What is a nation? Over the past several weeks, we’ve struggled to come up with an answer that will satisfy everyone, and so this week we decided to tackle an easier question. What is a sandwich? Easy! It is some kind of protein between two pieces of bread, created by none other than that illustrious Englishman, the Earl of Sandwich. But wait a minute. Is a taco a sandwich? What about a hamburger? How about the humble hot dog? For that matter, what makes up a hot dog? (Scratch that; let’s not ask!) The ladies of the Mosaic Ark are discovering that creating a definitive category for anything, whether it be a nation or a sandwich, is not as easy as they thought. Listen as we present and then break many categories, and let us know in the comments that you know KC is right and pineapple does not belong on pizza! —Streamed February 21, 2025

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? KC the realist would say “Yes. The forest and the tree and soundwaves exist irrespective of my presence.” A nominalist would say, “The forest only exists as a category of your mind. Only individual trees exist.” Professor Rachel Fulton Brown would say, “The medieval nominalists are the reason we are having a problem defining a nation today.” Listen as the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discuss why trying to get people to agree on categories and the language used to describe them is rather like trying to herd cats, and how the medieval philosophers tried to tackle the problem started by Aristotle. —Streamed February 14, 2025

Who’s up for a game of Polandball? Or to be less whimsical, who’s up for defining what makes a nation? Last week, the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discussed that question and its expression in the Reddit phenomenon called Polandball, which are ongoing community-created comics where little balls stand in for the nations and express ideas unique to their culture. This week, we narrowed the nation question down to what makes America a nation and what makes a person American, using David Hackett Fischer’s book Albion’s Seed for historical insight. Q. Is it blood, social customs, education, food, or language? A. All of the above, and you might be surprised just how significant the pronunciation of the word “fire” is! Share your ideas about what constitutes a nation in the comments. Do you know your Polandball?! —Streamed February 7, 2025

Polandball: https://www.reddit.com/r/polandball/