Reason, Imagination, and Realit‪y‬: Douglas Hedley and Stephen Blackwood

What connects truth, imagination, and freedom?

Stephen Blackwood talks with philosopher and theologian Douglas Hedley about the human mind and its participation in a fundamentally knowable universe. The conversation begins with an introduction to three foundational aspects of the Platonic tradition — beauty, nature, and self-knowledge — and to the influences of that tradition throughout history, extending from modern science and the Enlightenment to contemporary understandings of beauty and human rights. They discuss the mind's extraordinary and complementary capacities of imagination and rationality in making and understanding the world. They conclude with a discussion of dominant contemporary ideologies — both materialist determinism and the philosophies of power — and consider ways of regaining a more adequate standpoint.

Image:  Pompeii ruins, Piazza Immacolata, Pompei, Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy.