The Ideal
What does it mean to live, think, and build toward the ideal? Join host Shawn Edwards for The Ideal, a philosophy podcast dedicated to deep-dive conversations with the world’s leading thinkers. From the rigorous ethics of modern justice to the "horrifying heresies" of historical philosophy, we sit down with acclaimed authors and academics to bridge the gap between complex scholarship and the search for understanding. New episodes feature immersive dialogues that challenge our assumptions and explore the ideas shaping our world.
The Ideal
The Ideal - Spinoza and Unbelief | Dr. Steven Nadler
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Host Shawn Edwards sits down with world-renowned scholar and Pulitzer Prize finalist Professor Steven Nadler to unravel the enduring mystery of Spinoza’s true beliefs. We dive headfirst into the debate of whether Spinoza's "God or Nature" implies a deeply spiritual pantheism or a radical, materialistic atheism.
Plus, we get an exclusive look into Professor Nadler's upcoming book, Spinoza, Atheist, where he settles the score on just how radical the 17th-century philosopher actually was.
Dr. Steven Nadler is the Vilas Research Professor and the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Director of the Institute for Research in the Humanities at UW-Madison.