#197: On the Joys and Travails of Thinking

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2016

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it mean to live a “life of the mind?” Why is it important that we make time to ponder and contemplate the heftier ideas of what it means to be a human? And if we have the desire to lead a contemplative life, how exactly do we go about doing it? Well, my guest today has spent his life pondering and thinking about these questions. His name is Father James Schall. He’s a Jesuit priest and philosopher and the Professor of Political Philosophy at Georgetown University. Father Schall has written on a wide variety of topics, but today on the show we focus on his book The Life of the Mind: On the Joys and Travails of Thinking in which he elucidates on ways of approaching thinking so that it delights and edifies us. Today on the the show, Fr. Schall and I discuss what it means to take part in the Great Conversation, why the life the mind has some drudgery to it, and brass-tacks things we can all do to live a more thoughtful and contemplative life.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brutmicae here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:19.1	What does it mean to live a life of the mind?
0:22.2	Why is it important that we make time in our life to ponder and contemplate the heftier
0:26.2	ideas of what it means to be a human?
0:28.7	And if that's our desire, how do we go about doing it?
0:31.7	Well, my guest today has spent his life pondering and teaching about this very subject.
0:35.2	His name is Father James Shawl.
0:36.5	He's a Jesuit priest and philosopher and is the professor of political philosophy at
0:41.4	the government department at Georgetown University.
0:44.1	And Father Shawl is written on a wide variety of topics, but today on the show we discuss
0:47.7	his book The Life of the Mind on the joys and travails of thinking, where he elucidates
0:53.2	on ways of approaching thinking so that it delights and edifies us.
0:57.3	And in turn, allows us to edify others.
1:00.2	Today on the show, Father Shawl and I discuss what it means to take a part, to take part
1:04.3	in the great conversation of life, why the life of the mind has some drudgery work in
1:09.3	it, and how the intellectual life can be risky sometimes.
1:13.1	We also get into some brass tax suggestions on how to better live a contemplative life,
1:18.5	some great insights and wisdom from a man who's thought a lot about thinking.
1:22.4	And just heads up about this episode.
1:23.9	You do the father's hearing problems.
1:25.5	I sent him the questions via email and advance and he kindly recorded them and his answers
1:29.5	and sent them back to me.
	...

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