Philosophy 101 Sample with Jay Dyer

Summary

Le script d'une conférence sur la philosophie aborde l'importance de l'enseignement autonome, la diversité des théories philosophiques et la pertinence de l'étude de l'histoire de la philosophie occidentale. Le conférencier, ayant une expérience de 20 ans dans l'étude de la philosophie, propose une approche non traditionnelle en soulignant l'interconnexion entre la philosophie et la vie quotidienne, ainsi que l'influence des pré-socratiques sur la pensée occidentale. Il insiste sur la nécessité d'une compréhension approfondie des concepts de connaissance, de métaphysique et d'éthique pour une vie examinée et éthique.

Takeaways

• 🎓 L'orateur a une expérience d'enseignement universitaire mais choisit de quitter ce cadre pour enseigner de manière autonome, soulignant l'importance de l'auto-éducation.
• 🤔 Il a étudié la philosophie pendant environ 20 ans et entend apporter une perspective différente de celle des universités traditionnelles.
• 📚 Il recommande des sources de lecture pour approfondir la connaissance en philosophie, incluant des ouvrages sur l'épistémologie, la métaphysique et l'éthique.
• 📘 La philosophie est divisée en trois branches principales : l'épistémologie, la métaphysique et l'éthique, parfois rejoints de l'esthétique.
• 👥 L'orateur encourage la participation active des auditeurs, y compris pour des discussions en fin de conférence, soulignant son ouverture aux questions et aux échanges.
• 💡 Il insiste sur l'importance de comprendre les positions des autres, même si on y est opposé, comme un moyen d'acquérir un avantage dans n'importe quel domaine.
• 🛣️ Il présente la philosophie comme un dialogue de siècles, où les idées évoluent et réagissent les unes aux autres, formant une histoire de pensée continue.
• 🔍 L'analyse critique des pré-suppositions des philosophes antérieurs est un aspect clé de l'activité philosophique, conduisant à une compréhension plus profonde des concepts.
• 🚀 La philosophie n'est pas seulement analytique, elle est aussi créative, permettant de développer de nouvelles idées et d'aborder les questions sous de nouveaux angles.
• 🌐 Elle est constructive, visant à construire une vision globale du monde et de l'expérience humaine, en montrant comment les connaissances et les expériences sont interconnectées.
• 🛍️ L'orateur défend la philosophie contre les critiques qui la considèrent inutile, en soulignant son rôle dans le développement de la pensée critique, créative et systématique.

Q & A

Qu'est-ce que le philosophe aborder dans son introduction au cours de philosophie occidentale?

Le philosophe aborde la définition de la philosophie, l'importance de l'histoire de la philosophie occidentale, et son approche pour enseigner cette histoire, allant des pré-socratiques jusqu'aux philosophes modernes.

Quels sont les trois principaux domaines de la philosophie mentionnés dans le script?

Les trois principaux domaines de la philosophie sont l'épistémologie, la métaphysique et l'éthique.

Pourquoi le philosophe considère-t-il que l'analyse des positions des autres est importante?

L'analyse des positions des autres est importante pour avoir l'avantage dans n'importe quel débat ou situation, en comprenant au moins aussi bien la position de l'adversaire que lui-même.

Quel est le rôle de la dialectique dans l'histoire de la philosophie occidentale?

La dialectique joue un rôle clé en permettant un dialogue et un questionnement réciproques, et en représentant parfois des tensions métaphysiques entre des principes opposés.

Quels sont les matériaux de source recommandés par le philosophe pour étudier la philosophie?

Le philosophe recommande des textes de référence comme 'History of Western Philosophy' de Bertrand Russell, des ouvrages spécifiques sur l'épistémologie, la métaphysique et l'éthique, ainsi que des sources en ligne comme l'Encyclopédie Stanford de philosophie.

Quels sont les avantages de l'étude de la philosophie selon le script?

L'étude de la philosophie aide à développer la pensée créative, l'analyse critique, et à systématiser les connaissances. Elle permet également de comprendre les présupposés sous-jacents dans diverses questions de la vie.

Quel est le lien entre la philosophie et la vie quotidienne, selon le discours?

La philosophie, bien qu'ayant l'air abstraite, est liée à la vie quotidienne car elle nous permet de mieux comprendre le monde, de faire des choix éclairés, et de nous orienter dans les débats et les décisions de la vie.

Pourquoi le philosophe souligne-t-il l'importance de la connaissance des philosophes antérieurs?

Le philosophe souligne l'importance de la connaissance des philosophes antérieurs car chaque philosophie est un dialogue avec les pensées précédentes, et comprendre les positions antérieures est essentiel pour saisir les réactions et les innovations des philosophes ultérieurs.

Quelle est la position du philosophe sur la philosophie moderne et le post-modernisme?

Le philosophe soutient que la philosophie moderne a essentiellement 'effondré', avec le post-modernisme revenant à des formes de récits de mythes et de pouvoir, similaires aux préoccupations des pré-socratiques.

Comment le philosophe aborde-t-il la question de l'objectivité dans l'étude de la philosophie?

Le philosophe insiste sur l'importance de l'objectivité en comprenant et en expliquant les positions philosophiques, même si nous pouvons ne pas être d'accord avec elles, pour atteindre une compréhension approfondie et nuancée.

Outlines

00:00

Introduction et contexte

L'orateur se présente et partage son parcours académique, expliquant pourquoi il a quitté l'université pour enseigner de manière autonome. Il mentionne son intérêt pour la philosophie depuis 20 ans et se prépare à répondre à des questions en fin de session.

05:00

Matériel source recommandé

L'orateur recommande des textes sources qu'il utilisera pendant le cours, notamment 'History of Western Philosophy' de Cobblestone et 'Epistemology' de Lawrence Bonjour. Il souligne l'importance de l'éthique dans les affaires et mentionne des ouvrages adaptés aux débutants en philosophie.

10:01

Importance des pré-socratiques

L'orateur explique que la philosophie occidentale commence avec les pré-socratiques, qui se sont éloignés du mythe vers la raison et l'abstraction. Il mentionne l'importance de comprendre le contexte historique pour mieux appréhender les œuvres de philosophes comme Platon.

15:03

Philosophie médiévale et influence chrétienne

L'orateur prévoit d'aborder la philosophie des Pères de l'Église, notamment Augustin et les Cappadociens, et leur influence sur la philosophie médiévale. Il souligne l'importance de comprendre ces périodes pour saisir les réactions ultérieures des philosophes des Lumières.

20:05

Critique des présupposés

L'orateur discute de l'importance de la critique des présupposés dans l'histoire de la philosophie. Il encourage les participants à comprendre les positions qu'ils contestent pour améliorer leur propre argumentation et leur connaissance.

25:08

Philosophie et analyse critique

L'orateur explique que la philosophie aide à penser de manière analytique et critique, ce qui est utile dans divers domaines comme les affaires, la loi et même l'analyse des médias. Il mentionne l'importance d'éviter les sophismes et de développer des arguments solides.

30:08

Créativité et intuition en philosophie

L'orateur souligne que la philosophie n'est pas seulement analytique mais aussi intuitive et créative. Il donne des exemples de philosophes et de mathématiciens qui ont eu des éclairs d'intuition pour résoudre des problèmes complexes.

35:09

Systématisation des connaissances

L'orateur mentionne que la philosophie aide à systématiser et particulariser les connaissances. Il cite l'exemple de la taxonomie d'Aristote encore utilisée aujourd'hui pour classifier les animaux.

40:10

Critique de la philosophie pratique

L'orateur répond aux critiques courantes selon lesquelles la philosophie serait inutile ou impratique. Il explique que la philosophie développe la pensée créative et analytique, ce qui est bénéfique dans de nombreux aspects de la vie et du travail.

Keywords

💡Philosophie

La philosophie est définie comme l'amour de la sagesse. Dans la vidéo, il est expliqué que la philosophie n'est pas seulement une accumulation de connaissances, mais l'application appropriée de ces connaissances dans la bonne situation. Cela implique une réflexion critique sur des questions fondamentales de l'existence, du savoir, et de l'éthique.

💡Épistémologie

L'épistémologie est une branche de la philosophie qui s'intéresse à la nature et à la portée de la connaissance. Le conférencier mentionne des textes de Lawrence Bonjour sur l'épistémologie, soulignant l'importance de comprendre comment nous savons ce que nous savons. Cela est crucial pour analyser et évaluer les arguments philosophiques.

💡Métaphysique

La métaphysique est une branche de la philosophie qui examine la nature de la réalité, de l'existence et du monde. Le conférencier utilise des textes de William Hasker pour explorer ce domaine, abordant des questions telles que la nature de l'être et la structure fondamentale de la réalité.

💡Éthique

L'éthique, souvent couplée à l'esthétique, est une branche de la philosophie qui traite des questions de moralité et des valeurs. Le conférencier mentionne l'importance de l'éthique dans la vie quotidienne et dans les affaires, en soulignant la nécessité d'avoir une bonne réputation et de ne pas être perçu comme malhonnête.

💡Dialectique

La dialectique est une méthode de dialogue et de débat utilisée pour explorer des idées et découvrir la vérité à travers des questions et réponses structurées. Elle est présentée comme une méthode récurrente dans l'histoire de la philosophie, où les philosophes examinent et critiquent les positions précédentes.

💡Socrate

Socrate est un philosophe grec célèbre pour sa méthode de questionnement et son affirmation que 'la vie non examinée ne vaut pas la peine d'être vécue'. Le conférencier le mentionne pour illustrer l'importance de la réflexion critique sur la vie et les grandes questions existentielles.

💡Pré-socratiques

Les philosophes pré-socratiques sont les premiers penseurs grecs qui ont initié la philosophie en se détournant des récits mythiques pour adopter une approche plus rationnelle et abstraite. Le conférencier note que ces penseurs sont essentiels pour comprendre les fondements de la philosophie occidentale.

💡Platon

Platon est l'un des philosophes grecs les plus influents, disciple de Socrate et maître d'Aristote. Dans la vidéo, il est mentionné comme un point central d'étude, avec ses œuvres comme 'La République', qui sont utilisées pour illustrer les idées philosophiques fondamentales sur la justice, la connaissance et la réalité.

💡Aristote

Aristote, élève de Platon, est un philosophe grec dont les contributions à la logique, la métaphysique, l'éthique et la science sont immenses. Le conférencier souligne l'importance d'Aristote pour la classification des connaissances et pour avoir jeté les bases de nombreuses disciplines modernes.

💡Dialectique hégélienne

La dialectique hégélienne, développée par Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, est un processus de triade dialectique où une thèse est opposée par une antithèse, et la contradiction entre les deux est résolue par une synthèse. Cette méthode est mentionnée pour illustrer une approche systématique et évolutive de la pensée philosophique.

Highlights

Introduction to the speaker's background in teaching and philosophy, emphasizing the importance of autonomous learning and the unique perspective offered by this educational setting.

The speaker's 20-year journey in studying philosophy, indicating a deep and varied experience that will be shared throughout the course.

The importance of open Q&A sessions for fostering a deeper understanding of philosophy, with the speaker's experience in conducting extensive discussions on Discord.

The speaker's approach to teaching philosophy, which includes a comprehensive study of Western philosophy, starting from its origins.

The significance of understanding the history of philosophy to contextualize the ideas and debates within it, such as the pre-Socratic philosophers.

The three main branches of philosophy: epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics, with a mention of aesthetics, and their relevance to the course.

The recommendation of source materials for the course, including texts by Lawrence BonJour, W.J. Wood, William Hasker, and Arthur Holmes.

The role of ethics in business and personal advantage, highlighting the importance of understanding and practicing ethical behavior.

The concept of philosophy as a centuries-long conversation, emphasizing the importance of understanding the historical context of philosophical ideas.

The dialectical nature of philosophy, where ideas are constantly in tension and reaction to one another, shaping the discourse.

The speaker's view on the modern collapse of philosophy and its shift towards post-modernism, which is seen as a return to storytelling and myth.

The practical applications of philosophy, despite its abstract nature, and how it can relate to everyday life and various fields.

The definition of philosophy as 'love of wisdom' and the distinction between knowledge and wisdom in the context of philosophy.

The importance of cross-examination in philosophy, as a method to critically analyze and understand opposing viewpoints.

The role of intuition in philosophy, alongside analysis, as a source of creativity and insight in philosophical thought.

The constructive nature of philosophy, aiming to build a comprehensive worldview and understand the interconnectedness of knowledge and experience.

The critique of presuppositions in philosophy, as a means to challenge and develop new philosophical ideas.

The practical benefits of studying philosophy, such as improved critical thinking, creativity, and the ability to systematize knowledge.

The common misconception that philosophy is useless, countered by the speaker with examples of its practical applications and benefits.

Transcripts

foreign

thank you for having me Rich really cool

to be here

um you know I did when I was uh doing

undergrad and grad work I did teach

quite a few uh student class uh

situations but I never taught an entire

semester I left the university setting

because uh I really felt like I could do

better doing it autonomously and here we

are at autonomy so I think Richard has

the right idea about where to go with

education

um but I've been into and studying

philosophy at various levels and in

various ways for about 20 years so I'm

happy to be here honored to be here I do

have some unique takes that I think will

be uh different than what you would get

in a in a traditional Legacy University

setting so hopefully we can get into

some of that tonight kicking it off and

we're gonna get pretty deep so um you

know jot down your questions uh I'm a

big fan of open q and a at the end you

know we've done in my Discord I think we

have about eight or nine thousand in the

Discord uh and we've been doing these

open q and A's that go sometimes six ten

hours so I'm totally used to that uh

very happy to have people ask uh you

know lengthy uh end of of lecture q and

A's so be sure and jot down your

questions and I will answer them to the

best of my abilities you're not going to

offend me you're not gonna it's not

gonna bother me if you disagree if you

think I'm wrong about something you know

you don't like uh we're not going to be

talking a whole lot about theism or any

of that tonight that doesn't really uh

play into tonight's topic so if you're

uh anti-theist if you're agnostic none

of that bothers me it's fine for you to

uh you know have your positions I'm not

going to be coming at you or critiquing

your positions unless you want that

right so you can request that sir I

would like you to request I would like

to request a demolishing on my Paradigm

I'm happy to offer that if you want that

most people don't really want that but

um tonight's gonna it's gonna be an

introduction so we're going to look at

what is uh philosophy all about

um the object of this course will be to

take us from uh this introductory uh

situation to a pretty good knowledge of

deep knowledge hopefully that's what

we're going to shoot for of the history

of Western philosophy obviously we have

to pick some starting points we can't go

back and do all of Indo-European

philosophy we can't do all the

Babylonian Assyrian philosophers what

not but what's most relevant I think for

us in the west is the history of Western

philosophy and like I said I've you know

I've had this course at the Legacy

institutional setting many times over

and in many

in many uh in many different ways so I'm

going to give you a better version of

that

um and and I think again this is really

the way to do it really Richard is

really pioneering when it comes to where

education is going so let's get into uh

philosophy what is philosophy well

you see I have there a couple figures

that's uh from actually from a monastery

an orthodox Monastery where you have uh

five philosophy guys and uh you notice

they don't have Halos so in the Orthodox

view there's not going to be a

perception of the philosophers as

equivalent to what you would get in

divine revelation but regardless

um some of the things that are going to

be present in my lecture is that we're

not going to see a strict divide between

um the various theisms because we're

going to notice that as we go through

history philosophy there's a ton of

theisms so again no matter what you

think about theism we're going to need

to understand these people's positions

from their vantage point

all right aerosol has a famous quote

attributed to Aristotle that it's a mark

of an educated man to understand the

opponent's position without adopting it

and we want to keep that in mind as we

work we as we work through these various

philosophers

because this is crucial to having the

upper hand right and I when I say the

upper hand I mean in anything if you're

if you're in business if you're in

debate if you're in

um law right whatever you're into if you

want to have the upper hand if you want

a personal Advantage it's always better

to know your opponent's position at

least as good as they do right sometimes

we can't achieve that but um to have

that edge that's what you want to shoot

for so keep in mind no matter what your

view what we want to strive for and I

think this is a virtue we're going to

get to what virtue and vice and all that

is later on when we get to ethics I

think it's actually a virtue to know the

position that you're against even if you

completely hate it and reject it know it

as best you can that's what we're going

to shoot for

and so those are some of the preliminary

considerations as we get into this I

want to remind you too that

I find it most helpful to break

philosophy down into three main branches

those branches are epistemology

metaphysics and ethics sometimes the the

phrase or the word Aesthetics is added

to ethics we will get to that as well

let's get into it

so I will I did choose Source materials

you don't have to get these Source

materials unless you uh choose to I

would recommend them because they

they're going to be what I'm working

from in terms of the text

I will at times refer to these texts

um for various Source material for pages

that I think are really you know

insightful

um that will be uh the famous text from

Cobblestone which is history of Western

philosophy or history of philosophy I

think it's like four or five volumes

we're only going to be uh early on

concerned with volume one and volume two

because that covers the ancient and

medieval periods uh I will be using and

sourcing at times the uh well-known text

on epistemology is very common in a lot

of grad courses or undergrad courses by

Lawrence bonjour epistemology and

there's a three-part series that matches

up to the care to the classification

system that I gave

um by these guys and I think they're

very good because again they focus on

um virtue in these in these domains

especially in terms of epistemology and

ethics and that's going to be very

crucial for where we go in this course

uh you know I know Richard makes a lot

of a great Point throughout his talks to

talk about ethics and why you know

having an edge in business uh is neces

it's necessary to be ethical we want to

be ethical we want to display not in a

showy way but we want to have a good

reputation right how are you going to

have a good business or good business at

repertoire if you have a bad rep right

if you're known as the dude that scams

everybody and lies and cheats right so

ethics will definitely play into this

and you're going to see I think that um

ethics is very important and crucial to

philosophy and that a lot of this is

practical although it may seem early on

that a lot of what we're going to talk

about is abstract you know how does this

relate to my business we're talking

about freaking monads we're talking

about you know crazy four elements and

all this mystical crap that doesn't

relate to the Practical I assure you

that it will but if you stick if you

stick it out right you're gonna see that

you might not see that uh early on but

if you stick it out you will

and so I recommend the WJ wood book on

epistemology the William hasker text on

metaphysics and the Arthur Holmes text

on ethics now the three on the right are

very easily uh accessible to people that

may not know a lot about philosophy so

if you're new to philosophy I'm going to

recommend the three on the right there

uh to start with because the bonjour

epistemology text is a little Advanced

and the uh the koppelson text is uh

maybe in between right so you might you

might see that when it's kind of in

between the other two uh and then as I

said I didn't put it on screen but

there's also

koppelson's Volume 2 which deals with

medieval philosophies those are our

sources obviously there are some other

sources that are going to matter or be

referenced here and there

um for students of philosophy everybody

should know about the Samford

Encyclopedia of philosophy it's very

well known in Academia it's commonly

referenced as well as uh I forget which

university puts this one out but it's

the Internet Encyclopedia of philosophy

those will also be sourced at times uh

you know just for very various reference

references to uh words terms definitions

and so forth when I refer to Plato I'll

put some of these up later when we do

other slides but we'll be we'll be using

various texts from Plato's Republic I

use the groove translation and then also

uh the bull engine series of Plato which

is a collective works of Plato

for some of the dialogues that'll be the

next lecture though so we're not going

to be getting into Plato tonight because

uh one of the things we want to we want

to understand is that philosophy is a

centuries-long discourse and just as if

you were to walk into a bar right and

you were right in the middle of uh some

dirty story right to you know drunk

dudes in the bar or some wine mom at the

bar whining about her ex-husband you

wouldn't know the whole story would you

you would only know you know what why

Mom is saying at this moment right

you want to know uh who slept with who

you want to know where they're from you

want to know who's cheating on who

right

well maybe you guys don't but

that's what I'm getting at with with

knowing the whole story here is it the

way philosophy works is that it's a

centuries-long conversation basically

the dude that's selling his stuff today

is going to be destroyed and demolished

by the dude critiquing him tomorrow and

this will go on for basically the last 2

500 years and that's what we're going to

be focusing on in terms of this course

so we need to know for example who uh

was saying what before Plato that put

Plato into the setting that he was in

right because there's a bunch of

discourse and debate prior to Plato that

really you can't really understand Plato

without that so in other words we're

gonna have to step back and understand

some of the pre

Athens philosophy the pre-socratics or

they're sometimes called the malesians

or the ionian philosophers and what they

were debating what they were asking

because they really initiate philosophy

in fact aerosol himself says that

um it's it's the pre-socratics that and

we'll look at this specifically in a

moment that initiate or uh begin the

process of what is properly philosophy

now yeah you could widen that definition

uh such that any ancient religion or

Empire had a philosophy and we're going

to look at a little bit of that too but

um for Western philosophy in particular

again thinking about our threefold

division of epistemology metaphysics and

ethics it's going to be the

pre-socratics that first initiate this

question and they do it because they

begin to move out of the domain of myth

and storytelling

so prior to them we'll look at in a

minute Homer Hessian these playwrights

these uh oral tradition storytellers for

them

um virtue and vice is essentially known

via Mythic or mythopoetic storytelling

it's not primarily known through

abstraction this is going to be a huge

step that a lot of these Aquatics are

going to take away from myth towards

reason

rationality abstraction

and stepping away from myth and

storytelling now this is not to cast

aspersions on myth and storytelling uh

we're not uh making judgments either way

we're simply understanding the course of

philosophy uh as it progresses

historically because again this I have

to stress this because a lot of people

don't know how to approach philosophy

right they just pick up David Hume and

start reading him and you can't

understand David Hume if you don't

understand the metaphysics of the Middle

Ages right because Hume comes on the

scene and the enlightenment it says as a

skeptic right we need to throw out all

the metaphysics that came before well if

I don't know what the metaphysics came

before or I don't know what he's talking

about likewise I can't understand Kant

without understanding David Hume because

kant's whole philosophy is a reaction to

him and we're going to see uh that

throughout the history of Western

philosophy it's a constant position

reaction interchange and sometimes this

is referred to as dialectics now

dialectics I'm going to have more I'll

have more definitions later on on screen

for you guys but

as we get into more of the precise

terminology we don't have to really

worry about dialectics tonight but I do

want to bring it up because it's going

to be recurring themes I want you guys

to pay attention to themes that will

recur throughout

uh this lecture series dialectus will be

one of them because we're going to see

especially in the Greeks and throughout

the whole history of Western philosophy

dialectical tension and remember

dialectics means different things in

different contexts sometimes dialectics

means just the methodology of teaching

to uh back and forth question asking

dialogue right sometimes dialectics

means something more uh metaphysical

which in the sense of like actual

principles in the world that are

intention with one another

is there a a stark war between

um determinism and Free Will right

that's a dialectical uh characterized

question right the setting for that is

already kind of set up as dialectical

are you a determinist or do you believe

in Free Will well that assumes that

there's not some form of compatible

compatibilism right now I'm not saying

which of those is correct or wrong I'm

just saying that you can see that a lot

of times questions can be framed in a

dialectical way and I want you to pay

attention to that because as we go

through a lot of these especially these

pre-socratics you're going to notice

that they really are operating on a lot

of these kinds of assumptions

so we want to pay attention to that we

want to have some of those things in

mind but before we get to that after

we've uh looked at some of these course

materials rough course syllabus uh this

is what we're looking at doing here

we're going to do uh this introductory

class uh this is then we're going to

move to Plato I'm gonna try to squeeze

Plato into one talk

these could each of these people as we

know could easily be an entire course

um they're very difficult especially the

pre-socratics played on Aristotle but

we're gonna tackle it um I have a lot of

friends that are in Academia that are

also solid uh people that I think you

guys would really like you guys really

benefit from so I'm going to have a

couple guests uh expert lectures come in

to also co-teach and do a little q a

with me on the epistemology class I'm

going to do the metaphysics class we're

gonna uh lump Aesthetics with ethics

I'll bring a guest expert in as well for

that probably somebody who's a

Renaissance expert

um then we're going to look at the

stoics and the new plateness together

for the early uh non-uh Christian

philosophy of the meditations of uh for

example Marcus Aurelius and we'll look

at some of the Roman philosophers

then we're going to move to the uh

what's called the patristic period which

means the church fathers again

regardless of what you think of

Christianity uh you know doesn't I'm not

really here to to get into that with you

tonight unless you guys want to talk

about those things I'm happy to but

that's not really primarily the focus of

this course is not going to essentially

be Christianity it's just going to be

the history of Western philosophy

however whatever one thinks of uh

Christianity or religion we do have to

treat this very crucial very influential

period in uh the history of the West

and we're not going to restrict it to

Latin or western church Fathers as many

college courses do we're going to look

at figures who were crucial and very

influential in other civilizations like

Byzantine particularly the cappadocians

John Damascus a very famous patristic

Church Fathers as they're called who

were heavily philosophical

so um Augustine a towering figure

obviously in the early church had many

many thousands of pages of philosophical

writings and we're going to look at

those and

um he's crucial as well because he's

very influenced by the neoplatants right

as are the cappadocian church fathers

basil Gregory and Gregory basil and two

gregories basically we're going to look

at them in terms of their metaphysics

their approach to

how the world is structured and as you

can see I mean this encompasses you know

at least this isn't even all of them

you've got 30 I've got 38 volumes up

here uh and probably half of these

volumes deal with uh Augustine

cappadocian John Damascus so I'm going

to compact all of that into uh one long

course then we're going to get into

medieval philosophy in general which

those guys prepare the way for and then

we have to know this because we're not

going to be able to understand the

Enlightenment what it's reacting against

unless we understand some of the

medieval Scholastic philosophy so again

that'll be compacted we won't go super

deep into all that because that could be

its own course right people get their

PHD in even just one of the thinkers in

any of these domains um so we want to

shoot for an overview

uh we like I said when we get to the

Descartes in the enlightenment we're

going to look at that uh as its reaction

to the medieval uh period uh again this

is not too uh demolish or destroy all

the enlightenment philosophers in fact

they're going to have a lot of good

arguments against medieval philosophers

so we want to try to look for good

arguments is another thing to try to uh

train yourself to do in terms of

philosophy we want to look for good

arguments irrespective of the man

irrespective of the person making the

argument do they have a good argument

because guess what even the worst

philosopher I don't care who who you

think is the worst he's probably got one

good argument here or there

and it's kind of on a spectrum right I'm

not a big fan of Hegel but I think Hegel

has some really interesting insights

here and there same with Emmanuel Kant

right I'm not a conti and I'm not super

into Kant but I think Kant has some

really fascinating insights that we're

going to talk to when we get to number

11 there which is uh the enlightenment

empiricists uh and kant's transcendental

idealism that is the Hume cont Berkeley

lock period

and then um modern uh collapse of

philosophy and yes I will argue that it

has pretty much collapsed and by that I

mean what we classically thought of the

doing a philosophy as doesn't really

exist anymore and then that's not to say

that in the academic world or in the

academic setting there aren't people

doing philosophy there are there are but

this is but what we thought of as

philosophy in terms of the ancient and

medievals has collapsed in the sense

that we don't do that anymore now

philosophy has turned into

post-modernism

um which is essentially an

anti-philosophical movement it's

actually ironically reverted back to

storytelling that's a the irony here is

that what the pre-socratics there in

part one are going to be reacting to in

Homer and Hessian ironically we're going

to notice that the modern collapse of

philosophy

uh has basically returned in terms of

post-modernism has returned to myth and

storytelling because of course they will

say that really every philosopher and

everything is just myth storytelling or

power relations right power oppressor

narratives and so forth and certainly uh

you know we could include uh Marx and so

forth in all of these modern uh figures

or this modern era but it's just really

difficult to um put everything uh into

one course and so like Richard said uh

you know if everything works out we'll

probably just do a second uh season

uh of covering modern stuff you know and

then we can do a class on Darwin we can

do a class on marks we can do a class

and you might think well Darwin no yeah

you're going to notice tonight just like

with what I just said about

post-modernism being a return of an

ancient View

you're going to notice quite a few

things that are

normative popular views today we're

already in the pre-socratics and in the

ancient philosophers again I'm not here

to try to convince you either way on

these things I have my views I'm happy

to give my takes but again what we want

to stress and what we want to really

really strive for because this is very

difficult for a lot of people

I don't think this audience will be too

difficult I'm sure you guys are a sharp

crowd I'm sure you're striving to

achieve objectivity that's what we want

to do we want to understand these people

no matter what we think even if we think

it's the stupidest thing right that is

even I think that dude is right

I think if we think you know oh aerosol

is the most retort of all the

philosophers right he was like riding

the short bus to the Athens Academy

right whatever you think

I at least want you to understand

Aristotle and be able to give the basics

of what he thought

to the uh to the appeasement of me or

anyone else who knows a decent amount

about our result right if you can do

that then you're you you have achieved

what I'm after in this course which is

to give you the ability to speak to

these topics fluently and you're going

to understand again how it relates to

your life a lot of this again will seem

obscure and weird but again you're going

to notice

some of the most prominent views that

people have in the world today that are

thought of as new aren't really new

they're just repackaged resurfacing and

they kind of represent similar debates

copy and paste it actually almost

from 2 500 years ago

so

what is philosophy good idea

obviously uh probably many of you

already know this I won't spend too much

time on the basics but we do need to

have just a little bit of a overview of

what the basic terms are what they're

referring to

because we're going to have some people

that are brand new

um love of wisdom Philo Sophia

love of wisdom uh Socrates famously said

the examined life is the only life worth

living now technically so the unexamined

life is not worth living but I'm I'm

paraphrasing to say look basically he's

just telling you that if you're just

going through through your the Motions

day to day if you've never sat down to

contemplate

what is life who am I what's the meaning

of all this is there a per point to life

uh does the universe have a beginning

right if you've never thought about

those things then you're kind of like a

boring ass Rock and literally that's how

I think you know some of the Greek

philosophers would sort of uh so

especially the ones that kind of had

disdain for the masses right some of

these guys would just be like these

people are really no different than

rocks and they're even gonna liken some

of the people do rocks because they're

they're weighed down by the uh the cares

of this world and the material

possessions and and Pleasures right the

the base passions or whatnot they keep

people uh focused uh not on the here and

the now or assuming not on the

Transcendent or on the ideal or on the

true or whatever but on the here and the

now and so they're kind of like

determined uh NPCs this is the ancient

Greek idea of the NPC

and I think if we were to think of

somebody like Socrates who will be the

teacher of Plato

he would definitely resonate with the

NPC mean right he would probably be

etching it out on tablets right and

showing it to his his fellow uh fellow

philosophy students in his class

and so the idea here is that

we want to

um not just go through the motions but

want to understand the world and not

just have knowledge this is an important

distinction that will come up in the

early Greek philosophers not just having

a bunch of data right there's clearly

there's a difference between you know

some guy who's just a spurg and like

memorizes sports statistics right

uh what's the Dustin Hoffman character

rain man right would you call Rain Man

wise no he's just a sort of weird Savant

you know spurge right

um but what about a situation where uh

you know take the again whatever you

think of the Bible the character of

Solomon a Solomon in the Bible in

Ecclesiastes Proverbs he's touted for

his wisdom

and certainly he according to the Bible

knew a lot of things but he wasn't just

a key figure in history because he knew

facts and could list them on a

spreadsheet or whatever right ancient

Hebrew spreadsheet but because he had

the application of that knowledge in the

right way at the right time and that's

kind of what we're shooting for for

wisdom so again not just love of bear

knowledge but love of wisdom the

appropriate virtuous application of that

knowledge

at the right time and in the right way

those are going to be some of the key

questions that come up for

philosophy and what a philosopher is

what so what are we after here what do

we do what is a philosopher what do they

do

some of the basic questions they're

going to be looking at philosophers do

things like cross-examine we want to

know uh is what's being said to me

coming from a rational reasonable place

is somebody lying to me are they trying

to scam me are they duping me am I

watching movies that are uh full of

propaganda right maybe I want to Analyze

This movie and say hey wait a minute

this is a Raytheon Boeing trying to sell

me on some new Pentagon war that has you

know the face of Jessica Chastain and

Matt Damon on it or whatever right so

I'm cross-examining a piece of art or a

piece of propaganda in that case right

you're going into law you're going into

business you want to you want to

cross-examine to see if this is a good

deal I don't know is it so what you

might have thought isn't really the

domain of philosophy for philosophers

it is philosophy right we're engaged in

cross-examination

obviously you could apply the Law Court

I mean I think hopefully the Law Court

example is uh obvious there itself

evident I have to go into that really

but

you know cross-examination could come

into anything it could come into a

conversation that you're having at

Thanksgiving dinner right you're trying

to convince your family members of their

you know their terrible politics right

and how they're uh you know idiots for

believing the the Normie story of 9 11.

who knows right so let's say you're

having that government and you want to

cross-examine you want to analyze their

bad arguments so something philosophers

are interested in philosophers are

analytical that means they do analysis

now not every philosopher is always

engaged in this but it's certainly part

of what philosophers do and that's

obviously very valuable as valuable in

today's world obviously a lot of what we

do whether it's economics whether it's

the Arts whether it's computer program

whatever you're into you're going to

need the skills and tools that allow you

to be highly analytical

as we get into modern philosophy this

actually becomes its own branch of

philosophy analytical philosophy which

sometimes contrasts with Continental

philosophy in the modern period it's not

exactly what we're talking about here

we're just speaking in a more General

sense but it will actually become its

own kind of school so to speak of

philosophy

so philosophers are definitely engaged

in analysis and primarily we're engaged

in analysis of what those three things

that we talked about at the beginning

that subdivision epistemology

metaphysics and ethics that's in

philosophy but again uh this is one of

the unique things about philosophy is

that philosophy can be a philosophy of

anything

and that might sound weird at first but

if you think about it if you think about

some of the famous modern philosophers

there is of course

if you've seen Jesus he does the

philosophy of

now that seems ridiculous but that's

exactly what Zizek does he's one of the

most famous living philosophers out

there today one of the few uh existing

still explicitly sort of marxist

philosophers

and Zizek who you know recently debated

uh Jordan Peterson for example no no no

no

Zizek does uh uh analysis from a Marxist

vantage point of things like toilets

and on the one hand that's kind of

ridiculous but at the same time you

think well toilets are part of our Lives

aren't they

we spend quite a bit of our time on the

toilet right

so is it theoretically possible that you

could do a

analysis of toilet sure because

didn't they say at one point that I

don't know Trump has a golden toilet I

don't know if that's true but does Trump

have a goal until what does that signify

in terms of

the figure of trump

Saudi princes with golden golden toilets

right so this is sort of beautification

of a ritual that is very mundane but

also sort of you know base and gross

right right so a philosophy of

now I'm being kind of you know Silly

here but I'm also kind of making a point

that uh it really is the case that you

can do a philosophy of anything for

example uh in some of my grad classes we

were getting into some of the guys who

had done

I forget the guy's name but he's a a

semiotician guy who had done a uh

analysis of

um comedy philosophy of Comedy

right well what is it that makes us

laugh what is it that makes this thing

funny versus absurd and not funny what

is it that makes you know faces funny

you could do a philosophy of anything is

my point so it will it's Broad in a

scope in that it will range from

a philosophy of things in the domain of

philosophy

knowledge metaphysics ethics two uh

weird and sort of fanciful figures and

characters and philosophy who do

philosophies of anything

we can do the philosophy of literary we

can do the philosophy of music

it could be the philosophy of Comedy as

I said so again there's a there's a

potentially a philosophy of anything an

analysis of anything from this kind of

perspective

philosophers are not just analytical

however they are also intuitive there's

a a lot of creativity actually that goes

into the process of philosophy some

mathematicians for example I think Roger

Penrose and if you read Paul Davies book

uh Mind Of God he will talk about how

there's actually a creative element that

goes into even things like mathematics

and geometry right I mean some of the

great philosophers and thinkers and and

mathematicians they have the flashes of

insight that don't come from some uh

obvious Source we don't really know

where they get these flashes of insight

right I mean they uh for example you

know the story about Nikola Tesla is

that he would get a lot of his insights

into these you know elaborate engines

that he would build through these just

visions that he would sort of pass out

or whatever that's the story at least

right so philosophers are intuitive in

that we are not just analytical robots

we also have a will an intention a

creativity that we bring to the analysis

again we can be analyzing anything it

doesn't matter

philosophers are constructive in other

words they don't just focus on the

particulars now they may in certain

cases if they're doing their

dissertation on the particular and that

will actually be something very

important in philosophy but generally

speaking the philosopher is not just

concerned with that he also wants to get

a big picture

he wants to construct a total picture

about what's going on what's our uh

situation in the world what does life

mean Etc is there meaning in order in

the world is there any word to be found

right these are the kinds of questions

that we're going to be asking

and so philosophers are constructive and

they seek to build a total picture now

there's limits to that obviously we

don't mean it in a literal sense of like

I'm going to build a total picture of

everything in reality and everything

that exists now some of the technocrats

might think that with total information

awareness and you know this kind of

Internet of things they might think that

but typically speaking outside of these

sort of maniacal mad scientist uh

positions like the technocrats typically

philosophers uh the people that we're

going to be analyzing and looking at

um are are seeking a total picture

within some fixed domain or within some

general framework okay they're not

looking for or attempting to create

omniscience however we're going to see

in some cases where they actually do try

to reach that right we're going to see

what for example Descartes Descartes

going to try to find this indubitable

and infallible reference point Hegel

will try to find this sort of

omniscience or pseudo omniscience within

his uh process Philosophy for example

but typically that's not what we're

doing

however many of them will try to build

World Systems right

uh from scratch and that's something

that we want to pay attention to

um so you guys want to jot down your

questions and just save those for the

end and you can feel free when we get to

the end to come back to uh questions at

any point so just just jot down if you

want to that you want to ask a question

about sort of stuff early on but

um it might be better to wait until we

get through some of this uh preliminary

stuff before we start taking any

questions

uh philosophers uh thus in my and this

is sort of this is more so my my

Approach because some people would

disagree with this but I think that the

philosophy and what philosophy is really

about is worldview thinking this is the

attempt to uh characterize uh and uh

systematize man's knowledge and

experience and show how these things are

interrelated

that man's knowledge is not uh totally

fragmentary it's not totally

disconnected discrete from other pieces

of knowledge other facts

and other humans and their experience

but that there is a commonly experienced

World in our experiences and the facts

that we experience and the the knowledge

that we obtain from the world is

interrelated

there is a world historical we might say

there is a world view from which man can

build a system and pause it right facts

about the world predicate things about

the world

and lastly uh philosophers are concerned

in my view with presuppositions now this

is specifically what the philosopher

will be doing as he does philosophy as

we go through the history of philosophy

you're going to notice that each

philosopher kind of does this thing

where he reads the guys before him and

especially maybe the generation right

before him and he critiques

philosophy doesn't have to be relegated

to only critique but critique is going

to be crucial to the entire process of

philosophy in the history of the West

guy will be critiquing the guy before

him

pretty much across the board

there might be a few outliers here and

there who try to do different things and

maybe they pop up and you know they just

focus on maybe uh literary Theory

philosophy of uh static or something

like that but most of the big people

that we're going to be focusing on are

the ones that are known as the big

philosophers they're typically concerned

with critiquing the presuppositions the

basic commitments and assumptions

of the guys that came before

so that's what we're going to be doing

as well

and keep in mind that a lot of what you

see there on that page is also what you

as a philosopher will begin to do now

you might think well I'm not a

philosopher I didn't take all these

classes well guess what you have a

philosophy and you are a philosopher

even if you don't know it even if you

know nothing about philosophy if I ask

you simple questions in the domains of

epistemology metaphysics and ethics you

might even know what those words are but

if I ask you basic questions you're

going to have a view on some books

you're going to have some idea about

knowledge even if you think that we can

have knowledge that's still a position

right that's an agnostic position but

it's still a position in epistemology

right that you don't believe anybody has

knowledge or you don't have knowledge or

no way

if I asked you a question about ethics

right

well I think it's wrong to kill people

okay well then so now you have a

philosophy of Ethics right of virtue and

vice right away whether you know it or

not

so everybody is a philosopher even if

they don't know it everybody has a

philosophy because they have a worldview

even if it's a commitment to agnosticism

because everybody has basic commitments

or beliefs or presuppositions when it

comes to

what are the three branches epistemology

metaphysics and ethics

all right

why one more Point here I'll try to go

through this uh kind of quick because I

don't want to spend too much time on uh

this is kind of a restatement kind of

what we talked about before a lot of

times people hear about philosophy and

they'll say philosophy is useless and in

Practical words sound I can't tell you

how many times last 20 years I've heard

this and my most my most oft repeated

Boomer phrase when I chose to study

philosophy

every Boomer well the philosophy

corporations hiring around you they

thought that was the greatest joke ever

right I never thought it was funny that

was done the first time and I still hear

it still don't

but these are common objections that

most people have to this whole domain

as why for example people like Neil

deGrasse Tyson yeah a couple few years

ago if you guys remember

basically said Don't Waste Your Time

philosophy is a useless Enterprise I

wonder why he was so emphatically

opposed to philosophical it might be

because he doesn't fare very well when

asked philosophical questions so that

might have something to do with maybe

more of a personal motivation but uh

what are some of the pros then again

that uh what does philosophy help us do

right so maybe you're not so interested

in uh what philosophers do how does it

help you what do I get out of this

philosophy helps us to think creatively

because it makes us better at analysis

as I said of anything

you're not going to fall for bad

arguments you're not going to fall for

fallacies you're not going to fall for

dumb stupid Arguments for example

emotional Appeals

now I know that uh one of Richard's buds

has taught a really excellent

uh

logical fallacies course right and one

of those logical fallacies that comes up

all the time for example is something

like uh emotional appeal right

oh you don't want to support the war

effort in XYZ country I guess you hate

the kids in those countries don't you I

guess you want the kids to die right you

want Saddam to kill the kids right these

are all ridiculous emotional appeals

right in other words only a person who

adopts their position

cares about kids well that's a fallacy

right so understanding philosophy helps

us to think critically makes us better

at analysis of anything it doesn't have

to be politics it's going to help you

analyze again business situations right

business deals it's going to help you

analyze the crypto market right for

example crypto deals a lot with human

emotions and human psychology

right if whales are dumping you know

that people are going to follow the

whales and dump

so it's going to make you better at

analysis if you know the modus operandi

of human operation in markets for

example and that's involved with that

that involves philosophical critical

thinking even if we don't know these

terms

velocity helps us think creatively as we

said we have new approaches and angles

to things

I remember uh one of my um

philosophy professors made a good point

when I was first coming into to

philosophy and I met with him and I said

you know I don't know if I should choose

this as a a profession

uh I said because you know I just don't

know if I'll be able to get a job and

make money and do this friend he said

well uh I know a really famous guy who

studied a lot of philosophy that you

might have heard of and I said who's

that he said Steve Martin so Steve

Martin used a lot of his philosophy

to go on into the world of Comedy

so I'm not guaranteeing you you know

that I'm going to teach you to be some

great comedian if you study philosophy

but he's an example of a person who you

studied philosophy and I don't know if

he just did undergrad or if he went

further than that but he utilized that

to kind of give him a unique approach to

Comedy and although we look back on

Steve Martin as kind of a typical you

know Boomer 70s 80s comedian when Steve

Martin came out in the 70s he was very

unique and very weird and odd in his

approach and I think that as my

professor was arguing that had to do

with his uh taking of a lot of

philosophy classes when he was a younger

guy

so philosophy does help us to think

creative because it gives us new angles

and new ways to approach questions and

things in the world

velocity helps us systematize in

particularized knowledge

again a classic example of this is that

the taxonomy that we still use today for

Animals kingdom phylum species etc etc

that's from aerosol Aristotle the great

philosopher of of Greece uh the student

of Plato gives us that taxonomy that we

still use today

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