Episode #243 ... Hamlet - William Shakespeare

In this episode of Philosophize This!, Stephen West delves into Shakespeare's Hamlet, offering a philosophical exploration of the play through the lenses of Nietzsche, Hegel, Benjamin, Simon Critchley, and Jamieson Webster. He contrasts traditional interpretations with a modern, tragic perspective, examining Hamlet's moral confusion and paralysis. The episode explores themes of Renaissance humanism, the collision of moral guidance, and the emergence of the modern surveillance state, suggesting that Hamlet's internal struggles and Ophelia's tragic fate reveal deeper truths about knowledge, love, and the human condition. Ultimately, the podcast challenges listeners to reconsider Hamlet as a play about nihilism, where characters are reduced to nothing by their circumstances and inabilities to act or love.