Best James Wilson Institute Podcasts (2025)

1
Ep. 102: Is America The Bad Guy? Exploring the Myth of American Exceptionalism 1:01:29

3d ago1:01:29

1:01:29

In this episode, Jacob Winograd digs into one of the most uncomfortable questions Christians and libertarians can ask: What if America isn’t the hero of the story? Tracing U.S. foreign policy from the Spanish-American War through 9/11 and into the present day, Jacob explores how the language of liberty, democracy, and even Christianity has been wea…

1
321 | David Tong on Open Questions in Quantum Field Theory 1:19:25

3d ago1:19:25

1:19:25

Quantum field theory is the basis for our most successful theories of fundamental physics. And yet, there are things we don't understand about it. Some of these puzzles are relatively well-known, while others are less celebrated. David Tong joins us to talk about some of the more interesting and perplexing aspects of quantum field theory. He also d…

1
Judicial Courage with Judge Janice Rogers Brown 44:10

9d ago44:10

44:10

Join us for this special episode featuring Judge Janice Rogers Brown (U.S. Circuit Court for D.C, ret.). Her remarks, given in 2023 as she received the James Wilson Leadership & the Law Award, comment on the need for judicial courage and fortitude, especially for those who take the Natural Law seriously.…

1
Ep. 101: What is Degeneracy? How the Christian Right Dehumanizes Their Neighbors 56:37

10d ago56:37

56:37

In this episode of Biblical Anarchy, Jacob Winograd unpacks a provocative question: why do many Christians fixate on sexual immorality—like drag shows and pornography—while giving a pass to the far greater evils of state-sanctioned violence, unjust wars, and economic destruction? Reflecting on a recent controversy involving journalist Glenn Greenwa…

1
AMA | July 2025 4:03:26

12d ago4:03:26

4:03:26

Welcome to the July 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questio…

1
Radical Ideology or American Empire? Can Islam Peacefully Coexist with the West? 1:58:51

17d ago1:58:51

1:58:51

In this episode of the Biblical Anarchy Podcast, host Jacob Winograd welcomes a special guest, Casser, for a bonus episode that delves deep into the Israel-Palestine conflict from a libertarian perspective. They discuss the historical context of Zionism, the influence of various libertarian thinkers, and the implications of applying libertarian pri…

1
320 | Solo: Complexity and the Universe 2:14:44

19d ago2:14:44

2:14:44

Our universe started out looking very simple: hot, dense, smooth, rapidly expanding. According to our best current model, it will end up looking simple once again: cold, dark, empty. It's in between -- now, roughly speaking -- that things look complex. I have been working to understand the stages by which complexity comes into existence, thrives, a…

1
Natural Property Rights with Prof. Eric Claeys 47:29

23d ago47:29

47:29

What are the pre-political grounds of property rights? What are the just uses of property according to natural rights and the natural law? In this Anchoring Truths Podcast episode, Prof. Eric Claeys, presents his research on these questions inspired by his new book Natural Property Rights. Claeys, discusses the ways a natural right to property is j…

1
319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the World 1:12:39

26d ago1:12:39

1:12:39

It is common to refer to philosophy as "a series of footnotes to Plato." But in the original quote, Alfred North Whitehead was more careful: he limited his characterization to "the European philosophical tradition." There are other traditions, both ancient and ongoing: Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, Africana philosophy, and various indigeno…

1
Can We Stop World War 3 By...Grilling? The Danger of Putting Faith in Politics 1:21:42

1M ago1:21:42

1:21:42

In this bonus episode of Biblical Anarchy, host Jacob Winograd re-releases a recent livestream from the LCI Greenroom featuring Chris Spangle, founder of the We Are Libertarians podcast network. As tensions rise with Iran and the world inches closer to another war, the conversation explores a provocative question: What if the most rational response…

1
318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economics 1:20:39

1M ago1:20:39

1:20:39

Economics is seeing an upsurge in the importance of controlled, reproducible empirical studies. One area where this has had a great impact is on development economics, which studies the economies of low- and middle-income societies. Edward Miguel has been at the forefront of both the revolution in empirical methods, and in applying those techniques…

1
Lincoln's Prophetic Statesmanship with Edward Erler 50:53

1M ago50:53

50:53

In the pantheon of intellectual giants of modernconservatism, standing first among equals is the late professor Harry Jaffa. Jaffa, who influenced generations of students from his academic perch at Claremont Graduate University, might have been the 20th century’s greatest scholar on the thought of Abraham Lincoln. Jaffa, who along with JWI Founder …

1
Ep. 100: Christian Anarchy Is Going Mainstream – And That's a Good Thing 1:08:27

1M ago1:08:27

1:08:27

Christian anarchism used to be a fringe idea—even within libertarian and Christian circles. But something has changed. In this special 100th episode of the Biblical Anarchy Podcast, host Jacob Winograd reflects on the journey from the early Daniel 3 Podcast days to now, and how the word "anarchy" went from being controversial to central. Joined by …

1
317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders 1:14:50

1M ago1:14:50

1:14:50

The human brain is extremely complicated, but decades of careful neuroscientific research have revealed quite a bit about how it works, including how certain genes affect particular brain behaviors. Nevertheless, this progress has not led to quite as much improvement in the treatment of brain disorders as we might expect. I talk with neuroscientist…

1
Ep. 99: Is James Lindsay Twisting Just War Theory to Defend Israel? 34:24

1M ago34:24

34:24

In this episode of the Biblical Anarchy Podcast, Jacob Winograd takes aim at James Lindsay’s recent comments on Israel’s war in Gaza and challenges him for doing the very thing he criticizes in others: abandoning principle for political tribe. While Lindsay often warns about the “woke right” using moral language to mask power grabs, Jacob argues th…

1
AMA | June 2025 3:23:07

2M ago3:23:07

3:23:07

Welcome to the June 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questio…

1
Best of Times & Worst of Times for Pro-Life Movement? Featuring Jennie Bradley Lichter 53:46

2M ago53:46

53:46

Could it possibly be the best of times as well as the worst of times for the pro-life movement? This has been a topic we have visited before on this show. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs case, immediate celebration met the harsh realities of how divided the country remains on abortion. The political reaction to the Dobbs decisio…

1
Ep. 98: Why the Relationship Between Israel and Christians Matters 51:20

2M ago51:20

51:20

In this deeply personal and theologically grounded solo episode, Jacob Winograd explores the question: Why do Christian libertarians—and Christians more broadly—need to talk about Israel? With a fusion of political analysis, historical context, and biblical exegesis, Jacob challenges the theological assumptions that undergird modern Christian Zioni…

1
316 | Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper 1:28:50

2M ago1:28:50

1:28:50

Einstein's general theory of relativity, plus some reasonable assumptions about the universe and what it's made of, has a remarkable implication: that as we trace cosmic evolution into the far past, we ultimately hit a singularity of infinite density and curvature, the Big Bang. Did that really happen? Einstein's theory is classical, after all, and…

1
Ep. 97: Why This Powerful Debate With Andrew Wilson Exposed Christian Nationalism 40:36

2M ago40:36

40:36

One year after stepping into the Crucible debate stage with Andrew Wilson, Jacob Winograd returns to reflect — not to rehash, but to reckon. In this episode, Jacob candidly unpacks what he got right, where he fumbled, and how his thinking has evolved since going toe-to-toe with one of Christian Nationalism’s most articulate defenders. From the limi…

1
315 | Branden Fitelson on the Logic and Use of Probability 1:28:55

2M ago1:28:55

1:28:55

Every time you see an apple spontaneously break away from a tree, it falls downward. You therefore claim that there is a law of physics: apples fall downward from trees. But how can you really know? After all, tomorrow you might see an apple that falls upward. How is science possible at all? Philosophers, as you might expect, have thought hard abou…

1
Make Racism Great Again? The Rise of Identity Politics on the Right with Cody Cook 1:12:13

2M ago1:12:13

1:12:13

In this bonus episode, I sit down with Cody Cook to wrestle with some uncomfortable questions facing the liberty movement today. We talk about the rise of identity politics—not just on the left, but increasingly on the right—and whether libertarianism can offer a true alternative or if it's being co-opted by tribal instincts and reactionary impulse…

1
Fixing Nationwide Injunctions with GianCarlo Canaparo 43:11

2M ago43:11

43:11

Can one federal district court judge, even temporarily, be more powerful than the President of the United States? That’s the issue at the heart of the critical debate over the legal remedy known as the nationwide injunction. The deployment of this legal remedy by federal district court judges has increased significantly in the past ten years, most …

1
314 | Karen Lloyd on the Deep Underground Biosphere 1:09:18

2M ago1:09:18

1:09:18

There are living creatures dwelling deep below the surface of the Earth, as deep as we are able to drill. These hearty microorganisms are related to more familiar life forms on land and under water, but the operate and survive in ways that are quite different from what we're familiar with. They live off of nutrients that have penetrated from the su…

1
Dave Decamp on Iran, Yemen, Ukraine, and Gaza: What Are We Even Doing? 1:12:13

2M ago1:12:13

1:12:13

This is a bonus episode, originally produced as a Livestream from the LCI Greenroom. Here is the original Livestream description: Tonight in the LCI Green Room, Jacob Winograd sits down once again with Dave DeCamp, news editor at Antiwar.com, for a wide-ranging and timely conversation on America’s entanglements abroad. From escalating tensions with…

1
313 | Eric Topol on the Changing Face of Medicine and Aging 1:12:03

2M ago1:12:03

1:12:03

Medical science is advancing at an astonishing rate. Today we talk with leading expert Eric Topol about two aspects of this story. First, the use of artificial intelligence in medicine, especially in diagnostics. This is an area that is a perfect match between an important question and the capabilities of machine learning, to the point where AI can…

1
Restoring the Classical Legal Tradition in Practice and Education with Julia Mahoney 1:02:12

3M ago1:02:12

1:02:12

For a special episode of the Anchoring Truths Podcast, we bring you a presentation featuring Prof. Julia Mahoney of the University of Virginia School of Law. Prof. Mahoney examines how the Classical Legal Tradition has been making a return in American law. She discusses some recent opinions that provide a hopeful opportunity for its return to legal…

1
Ep. 96: What Would You Do? Daryl Cooper, Israel, and Rethinking World War 2 56:47

3M ago56:47

56:47

In this episode of the Biblical Anarchy Podcast, host Jacob Winograd dives deep into the controversial conversations sparked by historian Daryl Cooper, particularly around World War II, Churchill, and the Israel-Gaza conflict. Jacob opens with a gripping monologue inspired by Cooper’s Martyr Made series that humanizes the Palestinian perspective an…

1
AMA | May 2025 3:38:06

3M ago3:38:06

3:38:06

Welcome to the May 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the question…

1
Ep. 95: Dave Smith vs. Douglas Murray: The Important Lesson on History, Power, and Truth 58:13

3M ago58:13

58:13

In this episode of the Biblical Anarchy Podcast, Jacob responds to the recent debate between Dave Smith and Douglas Murray on the Joe Rogan Experience, using it as a springboard to explore the deeper issues at play: narrative control, revisionist history, blowback, and the Christian response to war. Jacob unpacks why labeling alternative historical…

1
312 | Thomas Levenson on the Mutual History of Humans and Germs 1:31:28

3M ago1:31:28

1:31:28

The germ theory of disease is a crowning achievement of science, up there with modern physics, continental drift, and evolution via natural selection. (Even if there will always be cranky skeptics.) But the road to widespread acceptance isn't always an easy one. Why did it take so long between Anton van Leeuwenhoek seeing "animalcules" in a microsc…

1
Combatting Wokism & Utopianism with Daniel Mahoney 1:00:02

3M ago1:00:02

1:00:02

Join the Anchoring Truths Podcast for an episode featuring a scholar quite near and dear to us at the James Wilson Institute, Daniel Mahoney. Mahoney is an affiliated scholar with the James Wilson Institute, and with his latest book he applies his gift of prose to perhaps our most pertinent cultural issue, the rise and possible fall of wokism with …

1
Ep. 94: The True Meaning of Romans 13: Why We Must Stop Saying "We Are the Government" 21:28

3M ago21:28

21:28

In this compelling episode of the Biblical Anarchy Podcast, host Jacob Winograd delves into Murray Rothbard's critical examination of the pervasive myth that "we are the government." By reading and reflecting on a poignant excerpt from Rothbard's Anatomy of the State, Jacob challenges the notion that democratic participation equates to moral compli…

1
311 | Annaka Harris on Whether Consciousness is Fundamental 1:09:58

3M ago1:09:58

1:09:58

Questions about consciousness range from the precise and empirical -- what neurons fire when I have some particular experience -- to the deeply profound -- does consciousness emerge from matter, or does matter emerge from consciousness? While it might be straightforward to think that consciousness arises from the collective behavior of atoms in the…

1
AMA | April 2025 3:30:22

3M ago3:30:22

3:30:22

Welcome to the April 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questi…

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