The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition

Storyline

These lectures offer a coherent and beautifully articulated introduction to the great philosophic conversation of the ages. They cover an enormous range of seminal thinkers and perspectives, but always from the vantage point of the enduring questions: What can we know? How ought we to act? How should we order our life together?

First Aired

2004-01-01
Last Aired

2004-01-01
Creator

Daniel Nicholas Robinson
Genre

Talk, Documentary
Seasons

1
Episodes

60
Status

Ended
Language

English
Network

Wonderium, The Great Courses

Keywords:

philosophy

Stream and watch The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition

Season 1

1. From the Upanishads to Homer

Before ancient Greek civilization, the world hosted deep insights into the human condition but offered...More

Before ancient Greek civilization, the world hosted deep insights into the human condition but offered little critical reflection. Homer planted the seeds of this reflection.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

2. Philosophy—Did the Greeks Invent It?

The ancient Greeks were the first to objectify the products of their own thought and feeling and be wi...More

The ancient Greeks were the first to objectify the products of their own thought and feeling and be willing to subject both to critical scrutiny. Why?Less

31mins 2004-01-01

3. Pythagoras and the Divinity of Number

How can we comprehend the very integrity of the universe and our place within it, if not by way of the...More

How can we comprehend the very integrity of the universe and our place within it, if not by way of the most abstract relations?Less

30mins 2004-01-01

4. What Is There?

How many kinds of stuff make up the cosmos? Might everything, in fact, be reducible to one kind of thi...More

How many kinds of stuff make up the cosmos? Might everything, in fact, be reducible to one kind of thing?Less

31mins 2004-01-01

5. The Greek Tragedians on Man’s Fate

The ancient philosophers were only part of the rich community of thought and wonder that surrounded th...More

The ancient philosophers were only part of the rich community of thought and wonder that surrounded the world's first great dramatists and their landmark depth psychologies.Less

29mins 2004-01-01

6. Herodotus and the Lamp of History

Can history actually teach us? Herodotus looked at what he took to be certain universal human aspirati...More

Can history actually teach us? Herodotus looked at what he took to be certain universal human aspirations and deficiencies and concluded that indeed history could.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

7. Socrates on the Examined Life

Rhetoric wins arguments, but it is philosophy that shows us the way to our humanity.

Rhetoric wins arguments, but it is philosophy that shows us the way to our humanity.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

8. Plato's Search For Truth

If one knows what one is looking for, why is a search necessary? And if one doesn't know, how is that ...More

If one knows what one is looking for, why is a search necessary? And if one doesn't know, how is that search even possible? Socrates versus the Sophists.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

9. Can Virtue Be Taught?

If virtue can be taught, whose virtue will it be? A look at the Socratic recognition of multiculturali...More

If virtue can be taught, whose virtue will it be? A look at the Socratic recognition of multiculturalism and moral relativism.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

10. Plato's Republic—Man Writ Large

This most famous of Plato's dialogues begins with the metaphor—or perhaps the reality—of the polis (co...More

This most famous of Plato's dialogues begins with the metaphor—or perhaps the reality—of the polis (community) as the expanded version of the person, with the fate of each inextricably bound to that of the other.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

11. Hippocrates and the Science of Life

Hippocratic medicine did much to demystify the human condition and the natural factors that affect it.

Hippocratic medicine did much to demystify the human condition and the natural factors that affect it.Less

29mins 2004-01-01

12. Aristotle on the Knowable

Smith knows that a particular triangle contains 180 degrees because he has measured it, while Jones kn...More

Smith knows that a particular triangle contains 180 degrees because he has measured it, while Jones knows it by definition. But do they know the same thing?Less

31mins 2004-01-01

13. Aristotle on Friendship

If true friendship is possible only between equals, how equal must they be—and with respect to what?

If true friendship is possible only between equals, how equal must they be—and with respect to what?Less

30mins 2004-01-01

14. Aristotle on the Perfect Life

What sort of life is right for humankind, and what is it about us that makes this so?

What sort of life is right for humankind, and what is it about us that makes this so?Less

31mins 2004-01-01

15. Rome, the Stoics, and the Rule of Law

The Stoics found in language something that would separate humanity from the animate realm, and that g...More

The Stoics found in language something that would separate humanity from the animate realm, and that gave Rome a philosophy to civilize the world.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

16. The Stoic Bridge to Christianity

The Jewish Christians, Hellenized or Orthodox, defended a monotheistic source of law.

The Jewish Christians, Hellenized or Orthodox, defended a monotheistic source of law.Less

29mins 2004-01-01

17. Roman Law—Making a City of the Once-Wide World

Roman development of law based on a conception of nature, and of human nature, is one of the signal ac...More

Roman development of law based on a conception of nature, and of human nature, is one of the signal achievements in the history of civilization.Less

29mins 2004-01-01

18. The Light Within—Augustine on Human Nature

Thoughts and ideas from the fathers of the early Christian Church culminated in St. Augustine, who exp...More

Thoughts and ideas from the fathers of the early Christian Church culminated in St. Augustine, who explores humanity's capacity for good and evil.Less

29mins 2004-01-01

19. Islam

What did the Prophet teach that so moved the masses? And how did the Western world come to understand ...More

What did the Prophet teach that so moved the masses? And how did the Western world come to understand the threat embodied in these Eastern "heresies"?Less

31mins 2004-01-01

20. Secular Knowledge—The Idea of University

Apart from trade schools devoted to medicine and law, the university as we know it did not come into b...More

Apart from trade schools devoted to medicine and law, the university as we know it did not come into being until 12th-century Paris.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

21. The Reappearance of Experimental Science

There were really two great renaissances. The first occurred at Oxford in the 13th century: the recove...More

There were really two great renaissances. The first occurred at Oxford in the 13th century: the recovery of experimental inquiry by Roger Bacon and others.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

22. Scholasticism and the Theory of Natural Law

Thomas Aquinas's treatises on law would stand for centuries as the foundation of critical inquiry in j...More

Thomas Aquinas's treatises on law would stand for centuries as the foundation of critical inquiry in jurisprudence.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

23. The Renaissance—Was There One?

From Petrarch in the south to Erasmus in the north, Humanistic thought collided with those seeking to ...More

From Petrarch in the south to Erasmus in the north, Humanistic thought collided with those seeking to defend faith.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

24. Let Us Burn the Witches to Save Them

Even in the time we honor with the title of Renaissance ran an undercurrent of a heady and ominous mix...More

Even in the time we honor with the title of Renaissance ran an undercurrent of a heady and ominous mixture of natural magic, natural science, and cruel superstition.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

25. Francis Bacon and the Authority of Experience

Francis Bacon would come to be regarded as the prophet of Newton and originator of modern experimental...More

Francis Bacon would come to be regarded as the prophet of Newton and originator of modern experimental science.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

26. Descartes and the Authority of Reason

Descartes is remembered for "I think, therefore I am." With his work, the authority of revelation, his...More

Descartes is remembered for "I think, therefore I am." With his work, the authority of revelation, history, and title was replaced by the weight of reason itself.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

27. Newton—The Saint of Science

In the century after Newton's death, the Enlightenment's major architects of reform and revolution def...More

In the century after Newton's death, the Enlightenment's major architects of reform and revolution defended their ideas in terms of Newtonian science and its implications.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

28. Hobbes and the Social Machine

As the idea of social science gained force, Hobbes's controversial treatise helped to naturalize the c...More

As the idea of social science gained force, Hobbes's controversial treatise helped to naturalize the civil realm, readying it for scientific explanation.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

29. Locke’s Newtonian Science of the Mind

If all of physical reality can be reduced to elementary corpuscular entities, is the mind nothing more...More

If all of physical reality can be reduced to elementary corpuscular entities, is the mind nothing more than comparable elements held together by something akin to gravity?Less

30mins 2004-01-01

30. No matter? The Challenge of Materialism

When Berkeley reacted to Locke with an extravagant critique of materialism, he unwittingly reinforced ...More

When Berkeley reacted to Locke with an extravagant critique of materialism, he unwittingly reinforced claims of skeptics he meant to defeat.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

31. Hume and the Pursuit of Happiness

David Hume was perhaps the most influential philosopher to write in English, carrying empiricism to it...More

David Hume was perhaps the most influential philosopher to write in English, carrying empiricism to its logical end and thus grounding morality, truth, causation, and governance in experience.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

32. Thomas Reid and the Scottish School

Thomas Reid was Hume's most successful and influential critic, with a common sense psychology that was...More

Thomas Reid was Hume's most successful and influential critic, with a common sense psychology that was both naturalistic and compatible with religious teaching and which reached America's founders.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

33. France and the Philosophes

The leading French thinkers of the 18th century—Voltaire, Rousseau, Condorcet, and Diderot—appealed di...More

The leading French thinkers of the 18th century—Voltaire, Rousseau, Condorcet, and Diderot—appealed directly to the ordinary citizen, encouraging skepticism toward traditional authority.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

34. The Federalist Papers and the Great Experiment

The extraordinary documents written in support of the proposed constitution represent a profound legac...More

The extraordinary documents written in support of the proposed constitution represent a profound legacy in political philosophy.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

35. What Is Enlightenment? Kant on Freedom

Here the limits of reason and the very framework of thought complete—and in another respect undermine—...More

Here the limits of reason and the very framework of thought complete—and in another respect undermine—the very project of the Enlightenment.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

36. Moral Science and the Natural World

Kant traced the implications of a human life as lived in both the natural world of causality and the i...More

Kant traced the implications of a human life as lived in both the natural world of causality and the intelligible world of reason (where morality arises).Less

30mins 2004-01-01

37. Phrenology—A Science of the Mind

In founding the now-discredited theory of phrenology, Franz Gall nevertheless helped define today's br...More

In founding the now-discredited theory of phrenology, Franz Gall nevertheless helped define today's brain sciences.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

38. The Idea of Freedom

The idea of freedom developed by Goethe, Schiller, and other romantic idealists forms a central chapte...More

The idea of freedom developed by Goethe, Schiller, and other romantic idealists forms a central chapter in the Long Debate over whether or not science has overstepped its bounds.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

39. The Hegelians and History

Hegel's Reason in History and other works inspired a transcendentalist movement that spanned Europe, G...More

Hegel's Reason in History and other works inspired a transcendentalist movement that spanned Europe, Great Britain, and the United States.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

40. The Aesthetic Movement—Genius

By the second half of the 19th century, the House of Intellect was divided between two competing persp...More

By the second half of the 19th century, the House of Intellect was divided between two competing perspectives: the growing aesthetic concept of reality and the narrowing scientific view.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

41. Nietzsche at the Twilight

A student of the classics, Nietzsche came to regard the human condition as fatally tied to needs and m...More

A student of the classics, Nietzsche came to regard the human condition as fatally tied to needs and motives that operate at the most powerful levels of existence.Less

29mins 2004-01-01

42. The Liberal Tradition—J. S. Mill

When can the state or the majority legitimately exercise power over the actions of individuals? The mo...More

When can the state or the majority legitimately exercise power over the actions of individuals? The modern liberal answer is set forth in the work of Mill, an almost unchallenged authority for more than a century.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

43. Darwin and Nature’s “Purposes”

From social Darwinism to sociobiology, the evolutionary science of the late 18th and 19th centuries do...More

From social Darwinism to sociobiology, the evolutionary science of the late 18th and 19th centuries dominates social thought and political initiatives.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

44. Marxism—Dead But Not Forgotten

After years of influence, the Marxist critique of society is now more a subtext than a guiding bible o...More

After years of influence, the Marxist critique of society is now more a subtext than a guiding bible of reform.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

45. The Freudian World

Marx, Darwin, and Freud are the chief 19th-century architects of modern thought about society and self...More

Marx, Darwin, and Freud are the chief 19th-century architects of modern thought about society and self—each was nominally "scientific" in approach and believed their theories to be grounded in the realm of observable facts.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

46. The Radical William James

Mortally opposed to all "block universes" of certainty and theoretical hubris, James offered a quintes...More

Mortally opposed to all "block universes" of certainty and theoretical hubris, James offered a quintessentially home-grown psychology of experience.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

47. William James's Pragmatism

Working in the realm of common sense, James directed the attention of philosophy and science to that u...More

Working in the realm of common sense, James directed the attention of philosophy and science to that ultimate arena of confirmation in which our deepest and most enduring interests are found.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

48. Wittgenstein and the Discursive Turn

Meaning arises from conventions that presuppose not only a social world but a world in which we share ...More

Meaning arises from conventions that presuppose not only a social world but a world in which we share the interests and aspirations of others.Less

29mins 2004-01-01

49. Alan Turing in the Forest of Wisdom

Turing is famous for breaking Germany's famed World War II Enigma code, but, as a founder of modern co...More

Turing is famous for breaking Germany's famed World War II Enigma code, but, as a founder of modern computational science, he also wrote influentially about the possibilities of breaking the mind's code.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

50. Four Theories of the Good Life

The contemplative. The active. The fatalistic. The hedonistic. There are good but limited arguments fo...More

The contemplative. The active. The fatalistic. The hedonistic. There are good but limited arguments for each of these.Less

32mins 2004-01-01

51. Ontology—What There "Really" Is

From the Greek ontos, there is a branch of metaphysics referred to as ontology, devoted to the questio...More

From the Greek ontos, there is a branch of metaphysics referred to as ontology, devoted to the question of "real being." Ontological controversies have broad ethical and social implications.Less

28mins 2004-01-01

52. Philosophy of Science—The Last Word?

Should fundamental questions, if they are to be answered with precision and objectivity, be answered b...More

Should fundamental questions, if they are to be answered with precision and objectivity, be answered by science? We consider Thomas Kuhn's influential treatise on scientific revolutions.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

53. Philosophy of Psychology and Related Confusions

Psychology is a subject of many and varied interests but narrow modes of inquiry. Today cognitive neur...More

Psychology is a subject of many and varied interests but narrow modes of inquiry. Today cognitive neuroscience is the dominant approach, but other schools have reappeared.Less

31mins 2004-01-01

54. Philosophy of Mind, If There Is One

The principal grounds of disagreement within the wide-ranging subject of philosophy of mind center on ...More

The principal grounds of disagreement within the wide-ranging subject of philosophy of mind center on whether the right framework for considering issues is provided by developed sciences or humanistic frameworks.Less

29mins 2004-01-01

55. What makes a Problem “Moral”

Is there a “moral reality”? We examine especially David Hume’s rejection of the idea that there is any...More

Is there a “moral reality”? We examine especially David Hume’s rejection of the idea that there is anything “moral” in the external world.Less

29mins 2004-01-01

56. Medicine and the Value of Life

What guidance does moral philosophy provide in the domain of medicine, where life-and-death decisions ...More

What guidance does moral philosophy provide in the domain of medicine, where life-and-death decisions are made daily?Less

30mins 2004-01-01

57. On the Nature of Law

Philosophy of law is an ancient subject, developed by Aristotle and elaborated by Cicero. We see how n...More

Philosophy of law is an ancient subject, developed by Aristotle and elaborated by Cicero. We see how natural law theory has evolved through the Enlightenment and the writings of Jeremy Bentham and John Austin.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

58. Justice and Just Wars

Theories of the “just war,” beginning with St. Augustine and including St. Thomas Aquinas, Francisco d...More

Theories of the “just war,” beginning with St. Augustine and including St. Thomas Aquinas, Francisco de Vittoria, and Francisco Suarez, set forth principles by which engaging in and conducting war are justified.Less

30mins 2004-01-01

59. Aesthetics—Beauty Without Observers

The subject of beauty is among the oldest in philosophy, treated at length in several of the dialogues...More

The subject of beauty is among the oldest in philosophy, treated at length in several of the dialogues of Plato and in his Symposium, and redefined through history. What is beauty? Is there anything “rational” about it?Less