About — The Eternal Argument

The Idea

The Eternal Argument is a podcast that tells the story of human thought from its earliest beginnings to the present day. It covers philosophy, but not as a dry catalogue of names and dates. Each episode is a story about people wrestling with the hardest questions: What is real? What is good? What are we?

The Structure: An Inverted Pyramid

The series is designed like an inverted pyramid. It starts fast and broad, then slows down and deepens as it approaches the present.

The early eras sweep through centuries in a handful of episodes, giving you the essential foundations. By the later eras, we slow to a crawl, spending entire episodes on a single book or a single argument. The idea is simple: you need the basics before you can go deep.

Era I 2,000 years in 18 episodes

Era II 200 years in 15 episodes

Era III 100 years in 18 episodes

Era IV 50 years in 31 episodes

Era V 40 years in 46 episodes

Era VI 25 years in 40 episodes

Era VII 10 years in 51 episodes

AI-Assisted Content

The scripts, audio, and supporting material for this series are generated with AI assistance. The research is guided by human editorial judgement, but the production uses AI tools for writing, narration, and site development. We believe in being transparent about this.

Start with Episode 1