Early Modern Philosophy and Introduction to Philosophy lecture 5

For Early Modern Philosophy today the main topics included Hobbes political philosophy, thru to Spinoza. The video is here. The quiz question is do you feel Spinoza's argument that God must be everything - that is Pantheism - is persuasive? For Introduction to Philosophy the focus was theory of knowledge starting with Plato and going as far as introducing Augustine. The video is here. The quiz question is what is the farthest decimal discovered yet for Pi?

Ancient and Medieval Philosophy evening lecture 2

This evening we discussed Socrates and Plato starting with the Euthyphro. There are two videos here and here. The first quiz question was what was the vote against Socrates at his trial that found him guilty? The second quiz question was if you had the chance to be teleported someplace would you do it?

Early Modern Philosophy and Introduction to Philosophy lecture 4

So for my first class today - Early Modern Philosophy - the classroom computer was on the fritz so we used the primitive device called a white board, and we talked about Descartes, Hobbes, Bacon, and Galileo. The video is posted here. The quiz question was why was Hobbes buried at Ault Hulknell? For my second class, Introduction to Philosophy, the reading was What is it like to be a bat? And we discussed using models to conceive of reality. The video is here though the camera stopped before class was over. The quiz question was in the movie the phrase "This chick is toast" was used by Bill Murray. Was that the first time that phrase was ever used?

Early Modern and Intro to Philosophy lecture 3

Today in Early Modern Philosophy we discussed Descartes. The video is posted here. The quiz question was how many things did Descartes invent? This sort of question was a real success with Galileo. FOr Introduction to Philosophy we discussed Susan Wolf THe Meaning of Lives which led to a discussion of metanarratives and Model Dependent Realism The quiz question was does the earth go around the sun or does the sun go around the earth? I did make a video though it seems to have ended before class thanks to tired batteries, but it is posted here.

Ancient and Medieval Philosophy first class

Friday evening was our first class for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy and we followed the syllabus pretty well for the first two sessions - though as usual never get as far as planned. The quiz question for the first half was what are the ten commandments which we then discussed. The quiz question for the second half we have not discussed yet but was if Jesus came to your door and you knew it was him and knew he was God, and he asked you to sell everything you have, give the money to the poor, and then follow him, would you go or would you do something else? Discuss! We shall discuss this in light of the Euthyphro next week. I did make a vide of the first portion of class and it is posted here but I forgot to turn the camera on for the second half. Sorry about that. Next week we should begin with the Platonic dialogs...

class 2 for Early Modern and Intro to Philosophy

Today in Early Modern we discussed the shift from the Middle Ages into the Modern asking what defined the Modern. Lots of interesting aspects to cover and never enough time. The quiz question was how many inventions did Galileo have? In reading about these you may find it all rather controversial. He is know for inventing the telescope but he seems to have heard about something similar and then makinng his own. Regarding the periodic movement of pendulums - he certainly didn't invent the pendulum but his discovery led to the beginnings of clocks. And most frustrating of all - did he use the tower of Pisa for an experiment? Not to mention the whole issue regarding the movement of the earth and how much trouble that caused. For my Introduction to Philosophy class today we discussed Socrates - after discussing the nature of memory. Always fun. The quiz question was if Jesus came to your door and asked you to sell everything you have, give the money to the poor, and then follow him, would you go? Or what? I tied this in with the Euthyphro where Socrates poses his famous question regarding the nature of pious. I did recorded some of the second lecture and it is posted here.

First class of the Spring 2018 semester

The first class of the new semester met today - both for my Early Modern and Introduction to Philosophy courses. I did record the second class but since it covers how I run the course and that is the same I only made the one video and it is posted here. The first quiz question for both was what are the ten commandments?