In this episode, I speak with Jon R. Star, an educational psychologist whose work focuses on how students learn mathematics and how teachers can support deeper understanding rather than rote performance. We begin by discussing the gap between educational research and everyday classroom life, and how Jon has worked to bridge that divide by continuing to teach middle school math while conducting research. He shares how years of studying algebra, problem solving, and student thinking have transformed not only his research questions but also the way he shows up as a teacher.
Our conversation explores what mathematics actually is and why so many students experience it as distant, rigid, or purely about memorizing answers. Jon explains why math is a unique discipline centered on patterns, proof, and the search for truth, and why focusing only on usefulness or test outcomes misses its deeper value. We talk about the tension between abstraction and real-world relevance, the danger of teaching math as a means to future rewards, and how classrooms can instead invite students into genuine mathematical thinking that applies far beyond numbers.
The episode closes with a wider reflection on education, motivation, and the culture of competition that surrounds grades, college admissions, and achievement. Jon challenges the idea that learning must always be driven by external rewards, while also acknowledging the realities teachers and families face. Together, we explore whether it is possible to cultivate curiosity, wonder, and love for learning inside systems built around outcomes. This conversation is ultimately about math, but it is also about what it means to learn something deeply enough that it becomes a way of seeing the world.
Chapters:00:00 – Introduction
02:00 – Jon’s path into mathematics education
05:00 – Bridging research and real classrooms
08:00 – What mathematics actually is as a discipline
12:00 – Why students experience math as rigid and mechanical
16:00 – Process versus answers in math learning
20:00 – Flexibility, strategies, and mathematical thinking
25:00 – The role of abstraction and proof
30:00 – Real world relevance and its limits
35:00 – Grades, motivation, and external rewards
40:00 – Teaching curiosity inside outcome driven systems
45:00 – What deep understanding really looks like
50:00 – Learning for its own sake
55:00 – What math education could become
In this episode, I speak with Gabrielle Oliveira, an anthropologist whose work explores migration, parenting, and the lives of children moving across borders. We begin with her reflections on raising her own children and how becoming a parent reshaped the way she understood her research. She describes the gap between ideals and practice, the constant need for flexibility, and how every phase of parenting reveals something new about ourselves. That tension between theory and lived experience becomes a guide for understanding the families she studies.
Our conversation opens into the deeper human realities of global movement. Gabrielle explains why migration has always been a basic part of human life and how modern borders, surveillance, and fear have changed the story. She shares examples of children bringing memories of detention into classroom moments, showing how experiences of displacement appear in small, unexpected ways. We talk about xenophobia, inequality, and the narratives that shape who society considers deserving. Through her stories, it becomes clear that migration is not only about crossing a border but about carrying entire worlds of culture, memory, and hope into a new place.
The episode becomes personal as we explore what it means to not know. Gabrielle describes the humility required for ethnographic work, the thousands of hours she spent inside families’ homes, and the courage it takes to sit in discomfort without trying to control the narrative. We reflect on the importance of listening in education, on what it means for teachers to build trust with students, and on how curiosity can become a way of honoring the lives of others. This conversation is about migration, but it is also about wonder, responsibility, and the ongoing work of learning how to see.
00:37 — Meeting Gabrielle and her work on migration and parenting
02:00 — What parenting teaches us about uncertainty
04:30 — Ideals versus real life in teaching and caregiving
07:00 — Cultural stories about love, parenting, and childhood
09:00 — Migration as philosophy and lived experience
11:00 — How movement today differs from the past
13:30 — Borders, surveillance, and the politics of fear
16:00 — Racism, xenophobia, and narratives of who belongs
19:00 — Religion, culture, and the idea of "Western civilization"
21:00 — Immigration debates, infrastructure, and real constraints
24:00 — Fear of difference and how stories shape perception
25:30 — Education, assimilation, and the role of schools
28:00 — Why teachers rarely ask about students’ lives
30:00 — Classroom examples and the challenge of deep listening
33:00 — Trauma, trust, and how children express migration histories
36:00 — Teaching practices that help children feel seen
39:00 — How little we know and the humility to keep learning
41:30 — Expertise, lived knowledge, and the limits of certainty
45:00 — The nature of ethnographic research and deep hanging out
48:00 — Following conversations rather than directing them
51:00 — What fieldwork does to the researcher
55:00 — Curiosity, ego, and the meaning of attention
In this episode, I share the personal story of my car and the strange comfort it has given me over the years. It is more than a vehicle to me. It is a space where I have had some of my clearest thoughts, most honest conversations with myself, and a kind of quiet that I rarely find anywhere else. The car became a place where I could be alone without feeling lonely, where long drives opened up space to think about my life, my choices, and the direction I wanted to go.
I talk about how small moments with the car began to feel meaningful. The weight of the steering wheel, the first long drive I ever took, the times I sat in a parking lot just trying to breathe, and the sense of control and freedom that only driving can give. These moments became stories that shaped how I understand myself. I also reflect on the challenges the car has brought me, from unexpected breakdowns to the constant maintenance that mirrors the work we have to do on our own lives.
This episode is not really about a car. It is about the ways we attach meaning to the ordinary objects that travel with us through joy, confusion, heartbreak, and growth. My car became a companion during times when I needed stillness, movement, or escape. Sharing these reflections helped me see how something as simple as a drive can become a doorway into a deeper understanding of who we are becoming.
00:00 – Introduction
02:00 – How my car became a personal space
05:00 – The quiet moments that shaped my thinking
08:00 – Driving as freedom and escape
11:00 – The emotional weight of long drives
14:00 – Breakdowns, repairs, and learning responsibility
17:00 – Why the car feels like a companion
20:00 – Memories tied to familiar roads
23:00 – The comfort of solitude while driving
26:00 – What the car taught me about myself
29:00 – Letting go, holding on, and moving forward
In this episode, I speak with Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of the History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, about how schools shape democratic life and the tensions that sit at the heart of public education. We begin with the origins of modern schooling and how ideas about intelligence, ability, and citizenship became woven into the structure of the American school system. Jonathan explains how IQ testing, industrial labor needs, and nation-building all influenced what schools began to value and what they ignored.
Our discussion moves into the cultural and political forces that shape the curriculum. We talk about why certain topics like sex, religion, and race get censored or avoided, and how fear plays a powerful role in determining what children are allowed to learn. Jonathan describes how both order and liberty are essential to a functioning democracy, and how schools must teach students to follow rules while also giving them the courage to question them. This tension sits at the center of nearly every modern debate about schooling.
We close by reflecting on what true democratic education requires. Jonathan argues that teaching is an intellectual and moral craft, one that requires humility, curiosity, and a willingness to embrace uncertainty. He offers insights on how schools can cultivate independent thinking while still grounding students in shared norms, and why understanding history in all its complexity is essential for helping young people learn how to live with others in a diverse society.
00:00 – Introduction and Jonathan’s path into education history
03:00 – What intelligence has meant throughout U.S. schooling
06:00 – IQ tests and the rise of educational sorting
09:00 – Mass schooling and the needs of the economy
13:00 – Who gets to become a scientist and why
17:00 – Schools as “pillars of the republic”
21:00 – Nationalism, patriotism, and public identity
25:00 – Censorship, fear, and taboo topics in education
30:00 – Balancing order and liberty inside the classroom
34:00 – Sex education, religion, and the discomfort of disagreement
38:00 – Teaching young people how to think, not what to think
43:00 – Democracy, diversity, and the struggle for shared norms
48:00 – Why teaching is an intellectual and moral practice
51:00 – Closing reflections and hopes for the future of public education
In this episode, I sit down with Shaun M. Dougherty, Professor of Education and Policy at Boston College, to talk about how we measure learning and what our systems of assessment often miss. Shaun’s research focuses on education policy, equity, and the impact of accountability systems, and he brings both an analytical and deeply human perspective to the question of what counts as a good education.
We explore the evolution of standardized testing, the limits of quantitative measures, and the philosophy behind how societies define success. Shaun shares how his time as a teacher and administrator shaped his approach to research and why purpose and meaning must be at the center of any educational framework. We talk about literacy, curiosity, and the tension between learning for life and learning for advancement, asking how education can balance rigor with relevance.
This conversation moves between data science, ethics, and lived experience, connecting policy to purpose and measurement to meaning. It invites us to imagine an education system that values curiosity as much as compliance and measures growth not only by numbers, but by how deeply we connect to what we learn.
Chapter:
00:00 – Introduction: Who is Shaun M. Dougherty
02:00 – From Camp Counselor to Economist to Educator
05:00 – The Moment That Sparked His Interest in Education Research
08:00 – What Should We Measure in Education and Why
11:00 – Why Purpose and Meaning Matter More Than Metrics
15:00 – Can Curiosity and Connection Be Measured?
19:00 – The Problem of Test Preparation and the Loss of Authentic Learning
23:00 – Campbell’s Law: When Over-Measuring Changes What We Measure
27:00 – How Policy Shapes Schools and Student Motivation
31:00 – Grades, Purpose, and the Philosophy of Educational Signals
35:00 – Human Capital vs. Meaning: The Debate Behind Learning’s Purpose
39:00 – Inequality and the Uneven Impact of Standardized Testing
43:00 – The Role of Career and Technical Education as a Counterbalance
46:00 – What the Future of Educational Metrics Could Look Like
49:00 – Closing Reflections: Curiosity, Connection, and the Evolving Mind
Beyond Small Talk Summarized | Hosted By Mylon Kemp
Chapter 6: Conclusion | Beyond Small Talk: A Modern Framework for Understanding Someone Deeply.
Chapter Five: Challenges | Beyond Small Talk: A Modern Framework for Understanding Someone Deeply
Chapter Four: The Constant Themes Beyond Small Talk: A Modern Framework for Understanding Someone Deeply.
Chapter Three: The Nine Stages | Beyond Small Talk: A Modern Framework for Understanding Someone Deeply.
Chapter Two: Nature of Understanding | Beyond Small Talk: A Modern Framework for Understanding Someone Deeply | Season 11 Episode 2 | #170
Chapter One: Introduction | Beyond Small Talk: A Modern Framework for Understanding Someone Deeply
In this episode, I speak with Lisa Wade, Associate Professor of Sociology at Tulane University, whose research examines gender, sexuality, and culture. She is best known for her groundbreaking book American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus, which explores how social norms, power, and inequality shape the way young people learn about intimacy.
We talk about what it means to live in a society full of social scripts—unwritten rules that govern how we express desire, show affection, and understand freedom. Lisa explains how hookup culture emerged in the mid-1990s and how it reflects broader political and economic shifts, including the rise of neoliberalism and the feminist movement’s complicated legacy. She shows how many college students find themselves trapped between contradictory messages: be liberated, but not emotional; be free, but not vulnerable.
Our conversation dives into shame, pleasure, and the myths of sexual liberation. We discuss how cultural expectations privilege masculine forms of sexuality, why many young people struggle to assert kindness and care in their intimate lives, and what it might mean to create a more humane and inclusive culture of desire.
Chapter:
00:00 – Introduction: Closing Season 10 with Lisa Wade
02:00 – The origins of her interest in sexuality and culture
06:00 – Understanding cultural and social scripts
10:00 – How globalization and technology have reshaped dating
13:00 – The birth of hookup culture in the 1990s
18:00 – The role of feminism and neoliberalism in shaping sex
24:00 – The contradictions of modern desire and emotional detachment
30:00 – Students navigating shame, independence, and vulnerability
35:00 – Opting out of hookup culture and its social costs
40:00 – The myth of sexual liberation and the persistence of inequality
45:00 – Whose pleasure matters most? The gendered politics of orgasm
50:00 – Sex positivity and the pressure to be “game for anything”
54:00 – Rethinking freedom, kindness, and care in intimacy
56:00 – Closing reflections: How culture teaches us to love
In this episode, I speak with Talbot Brewer, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia, whose work bridges moral philosophy, political theory, and moral psychology. His writing challenges the way modern philosophy and education have reduced human life to a series of goals and transactions. At the center of his thought is a radical and revitalizing idea: that the most meaningful human activities are pursued not as means to an end, but as ends in themselves.
We talk about what it means to live well, the difference between doing and being, and why the most beautiful activities in life—conversation, friendship, love, learning—are valuable precisely because they are not instrumental. Talbot shares how Aristotle’s conception of energeia, or activity for its own sake, redefines how we think about education, work, and happiness. We explore how philosophy, the humanities, and even daily acts like washing dishes or parenting can become moments of presence and purpose when approached as ends in themselves.
This conversation is a meditation on meaning, morality, and wonder. It invites us to rethink success, productivity, and the very structure of modern life. What if living well is not about achievement or progress, but about being wholly absorbed in what is beautiful, true, and good right now?
Chapter:
00:00 – Introduction: Talbot Brewer and the idea of dialectical life
02:00 – The story of how a windy day led him to philosophy
06:00 – Aristotle, Plato, and the origins of moral reflection
10:00 – The essence of Aristotelian ethics and why it still matters
15:00 – How ethics became about obligation rather than flourishing
20:00 – Living well versus living rightly: Aristotle and Kant compared
25:00 – The concept of dialectical activity and what it reveals about human life
30:00 – Why education should be about wonder, not utility
35:00 – Learning for its own sake and the beauty of engagement
40:00 – The humanities, meaning, and what it means to live freely
45:00 – Why philosophy is not a luxury but a necessity
50:00 – The moral and emotional cost of turning every pursuit into a product
55:00 – The end as the means: lessons from yoga, art, and parenting
1:00:00 – Living a full human life through shared activity and love
1:04:00 – Closing reflections on purpose, community, and being present
In this episode, I explore how sexuality evolves over time and what aging reveals about pleasure, gender, and identity. My guest, Dr. Lisa R. Miller, is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Discipline Coordinator at Eckerd College, whose research examines how women’s sexual well-being transforms across the life course. Her work highlights how experience, confidence, and agency can expand desire rather than diminish it.
We talk about how cultural expectations around gender and sexuality shift as people age, and why aging often brings greater authenticity and emotional freedom. The conversation uncovers how prejudice and inequality shape intimacy, the myths surrounding sexuality in later life, and why the study of pleasure is essential to understanding human health and happiness.
This is a conversation about desire as a form of growth, the freedom that comes with self-knowledge, and the beauty of embracing the body’s changing story.
Chapter:
00:00 – Introduction: Dr. Lisa R. Miller and her research focus
02:00 – Why sexuality and aging are rarely studied together
06:00 – How cultural scripts shape pleasure and self-image
10:00 – The gendered expectations that limit sexual expression
14:00 – How aging can liberate desire and deepen confidence
19:00 – Sexuality as communication: what changes with experience
24:00 – Myths about aging and sexual decline
29:00 – LGBTQ+ experiences and the sociology of health and stigma
34:00 – How prejudice and discrimination affect intimacy
39:00 – Pleasure as resistance and reclaiming the body
44:00 – Redefining what it means to be attractive and desired
48:00 – How to teach about sexuality, aging, and gender with empathy
53:00 – What the future of sexual well-being research looks like
57:00 – Closing reflections: embracing aging as growth
In this episode, I speak with Roy F. Baumeister, one of the world’s most influential psychologists, whose work has shaped how we understand self-control, motivation, and the search for meaning. Author of over 700 scientific publications and nearly 40 books, including The Cultural Animal and Meanings of Life, Roy has spent his career asking some of the most profound questions about human purpose and the inner architecture of the mind.
We talk about what makes life meaningful, why the concept of meaning itself only recently became a scientific topic, and how psychology moved from behaviorism to studying purpose, values, and self-reflection. Roy shares his framework of the four pillars of meaning purpose, values, efficacy, and self-worth and how these shape our sense of belonging and motivation. We also discuss pleasure, passion, and awe, and whether meaning is a feeling, a thought, or something deeper that connects past, present, and future.
The conversation moves through science, philosophy, and personal reflection, exploring how meaning evolves across culture, religion, and time. We talk about how people create coherence in their lives, what meaninglessness really looks like, and why the most meaningful lives may also be the most incomplete.
Chapter:
00:00 – Introduction: Meeting Roy Baumeister, psychologist and author
01:00 – Life in Utah and the power of writing in nature
04:00 – The separation between theory and experience in modern academia
07:00 – Discovering psychology and the big questions of human life
10:00 – How Meanings of Life became his most influential book
13:00 – Why psychology avoided studying meaning for so long
16:00 – From behaviorism to social psychology: a shift in focus
20:00 – How science began measuring and experimenting with meaning
24:00 – Purpose, values, efficacy, and self-worth: the four pillars of meaning
28:00 – Why pleasure and meaning are not the same
32:00 – Religion, culture, and the birth of existential reflection
36:00 – The role of curiosity and reflection in discovering purpose
39:00 – The connection between passion, awe, and the meaningful life
44:00 – Is meaning a thought or a feeling? The psychology of coherence
48:00 – Meaninglessness and the search for wholeness
52:00 – Roy’s next book: coherence, incompleteness, and meaning in life
54:00 – Closing reflections: curiosity, consciousness, and human purpose
In this second conversation with Julie Walsh, the Whitehead Associate Professor of Critical Thought and Director of the Suzy Newhouse Center for the Humanities at Wellesley College, we explore what it truly means to be free. Building on our earlier discussion about embodiment and ethics, Julie takes us through the philosophical history of freedom—from Augustine to Descartes to early modern women thinkers who redefined liberty as a social and moral question rather than a purely metaphysical one.
We talk about financial independence, moral dependence, and why freedom may be impossible without resources. Julie introduces the ideas of Gabrielle Suchon, who argued that freedom requires a life without engagements—a world free from moral or financial debt. We discuss how these ideas translate into modern life: parenthood, marriage, work, and even the emotional ties that define us.
The conversation then expands into empathy, virtual reality, and the tension between knowledge and experience. We ask whether freedom and happiness can coexist, and what happens when we consciously choose our own chains. It is an intimate, wide-ranging reflection on autonomy, responsibility, and the fragile balance between connection and independence.
Chapter :
00:00 – Introduction: Continuing the conversation on freedom and ethics02:00 – The moral imagination and the question of empathy07:00 – Animal suffering, compassion, and emotional distance12:00 – Disgust, denial, and what society chooses not to see17:00 – Class, privilege, and the ethics of looking away22:00 – How art and storytelling transform awareness into care28:00 – Facing darkness without losing hope33:00 – Freedom through knowledge: from Augustine to Descartes38:00 – Princess Elizabeth, Suchon, and women redefining moral freedom43:00 – The privilege of freedom and the weight of dependence48:00 – The cost of independence: relationships, family, and work53:00 – Financial freedom and moral debt in modern life58:00 – Why no one is truly free: interdependence as a human truth1:03:00 – Freedom, happiness, and the ethics of choice1:08:00 – The limits of autonomy in a connected world1:13:00 – Choosing your chains: love, faith, and surrender1:18:00 – Closing reflections: freedom, dependence, and moral responsibility
In this episode, I sit down with Julie Walsh, the Whitehead Associate Professor of Critical Thought and Director of the Suzy Newhouse Center for the Humanities at Wellesley College. Her work bridges early modern philosophy, feminist thought, and the ethics of digital technology. At the heart of her research lies a single question: what does it mean to be free?
We explore how philosophy has historically separated reason from emotion, and why this division continues to shape our understanding of enlightenment, knowledge, and identity. Julie reflects on how academic philosophy has often excluded the body—reducing thought to abstraction—and how reintroducing emotion, vulnerability, and positionality can make knowledge more human. We talk about the ethics of curiosity, the limits of objectivity, and why she believes that curiosity itself is a form of privilege.
Our conversation moves from the ethics of scientific research and animal experimentation to the role of philosophy in education and the urgent need to teach ethics and critical thinking earlier in life. We end by reflecting on freedom, embodiment, and how philosophy can guide us through the ethical challenges of artificial intelligence. It is a conversation about humanity, humility, and the meaning of thinking itself.
Chapter:
00:00 – Introduction: Julie Walsh and the philosophy of editing
02:00 – What makes a podcast an artifact of thought
05:00 – Fact versus emotion: how feelings shape belief
09:00 – Disgust, politics, and the emotional roots of polarization
13:00 – Learning to unlearn: emotion, race, and moral growth
17:00 – The power of embodied philosophy and feminist thought
21:00 – Why academic philosophy lost its humanity
25:00 – The ethics of science: ancient DNA and researcher positionality
30:00 – Curiosity as privilege: who gets to explore freely
35:00 – Responsibility, objectivity, and the limits of pure reason
40:00 – Why ethics must guide curiosity and research
45:00 – Animal ethics, empathy, and the cost of experimentation
50:00 – The importance of teaching ethics and philosophy to children
55:00 – The purpose of education: architects vs. gardeners
59:00 – Privilege, exploration, and the meaning of liberal arts learning
1:03:00 – Closing reflections: freedom, embodiment, and meaning
In this episode, I sit down with Paul Thagard, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo, whose career has bridged philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and computer modeling. Paul has spent decades exploring how humans think, feel, and make sense of the world. From scientific reasoning and creativity to consciousness and the meaning of life, his work has helped reshape how we understand the mind itself.
We talk about how he first fell in love with philosophy as a teenager shelving books in a public library, and how that early curiosity evolved into a lifelong pursuit of understanding how reasoning and inference work. Paul explains his theory of coherence, showing how both thought and emotion can be understood through neural networks that seek balance and connection. We also discuss motivated reasoning, how emotions shape our beliefs, and why science and philosophy must work together to reveal truth and value.
The conversation turns deeply human as we explore his scientific theory of meaning. Drawing from his book The Brain and the Meaning of Life, Paul argues that love, work, and play are not just sources of happiness but the biological and psychological foundations of a meaningful life. We end by reflecting on empathy, curiosity, and how wonder can lead not to mysticism, but to understanding. It’s a conversation about truth, beauty, and what it really means to be human.
⏱️Chapter
00:00 – Introduction: Meeting Paul Thagard, philosopher and cognitive scientist
02:00 – Discovering philosophy at age 15 in a public library
06:00 – From curiosity to cognition: how reasoning became his lifelong pursuit
10:00 – Reason vs inference: how we think, feel, and communicate
14:00 – Social reasoning and why communication is central to thought
18:00 – Creativity and the psychology of discovery
22:00 – Defining science and its difference from belief or politics
27:00 – Misinformation, evidence, and the culture of truth
31:00 – The balance between science, ethics, and values
36:00 – Wonder, awe, and the human drive to understand
41:00 – Can science explain beauty, art, and emotion?
46:00 – The theory of coherence: how the brain fits reality together
51:00 – Neural networks, reasoning, and the structure of consciousness
56:00 – Motivated reasoning and how emotions distort evidence
1:00:00 – Ethics in science: curiosity, danger, and responsibility
1:03:00 – The meaning of life: love, work, and play as biological truths
1:06:00 – Closing reflections on empathy, rationality, and the future of understanding
In this episode, I speak with Brandon Smith, an FRQSC postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Institute for Research in the Humanities, who earned his PhD in Philosophy from McGill University in 2024. His research examines the history and applicability of philosophical accounts of happiness, and his first book, The Search for Mind-Body Flourishing in Spinoza’s Eudaimonism, is forthcoming in Brill’s New Research in the History of Western Philosophy series.
We trace a historical arc of ideas about pleasure and the good life, moving from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle through the Stoics and Epicureans, and into early modern debates with Descartes, Hobbes, and Spinoza. Brandon explains how the Stoics treat pleasure as neither good nor bad in itself, why Epicurus distinguishes the calm pleasure of healthy functioning from the thrill of satisfying a want, and how Spinoza reframes pleasure as the feeling of increased self-expressive power that supports flourishing across a whole life. We also look at the worry that pleasure can mislead, and how a hierarchy of pleasures helps separate short-lived impulses from sustainable well-being.
I ask how these frameworks shape everyday choices and public ideals, from addiction and shame to policy and education. Brandon argues that flourishing is both objective and subjective, grounded in facts about human functioning while also requiring lived awareness. We end by connecting this to classrooms and culture, asking how a richer account of pleasure and meaning can help people learn, collaborate, and live well.
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: Who is Brandon Smith and what drew him to the philosophy of happiness
03:00 – What it means to study happiness historically and philosophically
07:00 – The ancient roots of eudaimonia: from Socrates to Aristotle
12:00 – Aristotle’s idea of flourishing and the life of rational activity
17:00 – Stoicism: virtue, detachment, and the neutrality of pleasure
22:00 – Epicurus and the distinction between active pleasure and calm tranquility
27:00 – Misunderstanding Epicureanism: pleasure as simplicity, not indulgence
32:00 – The tension between desire, control, and the moral suspicion of pleasure
37:00 – How Christianity and modern moral theory reframed pleasure as suspect
42:00 – Spinoza’s revolution: joy as an increase in the power to act
47:00 – Pleasure, reason, and the harmony of mind and body
52:00 – Why Spinoza rejects dualism and reframes happiness as understanding
57:00 – The difference between momentary joy and lifelong flourishing
1:02:00 – Modern echoes: how psychology and ethics return to ancient ideas
1:07:00 – Can happiness be taught? What education can learn from eudaimonism
1:11:00 – Flourishing beyond utility: meaning, community, and freedom
1:16:00 – Closing reflections: the art of living well in a restless age
1:20:00 – Final takeaway: happiness as the joyful exercise of understanding