Rationally Speaking #41 - Robert Zaretsky on Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding

Rationally Speaking Podcast

New York City Skeptics

Society & Culture, Skepticism, Science, Philosophy

4.6 • 787 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2011

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Imagine a time when a dispute between two philosophers was the talk of high society. That is the time that our guest, Robert Zarertsky, describes in his book "The Philosophers' Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding." He tells the story of the short and dramatic friendship between Hume and Rousseau. Hume, who championed the progress of the sciences and arts, and Rousseau, who questioned progress, wondering whether it was just another word for moral decay and despair. He also discusses the implications their friendship may have had on the Enlightenment's conceptions of reason and human understanding.

Robert Zaretsky is a professor of French history at the University of Houston Honors College and the Department of History. He has published several books about philosophy and history of philosophy.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Rationally speaking is a presentation of New York City skeptics dedicated to promoting critical thinking, skeptical inquiry, and science education.
0:22.4	For more information, please visit us at NYC Skeptics.org.
0:35.4	Welcome to Rationally Speaking, the podcast where we explore the borderlands between reason and
0:39.8	nonsense. I'm your host, Massimo P. Lucci. And with me, as always, is my co-host, Julia Galev,
0:45.5	just back from the TAM conference in Las Vegas. Julia, welcome back. And what are we going to
0:51.3	talk about today? Thanks, Massimo. Well, today we have a special guest
0:55.0	joining us. Robert Zaretsky is a professor of French history at the University of Houston
1:00.1	Honors College and the Department of History. He's published several books about history and philosophy
1:05.0	and the history of philosophy, including in 2009, a book which he co-authored with John T. Scott
1:10.1	and which Massimo actually
1:11.5	recently chose as a pick on this show. It's called The Philosopher's Coral, Rousseau, Hume,
1:16.5	and the Limits of Human Understanding. Rob, thanks so much for joining us.
1:20.4	Thanks for having me. It's good to be here. So let me just give a little bit of background
1:24.3	on your book for people who aren't familiar with it. It explores the friendship between David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
1:31.2	who were two of the most prominent philosophers in the Enlightenment
1:33.4	and then how that friendship was severed by this really fierce and public quarrel they had,
1:37.6	which is an engrossing story in its own right,
1:39.2	but you also use it as a way to talk about the clash between their respective philosophies
1:43.3	and about the
1:44.4	nature of the Enlightenment period in which this was all happening. It's really fascinating.
1:49.1	It is. That's why we decided to do the story. Yeah, and it's also really entertaining to imagine
1:53.4	a time in which a dispute between two philosophers was the talk of high society.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from New York City Skeptics, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of New York City Skeptics and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.