Thursday's classes

When I arrived at class I realized I did not bring the camera! So I will try to reconstruct some notes on what we discussed. In Early Modern Philosophy we were looking at Heidegger and Sartre - Existentialism. We also touched on Hannah Arendt - who was a graduate student and lover of Heidegger (and also Frau Blucher!) ANd Sartre's life partner was Simone de Beauvoir. To start I pointed out both had relationships with their teacher Husserl who taught what he called Phenomenology. Since Hegel introduced Phenomenology as the appropriate study of all that we experience (following Kant's limitation on the noumena, the self, things in themselves, instead considering all experience as phenomena Husserl sought to be an unbiased observer of what people experience. I mentioned as an example the book assigned to my philosophy of religion class in college - https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Essence-Manifestation-Princeton-Library/dp/0691610444 which catalogs reported experiences of people in all cultures as a sort of encyclopedia of phenomena associated with the sacred. Sartre studied in Germany with Husserl as did Heidegger. A noteworthy event was that when Heidegger was the Regent of the university under the Nazis he fired all Jewish academics including his mentor Husserl. Also note that his lover Arendt was Jewish. So there are difficult conflicts to resolve regarding Heidegger's personal relationships. I mentioned the recent publication of this book -- my internet just dropped out! It was the Love Letters between Hannah and Heidegger....

Early Modern Philosophy and Introduction to Philosophy lecture 17

Today in Early Modern Philosophy we discussed Existentialism - Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. The video of the class is posted here. The quiz question was do you feel more on the side of Apollo or Dionysus? In Introduction to Philosophy today we talked about Plato's Timaeus, and Aquinas' Cosmological arguments. The video is posted here. The quiz question was do you think this is the best time to live on the earth?

Ancient and Medieval Philosophy evening

This evening for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy we first discussed Christianity's beginnings and then Saint Augustine. Several videos are posted here and here. The quiz question was does covering this material make you anxious? The second quiz question was do you think the song You have to look on the bright side of life is essentially the Christian world view?

Early Modern Philosophy and Introduction to Philosophy lecture 16

Today in Early Modern Philosophy we continued our discussion on Mill and Utilitarianism, followed by Marx. The video was split in two here and here because we also watched some of the BBC special on Marx. The quiz question was how many children did Marx have with his wife Jenny? For Introduction to Philosophy today we discussed Mill and the video is posted here. The quiz question was would you rather be a disatisfied human or a happy pig? A disatisfied Socrates or a happy fool?

Early Modern Philosophy and Introduction to Philosophy lecture 15

Today in Early Modern Philosophy we discussed Mill and Utilitarianism and watched Sam Harris' TED talk where he argues that science should determine universal values. The video of our class is here and a second portion here. His video is on youtube. The quiz question was what would be the activity that would give you the greatest happiness? For Introduction to Philosophy today our discussion was on Locke and the nature of our government. The video is posted here and here. We also watched a portion of the video posted for the day on the syllabus. The quiz question was how does a person approach a person today to let them know they are attracted to them without breaking social rules? or here - sorry, I may have them mixed up....

Ancient and Medieval Philosophy Friday evening

This evening we discussed the post Aristotelians including Cynics, Epicurus, Stoics, Skeptics, and Neo Platonists. Several videos - five! - each rather short with on screen videos in between. They are available here in reverse order. The first quiz question was what do you think of vegans, or vegetarians? We were discussing the diet recommendations of Epicurus. The second quiz question was who do you think is a perfect 10? Male or female? We were talking about beauty with regard to Plotinus.

Early Modern Philosophy and Introduction to Philosophy lecture 14

In Early Modern Philosophy today we discussed Schopenhauer and Wagner. The video is posted here. The quiz question was can you be a fan of Wagner without being an anti-Semite? For Introduction to Philosophy today we discussed feminism. The video is posted here. The quiz question was who is a perfect 10 either male or female or both?