Back the East West Lecture Series: theeastwestseries.com Join Jacobs Premium: https://www.thenathanjacobspodcast.com/membership The book club (use code LEWIS): https://www.thenathanjacobspodcast.com/offers/aLohje7p/checkout Dr. Jacobs is joined by guest Jonathan Pageau for an in-depth discussion on the nature of symbolic thinking and philosophical realism. They explore how symbols function in reality, the relationship between ancient worldviews and modern nominalism, and the distinction between genuine symbology and eisegesis. The conversation addresses the metaphysical foundations of symbolic interpretation, the role of idealism in understanding reality, and whether symbols are merely useful fictions or constitute the actual structure of the world. All the links: Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/ X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathanandrewjacobs Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:52 Jonathan’s Background 00:17:31 Symbology 101: What is Symbolic Thinking? 00:22:01 Philosophical Realism and Ancient Intuition 00:25:01 Are Symbols Real or Useful Fictions? 00:37:27 Idealism and the Structure of Reality 00:44:02 Christ-Shaped Reality and the Logos 01:12:20 How to Avoid Eisegesis in Symbolic Interpretation 01:23:45 The Danger of Gnostic and Esoteric Fascination 01:28:58 The Problem of Non-Realist Symbolism
