The Delphic Podcasts by Michael R D James, Review of Campbells "Myths to Live By" Season 14 Episode 12

"Shakespeares Philosophical Theatre: Plays and Poetry for all Seasons" Summary of Chapter 5 featured in "The Delphic Podcasts" by Michael R D James: Season 15 Episode 6

Rhetoric and Psychology lost their characters at the end of the 1800's and this was due to a loss of commitment to ancient institutions such as the Church and a waning of commitment to the Rationality of the Ancient Greek and Enlightenment Philosophy of Kant. Herder claims that Shakespeare soul  is aging and withering. The Platonic dialogues relating to the trial and last days of Socrates have not aged but it is not yet clear whether this will also eventually be the case for the work of Shakespeare http://michaelrdjames.org [http://michaelrdjames.org] Delphic Podcast

"Shakespeares Philosophical Theatre: Plays and Poetry for all Seasons" Summary of Chapter 4 featured in "The Delphic Podcasts" by Michael R D James: Season 15 Episode 5

The Symbolism of confessional language is to be compared with the symbolism of many of Shakespeares soliloquys where transcendental intentions reach back to the origin of all things and forward to a future end or telos of things. Freuds religious views are more iconoclastic than Kants views which seeks to retore a role for religion within the bounds of Reason. There is an apparent conflict between the Holy and the Just which Socrates addresses in Plato's dialogue, "Euthyphro". Civilisation building projects must be influenced by a telos of a Culture or morally governed whole which is necessary if  civilisation is not to descend into a state of ruin and destruction http://michaelrdjames.org [http://michaelrdjames.org] Delphic Podcast

"Shakespeares Philosophical Theatre: Plays and Poetry for all Seasons" Summary of Chapter 3 featured in "The Delphic Podcasts" by Michael R D James: Season 15 Episode 4

T S Eliot did not believe Shakespeares work to be Philosophical because of his view that Religion and Philosophy shared an intimate relation which the Ancient Greeks did not believe was the case. The Ancient Greek Gods praised what is just more than what was holy and the trinity of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were in agreement. Our Western Christian Religion views mans soul as flawed with sin, requiring the worship of of a Superior Being which in the eyes of many modern Philosophers may be merely a figment of our imaginations given the lack of belief in one universal God. http://michaelrdjames.org [http://michaelrdjames.org] Delphic Podcast

"Shakespeares Philosophical Theatre: Plays and Poetry for All Seasons" (Publisher Austin Macaulay) Summary of Chapter 2 featured in "The Delphic Podcasts" by Michael R D James Season 15 Episode 3)

The Role of History in Shakespeare has not been examined sufficiently, perhaps because of the ambiguity of various remarks Aristotle made in his work on the "Poetics". Weil points out that History like many other  disciplines in various categories of the sciences has a hylomorphic Structure. We argue that there are a number of arguments which support reclassifying many of Shakespeares plays. The organ of speech is best positioned to represent our relation to other things and is therefore the origin of many of the  performing arts. Hamlets soliloquy manifests many of the modern concerns we have about the role of consciousness in our lives. Critics however, sometimes overcomplicate Hamlets motivations http://michaelrdjames.org [http://michaelrdjames.org] Delphic Podcast

"Shakespeares Philosophical Theatre: Plays and Poetry for All Seasons" (Publisher Austin Macaulay) Summary of Chapter 1 featured in "The Delphic Podcasts" by Michael R D James Season 15 Episode 2

Aesthetic ideas are used by Shakespeare to "show" the reach of the powers of the imagination, understanding and Reason. We are taken on a hypnotic cosmopolitan journey into the worlds of Emperors, Kings, Queens, Princes, soldiers, lawyers, merchants, university students, sailors tyrants and murderers in familiar and exotic places of the world. Hamlet is merely an indecisive youthful university student/lover who happens to be a Prince in a difficult situation in which his father was murdered. He represents our modern form of consciousness which as Norththrop Frye claims "kills" action with its inaction, its  inhibitive function. http://michaelrdjames.org [http://michaelrdjames.org] Delphic Podcast