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The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q9: The New World?
The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q9: The New World?
Mayan Civilization
2,000-750 B.C. earliest developments
750 B.C. to 250 A.D. Cities, construction of monumental architecture
250- 900 A.D. Long Count Calendar and spread of city states. Height of Mayan Civilization
900-1500 Post classical period, shift in power centers, fragmentation.
1500-1600 Contact and conquest by the Spanish
Aztec Civilization
600 A.D. Nahuatl speaking peoples begin to settle in Mexico
600-1400 The Mixica and related groups travel around central Mexico without settling and forming an identifiable civilization.
1435-1522 founding of the Captial city of Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco and expansion of Aztec empire
Aztec Philosophy
Nahua metaphysics is processive. Process, movement, becoming and transmutation are essential attributes of teotl. Teotl is properly understood as ever-flowing and ever-changing energy-in-motion -- not as a discrete, static entity. Because doing so better reflects teotl's dynamic and processual nature, I suggest . . word "teotl" as a verb denoting process and movement rather than as a noun denoting a discrete static entity. So construed, "teotl" refers to the eternal, universal process of teotlizing. James Maffie
"on earth we travel, we live along a mountain peak. Over here there is an abyss, over there there is an abyss. Wherever thou art to deviate, wherever thou art to go astray, there will thou fall, there wilt thou plunge into the deep" (Sahagun 1953-82:VI,p.125).
Mayan Philosophy
It this unfolding that is described by the Popol Vuh itself. The connection of daykeeping to humans as a central function is of particular importance. Humans play a pivotal role in ordering of the cosmos and its continual creation. The ordering of the days does no happen without humans . . . The world is structured in and through time. (Alexus McLeod)
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1. A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 1
53:55||Season 1, Ep. 1LECTURE 1: WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?In my introductory lecture I explore the uniquely powerful role America plays in the contemporary world and the history that underlies its global dominance. 250 years ago, the United states had a tiny population, was loosely organized and beset by internal conflicts. A rapid and massive demographic and geographic expansion brought this relative backwater onto the world stage and then to global dominance. The cultural transformations that proceeded with this transformation created a society that is, for good or ill, extremely influential and uniquely American.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes!Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.
2. A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 2
34:51||Season 1, Ep. 2Q & A #1 - WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture I: "What is an American?" Apologies for the audio quality on this one—it improves as the series moves along.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.
3. A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 3
42:32||Season 1, Ep. 3LECTURE 2: NO HISTORY FOR YOU!In my second lecture I explore the bizarre and necessary historical amnesia that besets American culture. For the first 200 years of American settlement, the Native American culture was forcibly erased, then actively ignored once the ‘Natives’ problem had been “solved”. Also, the invisibility of the African American presence in much of the US, which represented 40-50% of the population in some states, created a further barrier to American history. Finally, the internal patterns of settlement and mass migration cemented a near total disregard for framing our cultural understanding in any historical sensibility.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes!Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.
4. A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 4
38:48||Season 1, Ep. 4Q & A #2 - NO HISTORY FOR YOU! Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture II: No History for You!Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.
5. A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 5
01:02:47||Season 1, Ep. 5LECTURE 3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM:This lecture explores the evolution of the American conception of the individual and why it has become so dominant within American culture. Devoid of a deep history and often in strange surroundings with strange people, many Americans have, for generations, felt thrust out on their own. What for most societies was considered a severe punishment - banishment - became, in America, a common and perhaps necessary mode of life. Over time, a virtue was created from this necessity and the peculiar form of American individualism became cemented as a core element of American values. Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes!Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.
6. A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 6
41:14||Season 1, Ep. 6Q & A #3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISMWes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture III: American IndividualismSign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.
7. A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 7
01:01:30||Season 1, Ep. 7LECTURE 4 - NIHILISTIC MATERIALISMThat American culture is materialistic is an accurate but often unhelpful distinction as it is our particular kind of materialism that America manifests that is important to understand. In this lecture, I explore the peculiar Nihilistic elements that shape American materialism. Significantly, all the standard critiques of materialism - that material goods will not give your life meaning, that shopping is just coping mechanism for deeper ills, that the press of consumerism is driven largely by corporate greed - have little to no grip on the American psyche because everyone knows them and consumes anyway! America combines both a disbelief in consumerism with aggressive consumerism into a curious and counterintuitive set of outlooks and behaviors that shape important elements of American society.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes!Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.
8. A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 8
56:39||Season 1, Ep. 8Q & A #4 - NIHILISTIC MATERIALISMWes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture IV: Nihilistic MaterialismSign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes! Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.
9. A Cultural History of The United States - Ep. 9
51:40||Season 1, Ep. 9LECTURE 5 - AMERICAN CALVINISMIn this lecture I explore the deep and abiding influence of Calvinism on the American cultural outlook. Whether Christian or not, Americans believe in purity, the centrality of moral judgements, visible signs of success and more. These attitudes are rarely traced back to their true origin - the specific beliefs and social forms developed by John Calvin. America is a Calvinist country par excellence.Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes!Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.