Sadler's Lectures
This podcast features lectures by Gregory B. Sadler on classic and contemporary philosophical texts and thinkers. Sadler, known as the YouTube Philosophy Guy, has converted a selection of his extensive video lectures into audio format for portable listening. The episodes cover a wide range of philosophical topics and figures, drawing on his online teaching archive. The work is supported through Patreon and includes updates via his newsletter.
Episodes
Musonius Rufus, Lectures - Women, Men, and Philosophy - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus' Lecture 3, in which he addresses the question whether women just as much as men ought to study and practice philosophy, to which his answer is "Yes, of course". He then provides reasons for this, starting with the fact that women and men as human beings share the same capacities, which they ought to rightly cultiva
Musonius Rufus, Lectures - Innate Inclination Towards Virtue - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus' Lecture 2, in which he argues that human beings have an innate inclination towards virtue and even the "seeds of virtue" within them. He uses several lines of argument. The fact that certain lines of conduct are required or prohibited shows an assumption that people are responsible for developing and displaying vir
Musonius Rufus, Lectures - Demonstrations For One Matter - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus' Lecture 1, in which Musonius advances the claim that it is a sign that a teacher better understands their subject when they can present it with fewer rather than more arguments, proofs, or demonstrations. Likewise, on the part of the student, it is a sign that they have better intellectual capacities when they do n
Thomas Nagel, Sexual Perversion - Sexual Perversion And Morality - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "Sexual Perversion", and focuses upon the remarks that Nagel closes the article with, bearing on how sexual perversion connects with morality and goodness or badness. He clarifies that moral judgements are just one of a number of possible modes of evaluative judgements, and that assessments about sexuality and perve
Thomas Nagel, Sexual Perversion - Perversions Of The Central Impulse - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "Sexual Perversion", and focuses upon a number of sexual desires, practices, and relationships commonly viewed as sexual perversions in the time and culture that Nagel was writing, and Nagel's own views on whether and why they are or are not sexual perversions. These all have to do with their deviation from the para
Thomas Nagel, Sexual Perversion - Sexual Perception And Embodiment - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "Sexual Perversion", and focuses upon Nagel's depiction of what he calls the paradigm case of mutual sexual desire, which involves perceiving the other person sexually, through desire, but also reacting to their desire as well. This involves embodiment as well on the part of both people, and a set of interactions th
Thomas Nagel, Sexual Perversion - Sexual Desire And Awareness Of The Other - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "Sexual Perversion", and focuses upon the portion of his article where Nagel begins setting out his conception of a full sexual relationship between two people. Sexual attraction and desire is, according to Nagel, directed ultimately towards individuals not just types who happen to have a particular characteristic.
Thomas Nagel, Sexual Perversion - Addressing A Skeptical Objection - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "Sexual Perversion", and focuses upon what Nagel calls a "skeptical challenge" to the very notion that there is something that can meaningfully be called "sexual perversion". One way of articulating this is to say that sexual desire is simply an appetite like any other, which can take many forms, directions, and obj
Thomas Nagel, Sexual Perversion - Initial Clarifications Of The Concept - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "Sexual Perversion", and focuses upon the initial clarifications Nagel thinks needs to be made about the concept of sexual perversion before going on to examine it in further detail. He makes three positive clarifications, which are what we calls general conditions the concept must meet. He also makes two negative c
Plato, The Lysis - Love, Similarity, and Affinity - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher Plato's dialogue, the Lysis, focused on the nature of love and friendship
This lecture focuses specifically on the end of the dialogue, which ends in aporia, the interlocutors considering themselves to be friends, but not being able to arrive at a satisfactory account of what friendship is or how it arises and works. They do consider
Plato, The Lysis - Friendship and Valuation - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher Plato's dialogue, the Lysis, focused on the nature of love and friendship
This lecture focuses specifically on the portion of the text right after Socrates and his interlocutors seem have reached some sort of solid understanding of friendship, namely that it is between the good and the neutral on account of the bad. Socrates then sees
Plato, The Lysis - The Good, The Bad, And Friendship - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher Plato's dialogue, the Lysis, focused on the nature of love and friendship
This lecture focuses specifically on a dialectical examination at the heart of the dialogue, bearing on determining how friendship works, and who can be friends with each other. Socrates considers whether good, bad, or neutral people can be friends with each othe
Plato, The Lysis - Love and Friendship - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher Plato's dialogue, the Lysis, focused on the nature of love and friendship
This lecture focuses specifically on he early discussion between Socrates and Menexenus about the connections between love or desire and friendship, aiming at determining who has to feel love towards the other. They waver between the view that friendship requires
Plato, The Lysis - Parents Love Of Children - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher Plato's dialogue, the Lysis, focused on the nature of love and friendship
This lecture focuses specifically on Socrates' dialectic with the youth Lysis bearing upon whether or not his parents love him very much (sphodra philei), which would then imply that they wish him to be very happy (eudaimonistaton), and seemingly would conflict w
Plato, The Lysis - Lovers and Poetry - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher Plato's dialogue, the Lysis, focused on the nature of love and friendship
This lecture focuses specifically on some of the points made in the beginning of the dialogue, where Socrates tells Hippothales that he can tell that he is deeply in love with somebody. Ctesippus reveals this to be Lysis, and tells Socrates that not only does Hip
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - On Repenting - Why He Rarely Repents - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay On Repentance (Du Repentir). This one focuses on Montaigne's own explanations about why he tends not to feel repentance, and has only a few regrets. A significant part of this stems from several somewhat unusual aspects of his own mindset. He acknowl
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - On Repenting - Vices, Sins, and Repentance - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay On Repentance (Du Repentir). This one focuses on his discussions, running through much of the essay of the repentance that other people, from his observation of them, exhibit genuinely, exhibit in stereotyped or false ways, or don't exhibit at all. H
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - On Repenting - Montaigne's Project - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay On Repentance (Du Repentir). This one focuses on the remarks and reflections he provides about his more general project in writing and publishing his Essays. He tells us that he provides an account of the human being and the human condition, primaril
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - On Solitude - Motives For Solitude - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay "On Solitude" (De la Solitude). It discusses the last portion of that essay, where he examines three main sets of motivations for retiring into solitude: religion, pleasure, and ambition. The first of these he acknowledges to be something great, but
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - On Solitude - Solitude In Retirement - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay "On Solitude" (De la Solitude). It discusses how people might best cultivate solitude in the later portions of their life, when they withdraw from many of their active involvements, duties, and relationships, and learn to be on their own. One needs t
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - On Solitude - Solitude And Human Society - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay "On Solitude" (De la Solitude). It discusses the first portion of the essay, where he tells us that nothing is more insociable and sociable as a human being, the one by our vice, and the other by our nature. Our vices prevent us from actually enjoyin
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - On Fear - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay On Fear (De la Peur), in which he discusses that emotion, noting that he isn't a natural scientist, so that he won't be investigating the causes of fear, but taking a more phenomenological attitude towards the emotion. He notes that fear can take ou
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - On Sadness - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay "On Sadness" (De la Tristesse), where Montaigne begins by noting that he does not like or value this emotion, but is also not often subject to it either. By contrast, it seems that many people in the world do value it and even associate it with wisdo
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - That Difficulty Increases Desire - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay "That Difficulty Increases Desire" (Que Nostre Desir S'accroit par la Malaisance), which begins by invoking a principle and practice from the Skeptic school, that every argument, position, or "reason" has its contrary.
Montaigne considers one posit
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - On Democritus and Heraclitus - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay "On Democritus and Heraclitus"
It focuses upon his critical contrast of these two thinkers and the temperaments or attitudes towards life they represent, one of laughter and disdain, the other of sadness, compassion, and taking human affairs seriou
Michel de Montaigne, Essays - Not Judging Us Happy Until After Death - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay On Not Judging Us Happy Until After Death (Qu'Il ne Faut Juger de Nostre Heur, Qu'apres la Mort), in which he begins by considering the famous advice given by the Athenian wise man Solon to Croesus, king of Lydia until he was deposed by Cyrus of Pers
Alasdair MacIntyre, Is Patriotism A Virtue? - Implications Of Incompatibility
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Is Patriotism A Virtue?"
It focuses upon the fifth and final part of the article, where MacIntyre discusses the implications of both liberal universal morality and the morality of patriotism being morally dangerous, having valid criticisms of each other, and being both in p
Alasdair MacIntyre, Is Patriotism A Virtue? - Two Morally Dangerous Phenomena
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Is Patriotism A Virtue?"
It focuses upon the fourth part of the work where he brings a morality of patriotism and a liberal universalist morality into dialectical engagement with each other. Looking earlier at criticisms liberal morality had levied against patriotism, he had
Alasdair MacIntyre, Is Patriotism A Virtue? - Morality, Criticism, and Patriotism
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Is Patriotism A Virtue?"
It focuses upon he fourth part of the piece, where MacIntyre suggests that the morality of patriotism and liberal morality should be brought into dialectical engagement with each other. He begins by noting some of the criticisms that can be and typic
Alasdair MacIntyre, Is Patriotism A Virtue? - Patriotism And Particular Communities
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Is Patriotism A Virtue?"
It focuses upon the third section, in which he outlines some of the central claims of what he calls the morality of patriotism. These have to do with the importance of particular communities as places where human beings learn moral conceptions and va
Alasdair MacIntyre, Is Patriotism A Virtue? - Patriotism And Liberal Morality
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Is Patriotism A Virtue?"
It focuses upon his discussion of one common approach to morality in modernity that will inevitably construe patriotism however understood as a vice, rather than as a virtue, one he labels "liberal" morality, which requires moral agents to abstract f
Alasdair MacIntyre, Is Patriotism A Virtue? - Clarifying What Patriotism Is
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Is Patriotism A Virtue?"
It focuses upon the first portion of the work, where MacIntyre notes that the task for the moral philosopher is to provide clarity about the incompatible claims and convictions people make about patriotism, virtue, and morality. He distinguishes patr
Plutarch, Can Virtue Be Taught? - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work Can Virtue Be Taught?
In this work, Plutarch considers the arguments of those who claim that virtue, including justice and prudence, cannot be taught, and shows weaknesses to those arguments. Among the arguments that he makes in favor of virtue being able to be taught is his contention that if the
Plutarch, On Virtue And Vice - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Virtue and Vice
This episode focuses on his discussion why living pleasantly and happily requires a person to develop some level of moral virtue and to free themselves of their vices. This has to do in significant part with the fact that even the things that vicious people value and think will b
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Right Amount And Use Of Emotions - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on his discussion at the end of the work that sets out how the rational part of the soul ought to use the emotions from the irrational part of the soul, rather than simply suppress or eliminate them. Plutarch names a number of specific emotions that
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Right Order Of Rational And Irrational Parts - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on his discussion near the end of the work of how the rational and irrational parts of the soul ought to be ordered and related to each other. Plutarch thinks the rational (and divine) part ought to be determining matters overall, and that the irrati
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Criticism of Stoics On Emotions - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on his criticisms of the Stoic understanding of what the emotions are, how they work, how they arise, and how they influence us human beings in our choices and actions
You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's On M
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Conflict Between Reasonings - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on how conflicts can arise within the intellectual or reasoning part of the human soul, between different lines of reasoning (logoi) arriving at different judgements about the matters in question. At times, one line of reasoning can be given addition
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - The Stoic Good Emotional States - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on his discussion of the Stoic doctrine of the "good emotional states" (eupatheiai), which are rational desire (boulēsis), caution (eulabeia), and joy (kharis). Some of the points Plutarch makes seem a bit off-target in this section, as far as the St
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Criticism Of The Stoic Ruling Part - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on his critical examination of what the Stoics call the hegemonikon, translated as "the ruling part" of the human soul. As opposed to a Platonist or Aristotelean moral psychology, in which there is a higher rational part of the human soul, and a lowe
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Intemperance and Lack Of Self-Control - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on the distinction he draws between the vice of intemperance (akolasia) and the other bad, but not vicious moral state of lack of self-control (akrasia). Similarly to his treatment of the virtue of temperance and the state of self control, he notes t
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Temperance And Self-Control - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on the distinction he draws between temperance (sophrosunē), which is a virtue, and self-control (enkrateia), which is not a virtue but is a good state. Both of them involve two parts of the human soul, the rational and irrational part. In both of th
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Theoretical And Practical Reason - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on his discussion of two distinct uses of the faculty of reason human beings have. One use focuses on things that are by necessity and remain the same, that exist absolutely, and this is scientific or theoretical reason. The other use focuses on thin
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Virtue As A Mean - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on his discussion about how virtue is a mean, which bears some similarities with the Aristotelian position on the matter, but also several significant differences of emphasis
You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - What Ethical Virtue Is - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on the section where Plutarch discusses what he takes moral or ethical virtue to actually be. He frames it in terms of a quality of the irrational part of the soul that has been established within it as a habit formed or shaped by the rational part o
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Subjection Of The Irrational Part - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on how what he calls the irrational part of the soul (which encompasses the spirited part and the appetitive part, and is the part that feels or has passions) ought to be subjected to and persuaded by the rational part of the human soul. When this is
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - The Composite Human Soul - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on his discussion, early on in the work, of the composite nature of the human soul, which includes a rational part and an irrational part, the latter of which is further divided into a spirited (thumoeides) part and an appetitive part (epithumia). Th
Plutarch, On Moral Virtue - Mistaken Opinions On The Virtues - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and biographer Plutarch's short work On Moral Virtue
This episode focuses specifically on his discussion of what he takes to be mistaken conceptions of the virtues found in the works of the philosophers Menedemus, Ariston, Zeno, and Chysippus, so that he can contrast his own middle-Platonist perspective against them. There are two main
Derick Parfit, Reasons And Persons - Utility Monsters And The Repugnant Conclusion
This lecture discusses key ideas from American philosopher Derick Parfit's book Reasons And Persons, specifically the chapter titled "The Repugnant Conclusion".
Specifically it examines he actual "repugnant conclusion" that his extended argument leads to, which is that it would be better to have a population that is very large but in which people's lives would have a very low quality of life, or
Derick Parfit, Reasons And Persons - Lowering Quality Of Life By Growth
This lecture discusses key ideas from American philosopher Derick Parfit's book Reasons And Persons, specifically the chapter titled "The Repugnant Conclusion".
Specifically it examines his further development of the overall argument in that chapter, looking at how population growth over time could in multiple ways lower the quality of life or the overall happiness for members of a given populat
Derick Parfit, Reasons And Persons - Effects Of Population Growth - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from American philosopher Derick Parfit's book Reasons And Persons, specifically the chapter titled "The Repugnant Conclusion".
Specifically it examines the effects that population growth could be conceived or experienced to have upon the individual happiness or quality of life of the population either in the present or the future. In many cases increasing the po
John Searle - Minds, Brains, and Programs - Why People Think AIs Think - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas John Searle's article "Minds, Brains, & Programs", first published in The Behavioral And Brain Sciences In 1980, considered to be an important contribution to theorizing about the possibility and nature of artificial intelligence, not least by introducing his famous "Chinese Room" thought experiment.
Specifically it examines his discussion near the end of his ini
John Searle - Minds, Brains, and Programs - Digital Computers And Intentionality - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas John Searle's article "Minds, Brains, & Programs", first published in The Behavioral And Brain Sciences In 1980, considered to be an important contribution to theorizing about the possibility and nature of artificial intelligence, not least by introducing his famous "Chinese Room" thought experiment.
Specifically it examines his discussion bearing on whether digi
John Searle - Minds, Brains, and Programs - Responses To Other Replies - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas John Searle's article "Minds, Brains, & Programs", first published in The Behavioral And Brain Sciences In 1980, considered to be an important contribution to theorizing about the possibility and nature of artificial intelligence, not least by introducing his famous "Chinese Room" thought experiment.
Specifically it examines Searle's responses to a number of diff
John Searle - Minds, Brains, and Programs - Response To The Systems Reply - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas John Searle's article "Minds, Brains, & Programs", first published in The Behavioral And Brain Sciences In 1980, considered to be an important contribution to theorizing about the possibility and nature of artificial intelligence, not least by introducing his famous "Chinese Room" thought experiment.
Specifically it examines his response to one of the replies mad
John Searle - Minds, Brains, and Programs - Clarifications About "Understanding" - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas John Searle's article "Minds, Brains, & Programs", first published in The Behavioral And Brain Sciences In 1980, considered to be an important contribution to theorizing about the possibility and nature of artificial intelligence, not least by introducing his famous "Chinese Room" thought experiment.
Specifically it examines the clarifications about the notion of
John Searle - Minds, Brains, and Programs - The Chinese Room Thought Experiment - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas John Searle's article "Minds, Brains, & Programs", first published in The Behavioral And Brain Sciences In 1980, considered to be an important contribution to theorizing about the possibility and nature of artificial intelligence, not least by introducing his famous "Chinese Room" thought experiment.
Specifically it examines the actual framing of the "Chinese roo
John Searle - Minds, Brains, & Programs - Strong Artificial Intelligence Claims - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas John Searle's article "Minds, Brains, & Programs", first published in The Behavioral And Brain Sciences In 1980, considered to be an important contribution to theorizing about the possibility and nature of artificial intelligence, not least by introducing his famous "Chinese Room" thought experiment.
Specifically it examines the distinction he makes between weak
Alan Turing, Computing Machinery And Intelligence - Computers As Learning Machines
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist, Alan Turing's article "Computing Machinery And Intelligence", published in 1950 in the journal Mind. This is an important early work on artificial intelligence, which proposes what later has come to be called the "Turing Test".
Specifically it examines his dicussion at the end, motivated or
Alan Turing, Computing Machinery And Intelligence - Arguments From Various Disabilities
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist, Alan Turing's article "Computing Machinery And Intelligence", published in 1950 in the journal Mind. This is an important early work on artificial intelligence, which proposes what later has come to be called the "Turing Test".
Specifically it examines what he calls "arguments from various
Alan Turing, Computing Machinery And Intelligence - Objections and Arguments
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist, Alan Turing's article "Computing Machinery And Intelligence", published in 1950 in the journal Mind. This is an important early work on artificial intelligence, which proposes what later has come to be called the "Turing Test".
Specifically it examines Turing's framing of a set of objection
Alan Turing, Computing Machinery And Intelligence - The Imitation Game And Digital Computers
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist, Alan Turing's article "Computing Machinery And Intelligence", published in 1950 in the journal Mind. This is an important early work on artificial intelligence, which proposes what later has come to be called the "Turing Test".
Specifically it examines the "imitation game" as Turning develo
Peter Singer, The Life You Can Save - Ethical Obligations Towards The Poor - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosopher Peter Singer's book, The Life You Can Save, chapter 1.
Specifically it examines his argument for why each of us who are not in extreme poverty ought to devote a portion of our resources in order to prevent the death of at least one child living in extreme poverty. It looks at how he constructs the argument, beginning with a hypoth
Peter Singer, The Life You Can Save - Understanding Poverty And Affluence
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosopher Peter Singer's book, The Life You Can Save, chapter 1.
Specifically it examines his discussion of what extreme poverty consist in, whether or not we can do anything about it as individuals, and the relatively better-off condition of poverty in affluent societies.
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David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature - Personal Identity And Association - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 18th century philosopher, essayist, and historian, David Hume's work A Treatise of Human Nature
Specifically it examines his final portion of the discussion, where he turns back to considering the notion we have of personal identity and an identifiable "self" that runs throughout a person's entire life. Hume considers this a fiction and inquires as to how
David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature - Identity And Relations Of Parts - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 18th century philosopher, essayist, and historian, David Hume's work A Treatise of Human Nature
Specifically it examines what our conception of identity is for various objects over time, which Hume thinks is actually a fiction created by our own mind out of our perceptions, associating them in relation to each other in terms of resemblance, contiguity, an
David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature - The Self As Bundle Of Perceptions - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 18th century philosopher, essayist, and historian, David Hume's work A Treatise of Human Nature
Specifically it examines his argument that there is no such thing as a human self in a metaphysical sense of a substance or soul that remains the same throughout changes. Instead, what we have or are is a bundle or collection of perceptions in the mind. While w
Thomas Nagel, What Is It Like To Be A Bat? - Nagel's Speculative Proposal
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "What Is It Like To Be A Bat", and focuses upon the "speculative proposal" Nagel ends the article with, namely that of developing a more objective "phenomenology" which would perhaps allow greater clarity and precision to be given to descriptions of the experiences of "what it is like to be a . . . "
To support my
Thomas Nagel, What Is It Like To Be A Bat? - Deceptive Clarity In Identification - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "What Is It Like To Be A Bat", and focuses upon one of the key points Nagel makes in his criticisms of reductionist projects aimed at explaining mind entirely in physical terms, namely that in order to make the deceptively clear "is" or "are" involved in those putative identifications make sense, what is required is
Thomas Nagel, What Is It Like To Be A Bat? - Objective Understanding And Experience
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "What Is It Like To Be A Bat", and focuses upon Nagel's analysis of one way that a person who acknowledges that we cannot imagine or conceptualize the subjective experience of a bat might try to get around that, by appealing to more objective concepts and facts about the organs, body, and brain of the bat. He notes
Thomas Nagel, What Is It Like To Be A Bat? - Subjective Experiences Of Other Species
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "What Is It Like To Be A Bat", and focuses upon he portion of his article in which he begins to explore what subjective experience of other species would be and whether we have the capacity to imagine or understand what it is like to be to be that animal. He selects bats in particular since they are mammals but have
Thomas Nagel, What Is It Like To Be A Bat? - Reductionist Accounts And Conscious Experience
This lecture discusses the 20th century Analytic philosopher, Thomas Nagel's essay "What Is It Like To Be A Bat", and focuses upon the first part of the article, in which Nagel raises a number of general problems for adopting a physicalist reductionist analysis of mind to resolve the mind-body problem by explaining conscious experience in terms of something non-mental, e.g. the brain.
To support
Thomas Hobbes, De Corpore - "Of Identity And Difference" - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work De Corpore, specifically ch 11. "Of Identity and Difference", part 7
In this section, Hobbes explores questions and problems of what makes a thing remain the same thing throughout its changes over time or in composition. He considers several different philosophical approaches to the issue, one which focuses on the m
Stanislaw Lem, Summa Technologiae - Defrosting And Duplicating - Sadler's Lectures
This video focuses on chapter 6 of Stanislaw Lem's Summa Technologiae, specifically the section “Personality and Information”, which discusses thought experiments that bear on turning a person into information and reconstituting that person somewhere else or at a different point in time.
Specifically it examines on a somewhat different kind of thought-experiment, involving freezing a person, ta
Stanislaw Lem, Summa Technologiae - Killing the Telegraphed Person - Sadler's Lectures
This video focuses on chapter 6 of Stanislaw Lem's Summa Technologiae, specifically the section “Personality and Information”, which discusses thought experiments that bear on turning a person into information and reconstituting that person somewhere else or at a different point in time.
Specifically it examines one feature of these types of situations that is morally problematic, namely that it
Stanislaw Lem, Summa Technologiae - Paradoxes Of Telegraphing Persons - Sadler's Lectures
This video focuses on chapter 6 of Stanislaw Lem's Summa Technologiae, specifically the section “Personality and Information”, which discusses thought experiments that bear on turning a person into information and reconstituting that person somewhere else or at a different point in time.
Specifically it examines the paradoxes and problems that arise when we start thinking through the implication
William Clifford, The Ethics Of Belief - The Limits Of Inference - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses the William Clifford's 1877 essay "The Ethics Of Belief", in which he makes and argued for the central claim "it is wrong always, everywhere, and for any one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."
It focuses on the third section of his essay, titled "The Limits Of Inference" in which Clifford discusses conditions for having well-founded beliefs of matters we d
William Clifford, The Ethics Of Belief - Beliefs and Traditions - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses the William Clifford's 1877 essay "The Ethics Of Belief", in which he makes and argued for the central claim "it is wrong always, everywhere, and for any one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."
It focuses on portion of part 2 of the essay that is devoted to Clifford's analysis of tradition. He distinguishes between particular traditions, developing within a
William Clifford, The Ethics Of Belief - Veracity, Knowledge, and Judgement - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses the William Clifford's 1877 essay "The Ethics Of Belief", in which he makes and argued for the central claim "it is wrong always, everywhere, and for any one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."
It focuses on Clifford's criteria for determining when and whether we ought to give credence to the testimony of other people, especially those who have made assertio
William Clifford, The Ethics Of Belief - Individuals' Beliefs, Society, And Humanity
This lecture discusses the William Clifford's 1877 essay "The Ethics Of Belief", in which he makes and argued for the central claim "it is wrong always, everywhere, and for any one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."
It focuses on Clifford's contention that the beliefs people hold, even if they seem to be quite trivial, can have significant importance and consequences. His argume
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