Beyond the Text: The Intellectual Historian's Podcast

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Does thinking about death set us free, or keep us trapped by fear? In the second episode of our Montaigne series, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson explore philosophy as preparation for death, the relationship between virtue and pleasure, and an education that develops judgement rather than merely filling the memory. We then ask how attention to ordinary life and bodily limits changes Montaigne’s approach to mortality.

Beyond the Text brings historical texts into conversation.
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Montaigne, Episode 2 of 3.

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In the first episode of our Montaigne series, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson ask why Michel de Montaigne made himself the subject of his Essays. We explore his classical education, friendship and public life, his retreat to the tower library, and how writing became a way to examine a mind that keeps changing. Is his apparent candour straightforward honesty, literary performance, or a way of teaching readers to exercise judgement?

Beyond the Text brings historical texts into conversation.
Explore more: https://beyondthetext.co.uk
Follow The Intellectual Historian: @theintellectualhistorian

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When does an argument among citizens become a threat to political peace? In the final conversation of this Hobbes series, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson turn to De Cive to examine public disagreement, rival claims to authority and the dangers Hobbes associates with faction. The discussion completes the arc from fear, through sovereignty, to the stability of a commonwealth.

Read alongside us:
Thomas Hobbes, De Cive, chapter 12, especially sections 1, 8 and 11–13: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Philosophicall_Rudiments_Concerning_Government_and_Society/Chapter_XII

Beyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.uk/

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What problem does political authority solve, and what do we give up when we create it? In the second of three conversations, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson read Hobbes’s account of conflict, covenant and sovereignty in Leviathan. They ask why people might consent to a common power and where the obligation to obey meets the need for self-preservation.

Read alongside us:
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Part I, chapters 13–14; Part II, chapters 17 and 21: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3207/3207-h/3207-h.htm

Beyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.uk/

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The first of three Beyond the Text conversations on Thomas Hobbes. Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson begin with Hobbes’s life, the political upheaval around him, and the place of fear in his account of human beings. How did those experiences shape the argument for political authority?

Read alongside us:
John Aubrey, “Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury,” Brief Lives, vol. 1: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47787/47787-h/47787-h.htm
Thomas Hobbes, De Cive, Author’s Preface: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Philosophicall_Rudiments_Concerning_Government_and_Society/Authors_Preface

Beyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.uk/