Philosophy
Perhaps no other philosopher has been as influential or original as the ancient philosopher Aristotle, and only the greatest have been as productive and consistent in their entire world view. It's one thing to have opinions about particular subjects (we all do that), but it takes true genius to come to make sense of the totality of our experience of the world (moral reasoning, critical thinking, political discourse, taxonomic categorization, aesthetic judgment, scientific inquiry, etc.) in terms of a single all-encompassing metaphysical theory, and Aristotle did that with enough philosophical elegance and coherence to become the unquestioned authority in virtually every discipline of human inquiry for more than two thousand years.
It would take other great geniuses like Galileo, Descartes, Linnaeus, Darwin, Boole and Frege to question and ultimately replace the pervading Aristotelian framework with more modern conceptions and approaches to questions of knowledge and logical analysis. In this amusing lecture, Mark Steel provides a nice introduction to the importance of this great thinker.
Click here if you want the more serious treatment of Aristotle's genius and philosophical importance, with Martha Nussbaum.
Or click here and here for an analysis of Aristotle's thoughts on justice and the good society.
.
- Human Nature And Political Legitimacy
From ancient times, and well beyond them, the roots of justification for political authority were inescapably tied to outlooks on human nature. In The Republic, Plato declared that the ideal society would be run by a council of philosopher-kings, since...
- Three Minute Philosophy - Aristotle
When scholars refer to you as "the philosopher" for about two thousand years, and everyone understands what that means, you're kind of a big deal. That's exactly what happened to Aristotle because, let's face it, the man's depth and breath...
- Peter Millican's Introduction To General Philosophy
You know what's missing from your life? More philosophy. Sure, the practical benefits may not always be obvious (though they are most decidedly there), but philosophy deals with the deepest, the most elusive, the most important and the most interesting...
- Barry Schwarts On Aristotle And Practical Wisdom
In his famous Nicomachean Ethics, the ancient philosopher Aristotle argued that ethics is not an exact science, and that looking for mathematical precision in such a discipline is bound both to fail and to distort ethics itself. Instead of thinking of...
- The Mark Steel Lectures - Descartes
Rene Descartes is indubitably (get it?) one of the most influential and ambitious thinkers of all time. Look at him looking all French... :) One of the contributions for which I admire him most is the unprecedented unification of algebra and geometry...
Philosophy
The Mark Steel Lectures - Aristotle
Perhaps no other philosopher has been as influential or original as the ancient philosopher Aristotle, and only the greatest have been as productive and consistent in their entire world view. It's one thing to have opinions about particular subjects (we all do that), but it takes true genius to come to make sense of the totality of our experience of the world (moral reasoning, critical thinking, political discourse, taxonomic categorization, aesthetic judgment, scientific inquiry, etc.) in terms of a single all-encompassing metaphysical theory, and Aristotle did that with enough philosophical elegance and coherence to become the unquestioned authority in virtually every discipline of human inquiry for more than two thousand years.It would take other great geniuses like Galileo, Descartes, Linnaeus, Darwin, Boole and Frege to question and ultimately replace the pervading Aristotelian framework with more modern conceptions and approaches to questions of knowledge and logical analysis. In this amusing lecture, Mark Steel provides a nice introduction to the importance of this great thinker.
Click here if you want the more serious treatment of Aristotle's genius and philosophical importance, with Martha Nussbaum.
Or click here and here for an analysis of Aristotle's thoughts on justice and the good society.
.
- Human Nature And Political Legitimacy
From ancient times, and well beyond them, the roots of justification for political authority were inescapably tied to outlooks on human nature. In The Republic, Plato declared that the ideal society would be run by a council of philosopher-kings, since...
- Three Minute Philosophy - Aristotle
When scholars refer to you as "the philosopher" for about two thousand years, and everyone understands what that means, you're kind of a big deal. That's exactly what happened to Aristotle because, let's face it, the man's depth and breath...
- Peter Millican's Introduction To General Philosophy
You know what's missing from your life? More philosophy. Sure, the practical benefits may not always be obvious (though they are most decidedly there), but philosophy deals with the deepest, the most elusive, the most important and the most interesting...
- Barry Schwarts On Aristotle And Practical Wisdom
In his famous Nicomachean Ethics, the ancient philosopher Aristotle argued that ethics is not an exact science, and that looking for mathematical precision in such a discipline is bound both to fail and to distort ethics itself. Instead of thinking of...
- The Mark Steel Lectures - Descartes
Rene Descartes is indubitably (get it?) one of the most influential and ambitious thinkers of all time. Look at him looking all French... :) One of the contributions for which I admire him most is the unprecedented unification of algebra and geometry...