Benedict Beckeld was born in Uppsala, Sweden, and grew up in both Uppsala and Stockholm before moving to New York in his early teens. His academic journey is remarkable, spanning continents and prestigious institutions.
He has a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Greek, and Latin from Heidelberg University and his lived studied and taught in France, Italy and Germany. Benedict speaks several languages that we use today as well as ancient Greek and latin. He has a deep understanding of history, art, philosophy. In short. They don’t make them like this anymore. Benedict is a prolific writer whose work spans philosophy, memoir, and poetry. His intellectual pursuits focus on aesthetics, contemporary culture, political philosophy, the philosophy of history, and ancient Greece—fields in which he continues to make significant contributions. In this episode we will be talking about his book on the history of oikophobia in the West with the very apt title Western Self-Contempt. Although I don’t agree with Benedict on free will, I found the book very entertaining and interesting and I think as a study of oikophobia in the west it is indispensable. Not only because this might be the only real book on the subject but also because he shows in a very convincing way that the fall of civilisations is baked into their rise and that history seems to behave in helical cyclical fashion because of human nature. If all that sounds a bit complicated we are fortunate enough to have the author here to explain what he means. This conversation is in two parts. Enjoy!
