The Lightning Podcast

Jay Tolson: All That Is Solid Melts Into Air S2 E1

This week, Zohar is joined by Jay Tolson, editor of the Hedgehog Review, to discuss the meaning of modernity and "late" modernity, the communal spirit of religion and the military, the rising threat of authoritarianism, conspiracy theory, and the promise of moral education.

Kieran Setiya: Philosophy, Self-Help, and AI S1 E25

This week, Zohar is joined by Kieran Setiya, philosopher, MIT Professor, author of Life is Hard and Midlife, and podcast host of Five Questions, to discuss the genre of self-help, brokenness, AI, why moral philosophy can't be outsourced, existentialism, phenomenology, podcasting, the conditions of knowledge, and how to balance the ameliorative and the contemplative.

Martin Gurri: The Crisis of Authority S1 E24

This week, Zohar is joined by Martin Gurri, former CIA analyst and author of The Revolt of the Public, to talk about trust, power, communication, polarization, technology, and strategy in an age of waning institutional legitimacy and fragmented authority.

Leon Kass: The Taming of the Shrewd S1 E23

This week, Zohar is joined by Leon Kass, Dean of Faculty at Shalem College, to discuss the Book of Genesis, Rousseau, Odysseus, moral vs. intellectual virtue, the challenge of transmitting tradition, and the need for clever people to accept their limits.

Peter Cole: The War For The Imagination S1 E22

This week Zohar speaks to Peter Cole, acclaimed poet and translator, about medieval Hebrew and Arabic poetry, Yehuda Amichai, liminality, modernism, solitude and tradition, the sacred and the secular, and the war for the imagination.

Marjorie Perloff: The Once and Future Avant-Garde S1 E21

This week, Zohar is joined by literary critic and Stanford Professor, Marjorie Perloff, to discuss the meaning of the avant-garde, the poetic influence of Wittgenstein, why postmodernism has exhausted itself, whether we should care about popularity, the corrosive effects of mass culture, the novelty of T.S. Eliot and Frank O'Hara, the importance of tradition, and why confessional art is often boring.

Anna Gát: The Art of Dialogue S1 E20

This week, Zohar is joined by Anna Gát, Founder and CEO of Interintellect to talk about the importance of third spaces, how setting high expectations lead to better dialogue, the future of religion, post-political discourse, online community, European vs. American approaches to the Western canon, and the tension between being an author devoted to self expression and a community builder committed to hospitality.Meditations with Zohar is supported by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, bridging the gap between big ideas and real world problems.Read more from Zohar at his Torah newsletter Etz Hasadeh or his philosophy newsletter What is Called Thinking.Meditations with Zohar is a production of SoulShop and Lyceum Studios.

Joe Lonsdale: Rome and Jerusalem S1 E19

This week, Zohar is joined by entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist Joe Lonsdale to discuss optimism, decadence, globalization and tribalism, virtue ethics and utilitarianism, Romans and Jews, The University of Austin and liberal arts, Rabbi Soloveitchik, Hannah Arendt, Michael Polanyi, Nietzsche, and the conflicting values at the heart of Western Civilization.Meditations with Zohar is supported by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, bridging the gap between big ideas and real world problems.Read more from Zohar at his Torah newsletter Etz Hasadeh or his philosophy newsletter What is Called Thinking.Meditations with Zohar is a production of SoulShop and Lyceum Studios.