus, for Plato beauty is also intimately related to virtue and the Good Life. We invite you to deepen your understanding of beauty, to remember in the sense of anamnesis what beauty in a primal sense means so as to learn how to find beauty in your life. Thomas hat put together a wonderful course for us on beauty. More on that here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halkyon.substack.com

I’m here reading an essay by my friend Max Gottschlich, an Austrian philosopher teaching in Linz.Here is a link to the essay. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halkyon.substack.com

Auf Einladung von Max Gottschlich hielt ich am 25.4.2024 an der Katholischen Privatuniversität Linz einen Vortrag zu Tod und Technik in der Spätphilosophie Martin Heideggers. Sie finden hier weitere Aufnahmen aus der Vortragsreihe Zeit zu Denken: https://ku-linz.at/philosophie/veranstaltungen_am_fachbereich_philosophie/veranstaltungen/vortragsreihe_zeit_zu_denken This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halkyon.substack.com

In honour of Lord Byron's bicentenary I read his masterful vision of the future, "Darkness". He knew, Byron knew. May you rest in Peace, Lord Byron. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halkyon.substack.com

If there’s ever been one most important philosopher in modernity it is Immanuel Kant. Whatever your interests in modern philosophy — be it Hegel, Schelling, Fichte, Hegel, Marx, Schopenhauer, Heidegger, even Nietzsche and Baudrillard and especially Accelerationism — you will not understand the full scope of their respective philosophies without having before grasped Kant! This is because Kant revolutionises the very form of thought itself with his transcendental logic. So without understanding Kant on this level, for example, by assuming that Kant wrote a harmless epistemology, there is little chance to begin to see the thought-movement of modernity from Kant (and before him) to our day. Be that the ideological battlegrounds, the metaphysical collapse, the attempt of phenomenology to return to the things themselves, capitalist reproduction of objects without resistance — Kant is at the heart or start of it all. In fact, I would go as far as saying that if you want to understand the natural sciences and its models Kant is indispensable.So I invite you most cordially to take on the challenge to read Kant this Spring. In honour of his 300th birthday no less! My course begins this Saturday at 6pm UK time. Here is the link to join.I see you on the Critical Path towards the transcendental revolution. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halkyon.substack.com

In this lecture I address the true scope of the Copernican Turn and why it is that with Kant we lose access to nature. We will discuss all this and more at my upcoming Kant course. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halkyon.substack.com

The common misconceptions about Kant’s First Critique are 1) that it is an epistemology and 2) that Kant combines rationalism and empiricism. But he does neither. In fact, Kant refutes both empiricism and rationalism — and had he written something as benign as an epistemology he would not have achieved the revolution of thought. I hope you can join me at my upcoming Kant course. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halkyon.substack.com

The publication of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason was an earth-shattering moment. Not only was reason and its presuppositions seriously critiqued for the first time. The Kantian revolution also firmly placed the human mind in the centre of cognition ensuring the validity of formal logic and scientific findings before any experience. If you wish to gain an understanding of our age, Kant’s critical philosophy is indispensable. For it is precisely by transcendental logic that flying airplanes becomes possible. In honour of Immanuel Kant’s 300th birthday in April 2024 we are offering a 9 week Masterclass on his Critical Philosophy. Focusing largely on the First Critique and themes such as time and space; logic; the categories; refutation of idealisms; the antinomies of reason; phainomena and noumena; we will also devote a lecture each on his second and third critique. Here we will focus on freedom and on the genius in art as well as the sublime. In this way we gain an insight into the entirety of the Kantian project.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halkyon.substack.com