Orexis Dianoētikē: philosophy of religion

Showing posts with label philosophy of religion. Show all posts

Apr 19, 2020

Seven Podcast Lectures on William James' The Will To Believe

One of the works I teach fairly routinely in my Introduction to Philosophy classes - and also when I occasionally teach Philosophy of Religion - is William James' essay, The Will To Believe.

It is quite an eye-opening text for my students, since it proposes something that they are surprised a philosopher would say, namely that there are some cases - having to do with matters that we believe or don't - where we not only can decide the matter on the basis of our feelings, our gut hunches, or even just our own capacity to choose. Sometimes, we ought to decide matters that way. that's what we ought to do, if we don't want to miss out on the possibility of learning, knowing, or enjoying the truth.

James will ultimately apply this to religious matters - so the will to believe is a will to believe in God and the teachings of religion, a pragmatic proof, if you like. But it equally applies to all sorts of other matters of our practical lives, from the workplace to our romantic relationships, and even to North Pole expeditions.

I created the podcast episodes below from the seven core concept videos I shot for my students as resources for their studies. Now you can listen to and download them at your leisure. All seven of them together comprise a little under an hour and 45 minutes. Here they are:

I hope that you enjoy them and find them thought-provoking!

If you'd like to make a contribution to helping me continue my work making classic philosophical texts, thinkers, and topics accessible for people worldwide, consider becoming a monthly supporter on Patreon. If you'd like to make a one-time donation, you can do so directly on Paypal, or on Buy Me A Coffee.

Feb 18, 2019

Eight Videos On Blaise Pascal's Pensées

Some time back, I decided to shoot some core concept videos on one of my favorite books of philosophy, Blaise Pascal's unfinished but brilliant work, the Pensées. It's a work that I first encountered back in graduate school, and have often drawn upon, but don't often have a pretext to teach (perhaps I should find one!) in my classes.

The Pensées is a pretty lengthy and quite complex work, so what I've done in these seven videos is in some respects just scratching the surface. Some of the ideas and arguments, though, are among those Pascal is best remembered for. I hope eventually to return to the text and produce a number of additional videos covering key ideas and distinctions in it.

For the time being, here are those eight videos

Feb 14, 2019

Five Videos on Anselm's Proslogion

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I have been creating new core concept videos for students enrolled in my college classes this semester. So far I've released several new series, links to which are below.

One of the texts we are covering in its entirety in my Marquette classes, and just in part in my MATC class, is Anselm of Canterbury's short work, the Proslogion. I created five new core concept videos covering some of the main aspects and arguments in that work (which is, according to Anselm, one long single "argument"). I hope to get to some additional videos on this work later on down the line, covering some of the other issues examined in the text.

Anselm is relatively poorly know and not all that often read (if you like, you can read my IEP article on Anselm). When he does get addressed by philosophers, it is usually the Proslogion to which they turn, and typically just chapter 2 (and sometimes 3 and 4), where Anselm sets out what has come to be called the "ontological argument for God's existence". There's far more going on in that book, however, as you'll see if you read it, or even if you watch the videos below.

So here they are:

In the last few months, I have also created several other series of core concept videos, on other key philosophical texts. You might find these interesting or helpful:

I'm in process of shooting a lot more video content, and you'll see more posts like these in the coming months. We've got more Cicero coming up, as well as more Augustine, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, Rene Descartes, David Hume, Hannah Arendt, James Rachels, and Lawrence Kohlberg, to name a few.

If you'd like to support the work I do, creating these videos in my home studio, used by learners worldwide, consider becoming a Patreon supporter!

Dec 8, 2018

Nine Podcast Episodes on Søren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling

Earlier this term, I created a set of nine core concept videos on the great early existentialist, Søren Kierkegaard's, work Fear and Trembling. I then converted all of those videos into podcast episodes, boosting the sound quality.

I provided both the videos and the podcasts to my students in my Foundations of Philosophy class (at Marquette University), and early released them to my Patreon supporters. Then, episode after episode, video after video, I released them to the general public.

For those who might have missed them, and who would find the podcast episodes useful in studying this important work by Kierkegaard - in which he contrasts the "knight of faith" against the "knight of infinite resignation" and elaborates what he terms a "teleological suspension of the ethical" - I've linked the entire series so far, in order, below.

Eventually, I plan to return to this book and produce videos and podcast episodes on the remaining portions and concepts from the work I didn't get to this time around.

For the time being, here are those nine episodes - a bit over two and a half hours of podcast:

To listen to more podcast episodes - so far on Plato, Cicero, and Epictetus (with many other thinkers and works yet to come) - you can go to my Soundcloud channel, or find them on iTunes or GooglePlay.

Jul 16, 2018

Three Podcast Episodes on Plato's Euthyphro

The Sadler's Lectures podcast has been continuing on with the project of converting my video lectures into edited mp3 sound files. We tackled the Apology first (here's the playlist) and then the Crito (here's that playlist). And now, we've got three lectures - about 40 minutes total - available on another one of Plato's dialogues, the Euthyphro!

You can listen directly from my Soundcloud channel - or get them on iTunes /Apple Podcasts or Google Play (I'll be adding more formats in the coming months.

The Euthyphro takes place right before Socrates' trial, and right outside of the law-court, where he runs into the very guy the dialogue is named after. They get into a tangled discussion about the nature of "piety" or "holiness" - one which ranges over a number of topics and arguments.

In the process, Socrates articulates a problematic that has come to be recognized as a major issue in the Philosophy of Religion. It's called the "Euthyphro dilemma" - and if you listen to the episode on it, you'll see why it's so important!

Here are the three lectures:

As a reference for what you're listening to, you might want to get The Last Days of Socrates, which includes the Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Phaedo. The podcast lectures are designed to help you understand some of the key concepts of philosophical works. So don't deprive yourself of the pleasure of reading Plato's dialogues!

The work involved in creating these podcast episodes is underwritten by my monthly supporters on Patreon. Want to become a supporter? Click here!

Jun 14, 2018

Six Podcast Lectures on Plato's Apology

After getting the Sadler's Lectures podcast up and running earlier this month - thanks to my supporters (want to become one on Patreon - click here!) - I have finished converting the first sequence of videos, and have started on the second.

The first philosopher fans, supporters, and subscribers wanted lectures on was Plato, so I've created six downloadable lectures in mp3 format on the text so many people begin with - Plato's Apology. We're now working on converting lectures on the Crito, and will then do the Euthyphro and the Phaedo. (And when I say "we," it's not the royal usage - I'm including my son, Matthew, who is now assisting me with editing)

The videos these were drawn from were shot years back, before I started using a lapel mike and voice recorder, so we had to do a lot to boost the sound quality to the level you'll hear. But of course, it's not perfect podcasting that people go to my Sadler's Lectures for - it's high quality content, faithful to the texts and thinkers, helping readers and listeners learn!

At any rate, here are those six episodes

As a reference, you might want to get The Last Days of Socrates, which includes the Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Phaedo.

The six episodes come to just over 90 minutes total, so if you've got a long drive or commute, or want to listen to them at the gym, or while you're doing something else, you can easily download them from my channel and start learning! If iTunes /Apple Podcasts or Google Play is more your speed, you can find my channel there as well.

May 5, 2018

Nine Videos on Descartes' Discourse on Method

A few years back, I created a one-off video in my Core Concept series on Rene Descartes' famous four "rules of method". I was developing resources for students in my online World Views and Values class at Marist College (there's also an inexpensive open-enrollment version of that class you can check out or enroll in), and I noticed that some of them were getting a bit confused about the Cartesian approach. So I shot that video, intending eventually to create more content on Descartes.

My viewers and subscribers liked that video, and for quite some time have been asking me when I would start producing more content on Descartes. So last month, I managed to set aside the time to shoot eight more videos on the Discourse on Method, creating an entire series covering most of the key ideas and passages of that work.

Here are the links to those nine videos:

I do have to caution that these videos are not intended to substitute for actually reading the work. In the case of the Discourse, you really don't want to deprive yourself of the experience of reading Descartes. He's a very clear and readable writer, and it's a rather short work designed specifically to introduce his thought to a general public (he deliberately wrote it in French, rather than the Latin of many of his other works).

Later on down the line, I hope to also produce a whole slew of new videos on two other works by Descartes: his Meditations on First Philosophy, and his Passions of the Soul. If you'd like to support my ongoing work - or if you find my videos valuable, and just want to give back a bit - consider becoming a Patreon supporter on my page.

Sep 8, 2015

Theology Matters Guest Appearance: The 1930s Christian Philosophy Debates

Taking up the standing invitation to come back on the weekly Theology Matters with the Pellews internet radio show, I made a guest appearance last week. This time the topics under discussion between myself, the host, and callers were several of the main issues and ideas of my 2011 book, Reason Fulfilled by Revelation: The Christian Philosophy Debates in France (published by Catholic University of America Press).

The notion, the problem, and the historical examples of Christian philosophy -- and those 1930s debates in particular -- are topics that I've greatly enjoyed researching, writing on, and talking about over the last decade. So, I was quite happy to come back on the show specifically to discuss them.

For those who would like to listen to the audio of the show, minus the first portion (which featured a different guest) and the advertisements, I've put it into a podcast mp3 form, which you can download or listen to.

keep reading »

Apr 7, 2015

Anselm on Divine Power and Greatness

Recently, the web-comic xkcd put out a one-panel one-liner that caught my immediate attention as a sometime scholar working on Anselm of Canterbury. He's often credited with originating the "ontological argument," in some important senses a misattribution, since that term comes into use much later, in the 18th century, and since Anselm's "unum argumentum" is actually nearly the whole of the Proslogion, not just the second chapter -- there's even more to be said, but those are topics for another day, and a different post.

What's particularly interesting to me about this is the question that's being asked in the panel -- not the part about a "flaw" in the ontological argument, but rather the much more intriguing question hinted at about divine power, or rather omnipotence, and its intersection with the "that than which nothing greater can be thought" reasoning driving Anselm's argumentation in the Proslogion. Here's why that issue is well worth thinking through in light of Anselm's actual texts and thought:

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Aug 23, 2013

Second Radio Interview: Thomas Aquinas and Natural Law

Invited back to Theology Matters with the Pellews -- the idea being that I might start doing more or less regular guest spots focused on key Christian (and also atheist) thinkers of the past -- I proposed that my discussion this time focus on Thomas Aquinas and his conception of Natural Law. Not just Natural Law by itself, in isolation, though, but understood in conjunction with several other key conceptions of laws in Thomas' thought, namely, Eternal Law, Divine Law, and Human Law.

The original date had to be shifted from early August to later on in the month, due to some computer issues on the end of the show, which prefigured a few technical difficulties that occurred during the second portion of the actual show. Overall though, it seems -- going by listener responses -- to have been a good show. Given my somewhat perfectionist tendencies, the fact that I was one of the speakers, and the sort of "professional blinders" that being an expert in the field inevitably brings, I'm not a good judge of these sorts of matters -- how well the presentation, the dialogue, the interaction actually illuminated Thomas thought for the non-philosopher listening in.

If you'd like to listen to -- or download -- the full podcast of the show, you can do so by clicking here.

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Jul 19, 2013

Talk Radio Interview: Saint Anselm's Argument

Last night, I appeared as a guest on an internet radio talk show -- Theology Matters with the Pellews. Devin Pellew turned out to be an engaging host, quite interested in the topic I had proposed to focus upon: the "single argument" Saint Anselm elaborates in his early work, the Proslogion.

The first hour or so of the show was simply Devin and I, doing some back-and-forth discussion, starting with the more general, and then zeroing in on several key themes having to do with Anselm -- I'll say what those were shortly. Then, we had the call-in segment, and I participated in some very enjoyable conversations with several different callers.

If you'd like to hear the show -- or to download the mp3 of it -- you can access it here. For me, it was an opportunity to explore, in a different medium, some themes I've been thinking about for a long time, and to communicate my own interest in these themes to a broader, less academic audience -- the sorts of people actually, that Anselm himself spent much of his time working with, counseling, and even teaching.

So, what did we range over? A number of topics that I think would make good starting points for future blog posts. To start with, Anselm's "argument" turns out not to be the "ontological argument" (a name he wouldn't recognize, since it appears only from the time of Kant onward), but rather a much broader, deeper, yet more interesting structure that runs through nearly the whole of the Proslogion. This shouldn't be surprising, really, if we look at what Anselm himself tells us the argument is suppose to attempt and attain -- or if we actually read the Monologion, for whose multiple arguments this "single argument" is supposed to substitute.

We also talked about Anselm's own purposes in providing this argument in a written form -- he's not doing Christian apologetics as we often conceive of it, not trying to produce arguments to convince the unbelievers primarily. Rather, he tells us that he felt joy in discovering and exploring the argument, and wanted to share that experience -- or at least its apparatus -- with others. Interestingly, this wasn't how he felt about it at the start or in the middle of his enquiry. Another key theme, which I'll doubtless blog about later this Fall, is how Anselm could think, for a while. . . that the argument might actually be a trick of the Devil.

Apr 26, 2013

Happy Birthday, David Hume

Today, were he still alive, would mark the great Empiricist philosopher, David Hume's 302nd birthday -- an event which (as we know from his philosophy), since conceivable, is possible -- though far enough from likely that we would give it little thought, other than play within our imaginations and discourse.

Though I'm quite far from Hume on many philosophical matters, and even think him dead-off on some very important and implication-rich points, I have to admit that, like Thomas Hobbes, he remains among one of my favorite philosophers to read, puzzle over, and to teach, perhaps in some part precisely because of our considerable differences of outlook. There is something stark -- both in the sense of being sharply clear because underdeveloped and reductive, and in the other sense of being robust, bold, daring -- to Hume's deliberately, deceptively mellifluous prose.

This last week in my Introduction to Philosophy class, we worked our way through one of my favorite works by Hume, his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (video of the first of two lectures available here) It has deservedly become a classic text within the field of Philosophy of Religion, often anthologized, frequently quoted or even lifted from (sometimes, perhaps, without the person citing realizing the provenance of their ideas). Once the students get past Hume's now-archaic vocabulary, and take a place to listen to the discussions carried out among the three interlocutors, they are confronted with the play and parry of philosophical arguments bearing upon acknowledgedly murky topics of religion -- God's existence and nature, creation and the universe, human and divine minds. . .

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