A Life Between Worlds
Samuel Loncar, Ph.D. (Yale) is a philosopher, artist, and editor curating and creating new knowledge at the intersection of science, religion, art, and technology.
Born in Athens, Greece, his ancestors’ diverse origins give him global roots: in Okinawa, Japan, among the Chippewa (or Ojibwe) people, and in Eastern Europe (Poland and Croatia), and motivate his mission to unite the ancient and the modern.
While earning his Ph.D. at Yale, Samuel was a Junior Fellow at the MacMillan Center’s Initiative on Religion, Politics, and Society, a John H. Hord Fellow, and the recipient of a Baron Foundation Grant for his research on antisemitism.
Samuel’s work focuses on the ancient-modern continuum in metaphysics and theology, the German tradition, and the relationship between philosophy, science, technology, and religion. He’s the Editor-in-Chief of the Marginalia Review of Books , the Director of the Meanings of Science Project (with support from the Templeton Foundation), the co-founder and architect of The Writing College, and the host of Becoming Human, a podcast featuring his work as a teacher and interviewer.
He has taught at Yale University, Bamberg University, and offers workshops, consultations, and classes on philosophy, religion, and technology.
His writing has been read at Google, taught in classes and universities across the world, and translated into Chinese and Farsi. As a consultant and speaker he has worked with the United Nations, Oliver Wyman, and Redbull Arts. In all his work, he blends scholarly and creative concerns and seeks to help people ask and answer life’s largest questions.
His book, Saving Knowledge: Philosophy as Science and Religion from Plato to Posthumanism, is forthcoming from Columbia University Press.
“Truth is not a thing in your head.
It is a path you walk with your feet.”
Samuel Loncar, Episode 4, Origins
Eros, Magic, and Immortality:
The Myth of Diotima, Plato’s Symposium
Science, magic, and immortality all lead back to the same ancient god: Eros.
The history of revolutionary advances in humanity, the Holy Grail, and Ray Kurzweil’s Singularity can all be traced back to a single myth, the Myth of Diotima, found in Plato’s Symposium—the most literarily intricate of all Plato’s dialogues.
Diotima, the mysterious wise woman from Mantinea, reveals to Socrates the secret of immortality. Central to that ancient mystery is Eros (Love).
This three episode series on the Symposium and the Myth of Diotima explores Socrates’ integrated vision of Eros that unifies the sensuality of the bedroom, the most rarified delights of mathematical epiphany, and the experience of mystical enlightenment.
The Existential Enlightenment:
An Introduction to Søren Kierkegaard
From the rationalism of the Enlightenment to the dark freedom of Existentialism, there is a hidden path, passing through the abyss of human depravity into a new, scientifically rigorous psychology of the human self.
Often attacked or celebrated for his supposed irrationalism and attack on the Enlightenment, Kierkegaard is in fact the truest inheritor of the Enlightenment’s core values, for he shows how a commitment to rigorous rationality and human progress must confront the paradoxical essence of human existence.
The struggle of Enlightenment humanism to face the problem of evil, particularly after the Lisbon Earthquake, led to the immense yet unstable achievements of Immanuel Kant, who recognized a defect in human’s relationship to their own rationality. Seeking to uphold the sovereignty of Reason while preserving the insights of religion and morality, the contested inheritance of the Kantian legacy gave birth to German Idealism.
Situating Kierkegaard in the context of the Enlightenment, German Idealism, and the abyssal anthropology of Martin Luther, this course offers a detailed historical and philosophical introduction to Kierkegaard’s core ideas. Combining historical rigor with a strong focus on the existential and contemporary relevance of Kierkegaard, it is an ideal introduction for new and experienced students of Kierkegaard. The Existential Enlightenment offers insight into the meaning of history, the fate of religion, and the role of despair in human liberation, showing how the project of Existentialism and the Enlightenment meet in the path of Søren Kierkegaard
Public Lectures
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It’s Not Being and Time: A New Interpretation of Sein und Zeit
A century ago, in a period of global turmoil, crisis, and despair, Martin Heidegger published a revolutionary response to the question, what does it mean to be, creating the foundations of Existentialism and reshaping philosophy, atheism, and religion across the world. His book, Sein und Zeit, was first translated into English in 1962 as Being and Time.
Based on a decade of research at Yale University, my original interpretation of Sein und Zeit, using only the German text and my own translations, reveals for the first time that Heidegger’s work has been mistranslated and therefore misunderstood as Being and Time. Listen to my 8 episode public lecture series on YouTube and watch a cinematic lecture from my audio course: The Mystery of Existence: An Original Audio Course on Martin Heidegger's Sein und Zeit.
Søren Kierkegaard: The poet of Existence
On Nov. 11, 1855, after an astoundingly rich yet brief life, Søren Aabye Kierkegaard died. He requested his epitaph read simply: “That Individual.” The “single individual” is the soul of Kierkegaard’s work, but what does it mean to become an individual?
Often called the "Father of Existentialism," Kierkegaard is essential for understanding the rise of Existentialism, its nature, and why it has so deeply shaped our culture. Our culture has accepted Existentialism intellectually, but rejected it existentially. Exploring the complex character of Existentialism as a spiritual revolution connected to ancient philosophy, the 8 lecture public lecture series shows how Kierkegaard illuminates the meaning of our own time.
Plato for everyone
Plato is universally regarded as a major figure, yet he is rarely studied and has essentially no role in most academic institutions. I suggest this lies in the true nature of his work, which is closer to what we today call psychology than academic philosophy.
You can listen to this entire public lecture series on my YouTube channel.
The Bible & Philosophy: A Public lecture Series
How does the Bible relate to philosophy?
The first lecture in a series, The Bible and Philosophy: The Jewish Revolution, explains why the Bible must be understood as the most important contribution to Greek philosophy after Plato and his school. The discussion focuses on the religious biases of biblical studies, the importance of the Septuagint for Greek philosophy, and the significance of Philo of Alexandria.
You can listen to this entire public lecture series on YouTube.
Conversations
Philosophy, Roomba, & Taco Carts: A CONVERSATION with Chef Arturo Franco CAmacho | Becoming Human Project
Chef Arturo Franco Camacho is the Culinary Director and Executive Chef of three of New Haven’s best restaurants. Trained at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), the world’s premiere culinary college, he has worked as a chef at restaurants in Spain, France, and London, and spent five years as chef aboard the world’s top cruise ship, the Queen Elizabeth II. In this conversation, Chef Franco talks about his love of cooking with his mom and grandmother in Mexico at an early age, his brief time in dentist’s school, and how, despite training and working in top kitchens, he was denied work as a chef in Hew Haven, which lead him to create New Haven’s first taco cart on Yale’s campus.
Listen Philosophy, Roomba, & Taco Carts: A CONVERSATION with Chef Arturo Franco Camacho
The Paradigm Shift: A New Vision of Science and Religion with Peter Harrison | Meanings of Science Project
Peter Harrison is one of the leading scholars of science and religion. The former Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University, he is Professor Emeritus at the University of Queensland and the Co-Director of our Meanings of Science Project. In this conversation, we discuss how science relates to philosophy, religion, and history, the role of cultural imperialism in Western scholarship, the origins of experimental science, the connection between science and anthropology, and why we look to science for salvation.
Read The Paradigm Shift: A New Vision of Science and Religion with Peter Harrison
LORRAINE DASTON on WHY Science needs history and why einstein wouldn’t be published today | MEanings of Science Project
Lorraine Daston, historian of science and Director emerita of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin on what can happen when we ask scientists to be cultural authorities, the history of science as relates to moral and ethical training, the crisis of peer-review, the perks and problems of working in strictly defined disciplines, and the strengths of an international scientific community.
Read Does Science Need History?: A Conversation with Lorraine Daston
Science Is a Long Story: A Conversation with Tom McLeish | Meanings of Science Project
Tom McLeish FRS, (May 1, 1962 – February 27, 2023) was a physicist and Emeritus Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Department of Physics at the University of York, UK. In this illuminating conversation, he shares his passion for everything from soft matter and polymers to Cappadocian theologians and the idea of resurrection. We begin with McLeish’s journey into the scientific world, which in part was inspired by his grandmother, a botanist and lay preacher in the Church of England.
Read Science is A Long Story: A Conversation with Tom McLeish
Philip Ball on Quantum physics | MEanings of Science Project
Philip Ball, former editor of Nature and The Royal Society winner of the Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal, shares his perspective on the writing process, the history of science, and the future of knowledge.
Read For the Life of Science: Philip Ball on Quantum Physics and The Writing Life
A SMall Good Thing
John Wilson, Editor of Books & Culture, had a lively conversation with me on what editors do, how annoying they can be, and what makes the magazine such a delightful form of literature, among other topics.
Read: A Small Good Thing: An Interview with John Wilson, Editor of Books & Culture
cosmic humility | Meanings of Science project
Avi Loeb, Harvard Astrophysicist and founder of the Galileo Project, shares why we need cosmic humility and why it is critical for the future of science.
Read or watch Cosmic Humility: Harvard’s Avi Loeb on Extraterrestrials and The Future of Science and find more interviews, reviews, and essays from the Meanings of Science project.
Golden Sea | Mineral Pigments and Gold on Kumohada, 80×64″, Collection of Roberta and Howard Ahmanson © 2011 Makoto Fujimura
MAKOTO FUJIMURA | BECOMING HUMAN: EXPLORATIONS
Makoto Fujimura is an internationally recognized artist who has developed a unique fusion of traditional Japanese painting, Nihonga, with abstract expressionism. A leading writer, speaker, and thinker on the intersection of art, faith, and culture, Fujimura published Art and Faith: A Theology of Making, with Yale University Press in 2021. Listen to this conversation, where Fujimura shares his story and his wisdom on how art is a way of becoming human, how it can help us live with suffering, and even reveal the divine world in everyday life.
Cloud of Petals | Panelist
Sarah Meyohas and Samuel Loncar in conversation moderated by Trevor Paglen for the launch of Meyohas’ “Cloud of Petals” exhibition catalogue.
Read Samuel Loncar’s essay, “Ascending to The Cloud: Art After Humanity,” in the exhibition catalogue.
Decolonizing Philosophy
Philosophers Carlos Fraenkel and Peter Adamson in conversation with me about Islam, reason, and religion.
Science & Human Values | Meanings of Science project
Peter Harrison, Australian Laureate Fellow and director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University Queensland, discusses the public understanding of science and religion in the modern world.
Read Science and Human Values: A Conversation with Peter Harrison
poetry, politics, & REligion
Poet, theologian, and host of NPR’s Poetry Unbound, Pádraig Ó Tuama on poetry in Ireland, activism, the death of god, and the work of conflict resolution.
Read Poetry, Politics, Religion, and Peace: An Interview with Pádraig Ó Tuama