web01.fireside.fm Sun, 31 May 2026 08:58:55 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Weird Studies - Episodes Tagged with “Secularism” https://www.weirdstudies.com/tags/secularism Wed, 03 Mar 2021 10:30:00 -0500 Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." en-us episodic Art and philosophy at the limits of the thinkable Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." yes weird, art, philosophy Phil Ford and J. F. Martel admin@weirdstudies.com Episode 93: Living and Dying in a Secular Age: On Charles Taylor and Disenchantment https://www.weirdstudies.com/93 44e3477f-20cf-4fff-a830-4926d49d1b6a Wed, 03 Mar 2021 10:30:00 -0500 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 93 Living and Dying in a Secular Age: On Charles Taylor and Disenchantment full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Phil and JF discuss Charles Taylor's monumental work of philosophy, "A Secular Age." 1:27:23 yes <p>In <em>A Secular Age</em>, the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor tries to come to grips with the seismic development that transformed the world after the Renaissance, namely the secularization of the society and soul of Western humanity. What does it mean to live in an age where religion, once the very matrix of social existence, is relegated to the realm of private and personal choice? What defines secularity? Are modern people really as "irrelegious" as we make them out to be? In this episode, JF and Phil squarely train their sights on a question that continues to haunt them, with Taylor as their Virgil in what amounts to a descent into the ordinary inferno of modern unknowing. </p> <p><em>Header Image by Pahudson, via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Patricks_Cathedral_surrounded_by_Skyscrapers.jpeg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Wikimedia Commons</a></em></p> <p><strong>REFERENCES</strong></p> <p>Pierre-Yves Martel's <a href="https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Bandcamp page</a></p> <p>Charles Taylor, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780674986916" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">A Secular Age</a></em><br> Charles Taylor, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780674987692" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Malaise of Modernity</a></em><br> Weird Studies, ep 71: <a href="https://www.weirdstudies.com/71" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Medium is the Message</a><br> Penn &amp; Teller, <em><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346369/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Bullshit</a></em><br> René Descartes, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780140447019" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Meditations</a></em><br> Theodore Roszak, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780520201224" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Making of a Counter-Culture</a></em><br> Thomas Aquinas, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781732190320" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Summa Theologica</a></em><br> Jacques Ellul, <em><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1362676.The_New_Demons" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The New Demons</a></em><br> David Foster Wallace's essay on David Letterman<br> Richard Dawkins, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780198788607" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Selfish Gene</a></em><br> Eric Voegelin, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780226861142" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The New Science of Politics</a></em><br> Karl Jaspers, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780367679859" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Origin and Goal of History</a></em> </p> disenchantment, religion, metaphysics, history, Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, In A Secular Age, the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor tries to come to grips with the seismic development that transformed the world after the Renaissance, namely the secularization of the society and soul of Western humanity. What does it mean to live in an age where religion, once the very matrix of social existence, is relegated to the realm of private and personal choice? What defines secularity? Are modern people really as "irrelegious" as we make them out to be? In this episode, JF and Phil squarely train their sights on a question that continues to haunt them, with Taylor as their Virgil in what amounts to a descent into the ordinary inferno of modern unknowing.

Header Image by Pahudson, via Wikimedia Commons

REFERENCES

Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age
Charles Taylor, The Malaise of Modernity
Weird Studies, ep 71: The Medium is the Message
Penn & Teller, Bullshit
René Descartes, Meditations
Theodore Roszak, The Making of a Counter-Culture
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
Jacques Ellul, The New Demons
David Foster Wallace's essay on David Letterman
Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
Eric Voegelin, The New Science of Politics
Karl Jaspers, The Origin and Goal of History

]]> In A Secular Age, the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor tries to come to grips with the seismic development that transformed the world after the Renaissance, namely the secularization of the society and soul of Western humanity. What does it mean to live in an age where religion, once the very matrix of social existence, is relegated to the realm of private and personal choice? What defines secularity? Are modern people really as "irrelegious" as we make them out to be? In this episode, JF and Phil squarely train their sights on a question that continues to haunt them, with Taylor as their Virgil in what amounts to a descent into the ordinary inferno of modern unknowing.

Header Image by Pahudson, via Wikimedia Commons

REFERENCES

Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age
Charles Taylor, The Malaise of Modernity
Weird Studies, ep 71: The Medium is the Message
Penn & Teller, Bullshit
René Descartes, Meditations
Theodore Roszak, The Making of a Counter-Culture
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
Jacques Ellul, The New Demons
David Foster Wallace's essay on David Letterman
Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
Eric Voegelin, The New Science of Politics
Karl Jaspers, The Origin and Goal of History

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