Unlimited Opinions - Philosophy, Theology, Linguistics, & More
Welcome to Unlimited Opinions! Have you ever wanted to listen to a lawyer and his son discuss philosophy, mythology, theology, politics and more? No? Well, Mark and Adam Bishop are here to discuss it all the same! From philosophy to mythology to politics, they discuss it all with rants and tangents galore! Now in Season 14, they're discussing Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind, breaking down his history of English and American conservative thought from Edmund Burke to T.S. Eliot! There will also be more than the average amount of references to linguistics, 80s movies, and J.R.R. Tolkien. If any of that sounds vaguely interesting, then this is the podcast for you! Episodes are uploaded every Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. CST.
Follow us on X! @UlmtdOpinions
Episodes
246 episodes
S14 E1: The Idea of Conservatism
Season premiere! Join us as we begin discussing Russell Kirk's 1953 The Conservative Mind, reading Kirk's discussion of the history of conservatism from Edmund Burke to T.S. Eliot. In this first episode, we break down Kirk's goal ...
•
Season 14
•
Episode 1
•
58:59
S13 E11: Season Finale: Plato's Republic Book X - Art, the Immortal Soul, and the Rewards of Goodness
What do we think of Plato's Republic overall? Find out as we conclude our discussion of this cornerstone work as we read the Book X, in which Plato elaborates on his theory of art and representation; describes how he views th...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 11
•
50:43
S13 E10: Plato's Republic Book IX - The Tyrant and True Happiness
Can you pursue happiness by chasing fleeting pleasures? If not, how can we finally demonstrate that? Join us for our thoughts on Plato's conclusion that the pursuit of knowledge leads to the highest form of happiness, demolishing any argument i...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 10
•
34:49
S13 E9: Plato's Republic Book VIII - Imperfect Societies
How does Plato's ideal state collapse? What kind of society does it become, and what does the soul of the person represented by that society look like? Find out as we discuss the origin and development of timarchy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyr...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 9
•
40:15
S13 E8: Plato's Republic Book VII - The Allegory of the Cave
The perfect society can only be achieved by banishing everyone over the age of 10 and starting fresh! At least, according to Plato. Join us as we discuss Book VII of the Republic, discussing what the allegory of the cave really me...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 8
•
41:32
S13 E7: Plato's Republic Book VI - True Philosophers and True Knowledge
What makes someone truly a philosopher? How does knowledge differ from opinion? Does evil really exist? Find out as we discuss all this and more, breaking down Plato's definition of what a philosopher is, and whether it is possible to put philo...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 7
•
47:58
S13 E6: Plato's Republic Book V - Women, Children, and Philosopher Kings
Is this the worst book of the Republic? Does Plato think that anything he is describing is achievable? Find out as we discuss Book V, in which Socrates outlines the sameness of men and women, the benefits of having children in com...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 6
•
45:36
S13 E5: Plato's Republic Book IV - The State as the Soul
Join us as we discuss Book IV of Plato's Republic, which we (surprisingly) both enjoyed! We continue our discussion by reflecting on the necessity of education for the existence of a culture, whether a state needs to be a certain ...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 5
•
46:05
S13 E4: Plato's Republic Book III - Education and Censorship
Is Plato prescribing what he says in the Republic as literal guidance on how to run a state, or is this all just an extreme allegory for the ordering of the soul? Listen to us debate this exact question on this episode of Unlimited Opi...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 4
•
52:08
S13 E3: Plato's Republic Book II - Injustice and the Origin of Society
Thrasymachus, didn't do that bad of a job of arguing in favor of injustice, did he? Glaucon and Adeimantus seem to think so! Join us as we consider the stronger argument in favor of acting unjustly, discussing the Ring of Gyges, the or...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 3
•
42:41
S13 E2: Plato's Republic Book I - Justice
Is it better to be just than unjust, and what makes something subjective? Find out as we discuss Book I of Plato's Republic, breaking down the opening discussion on old age, Polemarchus' traditional definition of justice as doing good ...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 2
•
54:01
S13 E1: Introduction to Plato's Republic
Join us as we begin our discussion of one of the most foundational texts in Western history: Plato's Republic! In this episode, we talk about our prior knowledge and opinions of Plato, the historical background leading up to the w...
•
Season 13
•
Episode 1
•
42:29
S12 E18: Season Finale: The Student and the University, Part 2
In the end, what does Allan Bloom recommend in The Closing of the American Mind? Not much, as it turns out. After an excellent diagnosis of the problems facing American higher education, Bloom ends on a pessimistic note, stating t...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 18
•
1:01:59
S12 E17: The Student and the University, Part 1
Where have Allan Bloom's descriptions of the modern university gotten us? Where have all of these philosophical trends ended up? Join us as we discuss the first half of the last chapter of The Closing of the American Mind, examini...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 17
•
54:16
S12 E16: The Sixties
Why did all university professors and administrators capitulate to the insane mobs of student radicals in the sixties? Find out as we continue discussing Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, discussing how the 1960s car...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 16
•
58:11
S12 E15: Swift's Doubts & Rousseau's Radicalization and the German University
What does Gulliver's Travels have to do with the development of the modern education system? Why does classical scholarship see renewed interests in periods of philosophical interest? Why spend 70 pages on one chapter detailing va...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 15
•
43:56
S12 E14: The Philosophic Experience & The Enlightenment Transformation
Was Socrates really all that great? What does he have to say about education, anyway? Find out as we discuss Socrates' impact on the idea and purpose of philosophy, as well as the reasons for our modern society favoring nameless globalist scien...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 14
•
41:47
S12 E13: Tocqueville on Democratic Intellectual Life & The Relation between Thought and Civil Society
Can education actually exist without tradition? In the equalizing system of democracy, is education ever really valuable? Should we just give up on the whole idea of a university altogether? Join us for this and more as we continue discussing A...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 13
•
1:05:06
S12 E12: Our Ignorance
How do we recover Western Civilization from its current state? How do we get people to recognize that there is more to our foundations than we realize, and that America is more than just the past century? Allan Bloom's answer: raising the impor...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 12
•
48:47
S12 E11: The Nietzscheanization of the Left or Vice Versa
Marxism is boring now. So says Allan Bloom. Join us as we discuss the omnipresence of Marxism among the Left, and why the philosophy of the class struggle may not be exactly the crux of the Left, but a desecration of the dignity and depth of ma...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 11
•
33:02
S12 E10: Values
What happens to a culture when rationalism takes precedence over belief in anything eternal? Exactly what we've seen over the past 70 years, of course! Join us as we discuss Allan Bloom's thoughts on values, the issues of cultural relativism, a...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 10
•
50:13
S12 E9: Culture
What exactly is culture? Is it just the food, clothing, and habits of a people, or is it something more? Does human nature really exist, or should we just be studying the differences between cultures to investigate humanity? Is culture downstre...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 9
•
44:04
S12 E8: The Self and Creativity
What is man, really? Do we have a purpose, or should we just listen to our desires and shape the world the way we want it to be? Are the ends of things real, or just fictitious imaginations based on our desires? Find out as we continue to discu...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 8
•
33:41
S12 E7: Two Revolutions and Two States of Nature
What differentiates America from France? Is it our value of life and stability in our Revolution, or is it a distinction between the bourgeois of America and the deeper thinkers of the Continent? Join us as we discuss this and more in this epis...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 7
•
33:00
S12 E6: The German Connection
Where does modern American nihilism stem from? According to Allan Bloom, ultimately from Nietzsche! Join us as we discuss the impact of German thinking on modern American life, talking about the issues with value relativism and self-actualizati...
•
Season 12
•
Episode 6
•
40:47