Philosophy 101 Sample with Jay Dyer
Summary
TLDRLe 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Philosophie
💡Épistémologie
💡Métaphysique
💡Éthique
💡Dialectique
💡Socrate
💡Pré-socratiques
💡Platon
💡Aristote
💡Dialectique hégélienne
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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