Episode 9 – Part 3 Panel Discussion Part 2 of Chapter VIII Tertium Organum by P.D. Ouspensky

Philosophy Rekindled

This chapter discussion is in two parts and this is Part 2. In the second part of Chapter 8 our panellists continue to discuss the validity of Ouspensky’s analogy of levels of consciousness comparing animals to humans. Spoiler alert – we don’t agree with Ouspensky on this one. Ouspensky even rallies the support of Aristotle and Bacon to prove his point but we still find holes in his argument. Don’t get us wrong, we still love this book but we call it how we see it right up to and including the very last sentence which surprisingly is absent from the 1920 published version but present in later editions. This last sentence raises some eyebrows as it mentions the concept of ‘the superman’ and we surmise the omission may have been politically motivated but none the less it does potentially reveal something about Ouspensky’s world and the circles he possibly moved in.

To listen to an audio version of the chapter reading, see Part 1 of this episode and to listen to the first part of this panel discussion see Part 2 of this episode.