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Long-form philosophy content for late-night listening and deep focus. We cover the big thinkers - from the Stoics and Aristotle to Camus, Nietzsche, and Dostoevsky - explained in a calm, steady voice that keeps things interesting without being overstimulating. If you want something substantial to think about during quiet hours, or just appreciate philosophy delivered at a relaxed pace, this is for you.

10H AGO

Hermeticism | The Ancient Wisdom of Hermes Trismegistus

In ancient Egypt, a figure known as Hermes Trismegistus, the Thrice Greatest, was said to hold the deepest secrets of the cosmos. The Greeks merged their god Hermes with the Egyptian god Thoth, and from that union a philosophy was born, one that would quietly shape Western thought for two thousand years. This exploration traces the complete story of Hermeticism, from its origins in Hellenistic Alexandria through the Corpus Hermeticum and the Emerald Tablet, through the Renaissance revival that captivated Ficino, Bruno, and Newton, and into its lasting legacy in Western esotericism and philosophy. We examine the principle of correspondence, the path of gnosis, the soul's descent into matter and its ascent back to the divine, and the vision of a cosmos where everything connects to everything else through hidden chains of meaning. Hermeticism was never just one tradition. It was a conversation, spanning continents and centuries, about what the universe is made of, what we truly are, and whether we can remember what we have forgotten. Please listen only in safe, restful contexts. CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Hermes Trismegistus and the Origins of Ancient Wisdom(00:25:16) The Corpus Hermeticum and the Divine Mind(00:56:13) The Emerald Tablet and the Principle of Correspondence(01:24:39) The Seven Hermetic Principles(01:48:35) Cosmology, Creation, and the Structure of Reality(02:09:41) The Human Soul and the Path to Gnosis(02:31:15) Ethics, Virtue, and Spiritual Transformation(02:49:50) Hermeticism in Late Antiquity, Philosophy and Religion(03:10:23) The Renaissance Revival and the Hermetic Tradition(03:29:39) The Legacy of Hermeticism in Western Thought Support the channel: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/sleepyphilo/subscribe

3h 52m
2D AGO

"Something in the World Forces Us to Think" | Deleuze's Complete Philosophy For Sleep

Gilles Deleuze reimagined what philosophy could do. Where most philosophers tried to represent the world, Deleuze wanted to create something entirely new — concepts that make thought move differently. The rhizome. The body without organs. Deterritorialization. Becoming. These are not descriptions of how things are. They are tools for thinking in ways that escape identity, hierarchy, and transcendence. In this episode of Sleepy Philosophy Radio we trace Deleuze's entire philosophical project. How he transformed the way a generation read Nietzsche, Bergson, and Spinoza. How his collaboration with Félix Guattari produced two of the most provocative books of the twentieth century. How he built a philosophy of cinema that changed how we understand film. And how everything points toward a single horizon — immanence. A world with no outside, no transcendent ground, no final explanation. Deleuze is difficult. This guide does not pretend otherwise. But beneath the difficulty lies one of the most ambitious philosophical visions of the last century. Support Sleepy Philosophy Radio and get early access to new episodes:https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/sleepyphilo/subscribe Please listen only in safe, restful contexts. CHAPTERS 0:00:00 An Encounter with Thought0:17:54 A Life Without Incidents0:33:34 Reading as Creation0:53:29 Nietzsche and the Image of Thought1:08:01 Difference and Repetition1:23:17 The Virtual and the Actual1:39:50 Logic of Sense1:57:02 Meeting Guattari2:10:33 Anti-Oedipus2:28:32 Capitalism and Schizophrenia2:43:22 A Thousand Plateaus2:59:45 What Is a Body?3:13:43 Cinema3:32:01 What Is Philosophy?3:46:06 The Plane of Immanence

3h 60m
FEB 7

The Philosopher of Pessimism | The Complete Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer believed that the capacity to be alone was the truest mark of intellectual and spiritual development. For him, solitude was not merely the absence of others but the presence of oneself. Only those who had cultivated a rich inner life could truly bear their own company. This three-hour exploration examines Schopenhauer's philosophy of solitude from the ground up. We trace his life from the merchant's son in Danzig, through his father's death, his failed academic career, and his decades as a solitary hermit in Frankfurt. Then we enter his philosophy: the blind Will that drives all existence, the pendulum of pain and boredom, and why most people cannot bear to be alone with themselves. Finally we examine his answers, art, contemplation, the denial of the Will, and the practical wisdom he offered those who chose to remain in the world. Schopenhauer was a pessimist. He did not believe life was good. But he found ways to make it bearable. His philosophy offers not comfort but clarity. For those who have already seen through the cheerful lies, clarity may be the only honest comfort left. CHAPTERS 00:00:00 The Room00:07:25 The Merchant's Son00:15:44 The Failed Professor00:24:29 The Hermit of Frankfurt00:34:38 The World as Will00:42:33 The Pendulum of Pain00:51:41 Other People01:00:38 Boredom and the Inner Void01:09:48 Art as Escape01:18:41 Contemplation and the Pure Subject01:28:06 The Denial of the Will01:38:18 Practical Wisdom01:49:06 The Rewards of Solitude01:58:50 The Dangers of Solitude02:08:53 A Life Worth Living Alone Support Sleepy Philosophy Radio and get early access to new episodes:https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/sleepyphilo/subscribe Please listen only in safe, restful contexts.

2h 22m
FEB 1

Divine Hiddenness and Reasonable Nonbelief: The Problem of God's Silence

When someone prays and hears nothing back, when a sincere seeker finds only silence, what does that tell us about whether God exists? Divine hiddenness is one of philosophy's most emotionally charged problems. If a loving God exists and wants relationship with us, why doesn't he make himself known to those who genuinely seek him? This exploration traces the problem through scripture, mysticism, and contemporary philosophy. We start with the raw experience: the hospital room where prayers go unanswered, the missionary who loses faith, the philosopher who cannot believe despite wanting to. Then through Job crying out from the ash heap, the psalms of lament, Isaiah's testimony that God hides himself. The mystics knew this territory. John of the Cross described the dark night of the soul. Mother Teresa lived it for fifty years, documented in her private letters published after her death. A saint who felt nothing, heard nothing, questioned whether God even existed, and yet continued. Contemporary philosophy has given the problem rigorous form. J.L. Schellenberg's argument from reasonable nonbelief claims that a perfectly loving God would ensure anyone capable of relationship and not resistant to it would be able to believe. But nonresistant nonbelievers exist. People who seek God sincerely and find nothing. Therefore, Schellenberg argues, no perfectly loving God exists. We examine the major responses: the free will defense, the soul-making defense, and alternative conceptions of divine-human relationship. We explore how hiddenness relates to the problem of evil, and whether the argument succeeds as proof of atheism. The question remains unanswered but illuminated. Why the silence? Why do millions pray and hear nothing? Believers and nonbelievers both, each carrying the weight of divine absence or trusting in presence they cannot feel. Please listen only in safe, restful contexts. (00:00) The Silence(00:08:04) What Is Divine Hiddenness?(00:16:20) The Biblical Witness(00:24:45) The Dark Night(00:34:33) Mother Teresa's Letters(00:44:07) Schellenberg's Argument(00:52:29) Who Are the Nonresistant Nonbelievers?(01:00:57) The Free Will Defense(01:11:04) The Soul-Making Defense(01:21:54) The Relationship Response(01:30:15) The Problem Deepened(01:40:19) Hiddenness and Evil(01:51:55) Atheism and the Argument(02:02:07) Living with Hiddenness(02:11:44) The Question That Remains Support the channel: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/sleepyphilo/subscribe

2h 20m
JAN 24

Existential Nihilism: From Nietzsche to Camus

Nothing matters. These two words have haunted Western philosophy since the nineteenth century. This episode traces the complete history of existential nihilism from Schopenhauer's suffocating pessimism through Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor, Nietzsche's death of God, and the existentialist responses of Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus. We conclude with Viktor Frankl's will to meaning and the question as it remains today. Philosophy for the long night. Please listen only in safe, restful contexts. Chapters 00:00:00 Nothing Matters00:10:28 What Is Nihilism?00:21:04 The Cracks in Certainty00:31:42 Schopenhauer's Pessimism00:40:50 The Russian Nihilists00:46:45 Dostoevsky's Challenge00:58:48 Nietzsche and the Death of God01:08:35 The Abyss and Beyond01:18:13 Heidegger and the Nothing01:25:42 Sartre and Radical Freedom01:34:32 Camus and the Absurd01:42:15 Meursault and Sisyphus01:49:29 Frankl and the Will to Meaning01:57:09 The View from Nowhere02:05:44 The Question That Remains Works Referenced: Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Camus, Sartre, Heidegger, Schopenhauer, Frankl, Nagel

2h 14m
JAN 18

The Proof of Islam: Al-Ghazali's Search for Certainty | Complete Philosophy

In 1095, the most famous scholar in the Islamic world could not speak. Al-Ghazali had mastered theology, law, and philosophy, yet standing before thousands in Baghdad, his tongue failed and his body refused food. This three-hour exploration follows his extraordinary journey from orphan in Persia to the heights of medieval intellectual life, through complete psychological collapse, to eleven years wandering as a seeker through Damascus, Jerusalem, and Mecca. We examine his devastating critique of the philosophers, his analysis of pride, envy, and the diseases that corrupt the human heart, and his transformation of Islamic spirituality through The Revival of the Religious Sciences. His arguments about reason and certainty anticipated David Hume by six centuries and influenced thinkers from Maimonides to Thomas Aquinas. Please listen only in safe, restful contexts. (00:00) The Scholar Who Could Not Speak(10:51) The World of Medieval Islam(22:18) From Orphan to the Most Famous Scholar in Baghdad(34:26) The Incoherence of the Philosophers(52:17) The Crisis: When Certainty Collapsed(1:05:57) The Departure: Walking Away from Everything(1:16:47) The Wandering Years: Damascus, Jerusalem, Mecca(1:28:10) The Revival of the Religious Sciences(1:44:21) The Diseases of the Heart(1:56:35) The Path to Certainty: Beyond Reason to Experience(2:07:45) The Return and the Final Years(2:16:08) Legacy: From Baghdad to the Modern World(2:26:59) The Heart That Sought and Found Music: "Anguish" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

2h 38m
JAN 10

Why Does Evil Exist If God Is Good? | Augustine of Hippo | Complete Philosophy

Why do we do what we know is wrong? Why does nothing ever satisfy us? Augustine of Hippo asked these questions sixteen centuries ago. We are still trying to answer them. This is the complete philosophy of the thinker who shaped Western thought more than almost any figure after Saint Paul. From his African childhood to the streets of Carthage, from nine years with the Manichaeans to the garden in Milan where everything changed. We explore his revolutionary ideas: evil as the absence of good, the will divided against itself, time existing only in the mind, memory as a palace larger than the world, and two cities built on two loves that have been at war since the beginning of history. Augustine was brilliant, passionate, and sometimes wrong. But his questions remain our questions, and his restless heart still speaks to ours. Chapters 0:00:00 You Have Made Us for Yourself0:08:41 Thagaste and the World of Roman Africa0:16:34 Monica and Patricius, The Mother and the Father0:25:32 Carthage, Pleasure, Ambition, and the Unnamed Woman0:34:48 The Theft of the Pears, Why We Do Wrong0:41:45 The Manichaeans, Light, Darkness, and the Problem of Evil0:49:52 The Hortensius and the Love of Wisdom0:56:42 Milan, Ambrose, the Platonists, and the Crisis1:04:59 The Garden, Tolle Lege1:11:54 Baptism, Monica's Death, and the Return to Africa1:20:11 The Confessions, The Invention of the Self1:27:38 The Problem of Evil, Where Does It Come From?1:34:52 Evil as Privation, The Absence of Good1:41:23 Free Will and the Bondage of the Will1:48:23 Pelagius and the Controversy Over Grace1:54:12 Original Sin, The Inheritance of Adam2:00:36 Predestination, The Terrible Logic2:06:53 What Is Time?2:13:10 Memory, The Vast Palace Within2:18:40 The Sack of Rome and the Two Cities2:24:56 The City of God and the City of Man2:30:39 The Bishop of Hippo, Donatists, Coercion, and the Last Years2:37:07 The Restless Heart That Shaped the West Music: "Anguish" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

2h 44m
JAN 3

"God is Dead" | Nietzsche's Complete Philosophy

God is dead. But Friedrich Nietzsche did not proclaim this as triumph. He diagnosed it as catastrophe. For two thousand years, Western civilization rested on a foundation that has now collapsed: the God who guaranteed meaning, grounded morality, and promised redemption no longer commands belief. Nietzsche foresaw that the twentieth century would become an age of nihilism, when the highest values devalue themselves and nothing seems to matter anymore. This complete 3-hour exploration traces Nietzsche's life and philosophy from beginning to end. Born the son of a Lutheran pastor in 1844, Nietzsche became one of the most influential and misunderstood philosophers in history. We follow his journey through profound loneliness, chronic illness, brilliant insights, and tragic collapse, examining the masterworks that emerged from his suffering: The Birth of Tragedy, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, and On the Genealogy of Morals. Core concepts explored:The death of God and the crisis of meaning | Will to power as life's fundamental drive | Eternal recurrence as the ultimate test of life-affirmation | The Übermensch and the last man | Amor fati: loving one's fate | Master morality versus slave morality | Ressentiment and the revaluation of values | The Dionysian and Apollinian in Greek tragedy Key relationships and influences:Richard Wagner, Lou Salomé, Arthur Schopenhauer, and the biographical forces that shaped his thinking. Addressing the misreadings:We directly confront the Nazi appropriation of Nietzsche's work and his sister Elisabeth's distortions. Nietzsche explicitly opposed nationalism and anti-Semitism throughout his life. His actual philosophy offers profound insights into creating meaning after traditional foundations collapse, saying yes to life despite suffering, and living without cosmic justification. Influence and legacy:Nietzsche's ideas shaped Sigmund Freud, Martin Heidegger, existentialism, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and contemporary philosophy. The questions he posed about nihilism, values, and human flourishing remain urgently relevant today. CHAPTERS: 00:00:00 God Is Dead and We Have Killed Him00:09:18 Röcken and the Shadow of the Father00:18:57 Schulpforta, Philology, and the Discovery of Schopenhauer00:29:26 Wagner: The Surrogate Father and the Total Artwork00:38:52 The Birth of Tragedy: Dionysus Against Socrates00:48:06 The Break with Wagner: Parsifal and the Wound00:56:48 The Free Spirit: Human, All Too Human01:07:12 The Wanderer and His Shadow: A Decade of Solitude01:17:54 Lou Salomé: The Love That Failed01:27:19 Thus Spoke Zarathustra: The Book for Everyone and No One01:39:34 Camel, Lion, Child: The Metamorphoses of the Spirit01:49:13 The Übermensch and the Last Man02:00:17 Eternal Recurrence: The Greatest Weight02:11:01 Beyond Good and Evil: Master and Slave02:20:20 The Genealogy of Morals: Guilt, Conscience, and the Ascetic Ideal02:32:05 Ressentiment and the Revaluation of Values02:41:15 Amor Fati: Loving One's Fate02:50:42 The Final Year: Twilight, Antichrist, Ecce Homo03:01:06 The Collapse in Turin03:11:20 Elisabeth and the Nietzsche Archive03:21:54 Misreadings: The Nazi Appropriation and Its Refutation03:32:02 Why Nietzsche Still Matters Sources:Based on authoritative translations by Walter Kaufmann and R.J. Hollingdale, and drawing on biographical works by Julian Young, Sue Prideaux, Rüdiger Safranski, and Curtis Cate, along with scholarly interpretations by Brian Leiter, Alexander Nehamas, and Maudemarie Clark. Music: "Anguish" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

3h 43m

5

out of 5

2 Ratings

Long-form philosophy content for late-night listening and deep focus. We cover the big thinkers - from the Stoics and Aristotle to Camus, Nietzsche, and Dostoevsky - explained in a calm, steady voice that keeps things interesting without being overstimulating. If you want something substantial to think about during quiet hours, or just appreciate philosophy delivered at a relaxed pace, this is for you.

Creator

SleepyPhilo
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

19
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© SleepyPhilo
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