The ARI Bookshelf Explores The Visionaries

A new ARI podcast series gives you a window into ARI’s educational programs by showcasing our faculty as they discuss books of recent interest. The series, the ARI Bookshelf, premiered on August 6 with an episode discussing Wolfram Eilenberger’s book The Visionaries. Panelists included Ben Bayer, Jason Rheins, Greg Salmieri, and Shoshana Milgram.

The visionaries of the book’s title are four mid-twentieth century female philosophers: Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, and Ayn Rand.

Through interweaving biographies of these four figures, the book aims to show, as its subtitle puts it, “the power of philosophy in dark times.” According to Ben Bayer, “this was a very interesting book to read, especially because of the kind of novelistic quality of it, where you’re not just reading about their ideas, but you’re seeing what’s happening in their lives […] against the backdrop of some pretty dramatic geopolitical events of the period.”

Among the topics covered:

• Panelists’ general takes on the book;
• How Simone Weil’s philosophy causes her to martyr herself;
• The thematic unity of the four figures;
• The significance of the four figures being women;
• The book’s sloppy treatment and misrepresentation of Rand;
• How the book whitewashes evil;
• Why the book may be worth reading.

The video premiered on August 6, 2024.