John Stuart Mill on Political Revolutions

"All political revolutions, not affected by foreign conquest, originate in moral revolutions. The subversion of est ... http://bit.ly/p6VHRN

George Berkeley on Contemplation and Discovery

"The eye by long use comes to see even in the darkest cavern: and there is no subject so obscure but we may discern ... http://bit.ly/nkUzz9

Simone de Beauvoir on Man and His Idols

"All the idols made by man, however terrifying they may be, are in point of fact subordinate to him, and that is wh ... http://bit.ly/o7deiI

Thomas Nagel on Computers and the Human Mind

"Eventually, I believe, current attempts to understand the mind by analogy with man-made computers that can perform ... http://bit.ly/riFJn0

Friedrich Schiller on Aesthetic Matters, Harmony, and Society

"Aesthetic matters are fundamental for the harmonious development of both society and the individual."-Friedri ... http://bit.ly/pwajIE

Zeno of Elea on Space and its Non-Existence

"If space is, it will be in something; for everything that is is in something; and to be in something is to be in s ... http://bit.ly/pyGz07

Saint Thomas Aquinas on Philosophers, Poets, and Wonder

"Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Po ... http://bit.ly/oikfeW

Plotinus on Being and Beauty

“Being is desirable because it is identical with Beauty, and Beauty is loved because it is Being. We ourselves po ... http://bit.ly/nYYzvU

Saint Augustine on Humility and Virtue

"Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there c ... http://bit.ly/nmeAxc

Martin Heidegger on Being and Time

"Being and time determine each other reciprocally, but in such a manner that neither can the former - Being - be ad ... http://bit.ly/qkCkHS

Sigmund Freud on the Earliest Civilization

"Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock."-Sigmund FreudThe fir ... http://bit.ly/mJ45ok

Sir Francis Bacon on Philosophy, Atheism, and Religion

"A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religio ... http://bit.ly/ivb5Qk

Aristotle on Tyrants and Religion

"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal tr ... http://bit.ly/ksf6M9

Zeno on the Ears and Mouth

"The reason we have two ears and only one mouth, is that we may hear more and speak less."-Zeno of EleaA s ... http://bit.ly/kPRU08

Friedrich Nietzsche on God's Boredom and the Seventh Day

"A subject for a great poet would be God's boredom after the seventh day of creation."-Friedrich Nietzsche ... http://bit.ly/kgq1UZ

Jean-Paul Sartre on History and Poetry

"Every age has its own poetry; in every age the circumstances of history choose a nation, a race, a class to take u ... http://bit.ly/m0l6Nh

Baruch Spinoza on Beauty, Nature, and Imagination

"I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relatio ... http://bit.ly/lNvOnU

Thomas Nagel on the Mind, Computers, and Wasting Time

Best philosophy books of all time! "Eventually, I believe, current attempts to understand the mind by ana ... http://bit.ly/dGQJ87

Karl Marx on History, Man, and His Ends

"It is not history which uses men as a means of achieving - as if it were an individual person - its own ends. Hist ... http://bit.ly/ggV52Q

Epicurus on Societal Ills, Death, and Security

"It is possible to provide security against other ills, but as far as death is concerned, we men live in a city without walls."

-Epicurus

Philosophical Media's video on happiness: Epicurus on Happiness:

Primary Source: The Essential Epicurus: Letters, Principal Doctrines, Vatican Sayings, and Fragments by Epicurus

Secondary Source: Epicurus: His Continuing Influence and Contemporary Relevance edited by Dane R. Gordon and David B. Suits

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Sigmund Freud on America

"America is a mistake, a giant mistake."  

                      -Sigmund Freud A three-part documentary on Sigmund Freud: ; Primary Source: The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud (Psychopathology of Everyday Life, the Interpretation of Dreams, and Three Contributions To the Theory of Sex) by Sigmund Freud Secondary Source: Freud: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Anthony Sorr

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Jacques Derrida on Philosophers, Scientists, and their Inaccessibility

A great source for philosophy books.

"Why is it the philosopher who is expected to be easier and not some scientist who is even more inaccessible?"

-Jacques Derrida

Jacques Derrida explains his "Deconstructionist" theories in a Q&A session:

Primary Source: Of Grammatology by Jacques Derrida

Secondary Source: Derrida For Beginners by Jim Powell

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Atoms And Leucippus Of Miletus

The origins of Leucippus of Miletus are a mystery. The exact dates of his birth and death are not known. We know only that he was alive during the fifth century BCE. It is thought that his date of birth was between 440 and 430 BCE. He is said to have started the School of Abdera in the land of Thrace. Some people have argued that the man never existed in the first place.

Many sources give him credit for the first atomic theories, which were later elaborated on by one of his students, Democritus. The theories held that two different elements, known as the "void" and the "solid", made up all matter in the universe.

The void and the solid atoms contained within the void were both considered by the ancient Greek philosopher to be infinite. These two elements constituted the whole of the universe.

The Greek philosopher was attempting to combine two opposing schools of thought about reality by Parmenides and Heraclitus. Parmenides said reality was unchanging and permanent. Heraclitus in contrast believed that the real world was in a ongoing state of flux.

The philosopher from Miletus took Parmenides' ideas and included an infinite amount of particles, also called atoms, and taught that these atoms were unchanging. These unchanging pieces, though, were themselves subject to flux on a grand scale through decomposition, rearrangement and the motion of the atoms.

He believed that atoms would lock to one another and then later fly apart, to rebound against some atoms and lock up with others. This was how he explained the changing nature of the real world. He felt that each type of atom had its own unique shape. For example, atoms of metal had hooks in order to form connections, where atoms of water were smoother.

The student Democritus would go on to expand the atomist model further to such an extent that Epicurus, another Greek philosopher, said that the teacher had never been there at all and was just an alias for Democritus. In any event, the teacher and pupil appear often mentioned side by side in surviving writings.

Not everyone accepted atomist theory. Aristotle chose to reject the idea that reality boiled down to a haphazard collection of particles moving through a void, choosing to believe that this theory was a violation of natural law. He felt rather that the real world experienced change because matter itself underwent transformation. In addition, Aristotle gave credit to Leucippus for the creation of atomism in some writings but credited Democritus in others.

Regardless of which man first came up with atomism, Democritus is widely considered to have fathered modern science, which makes Leucippus of Miletus the grandfather of modern science. Together, these two Greek thinkers pioneered the first inquiries regarding atomic reality, and they had a big impact on how the scientists that followed would investigate the real world.

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Sir Isaac Newton on Truth, Apprehension, and Understanding

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"A man may imagine things that are false, but he can only understand things that are true, for if the things be false, the apprehension of them is not understanding."

-Sir Isaac Newton

Not really a philosophical video, I just found it interesting when I was searching. See if Sir Isaac Newton really discovered gravity by an apple... or was it a comet? The BBC explores this question: 

Primary Source: The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy by Sir Isaac Newton

Secondary Source: Isaac Newton: And the Scientific Revolution (Oxford Portraits in Science) by Gale E. Christianson

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Charles Sanders Peirce on Generality, Existence, and Chaos

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"Generality is, indeed, an indispensable ingredient of reality; for mere individual existence or actuality without any regularity whatever is a nullity. Chaos is pure nothing."

-Charles Sanders Peirce

No video on Charles Sanders Peirce, per se, but here's a short introduction to Semiotics, the study of signs, that Peirce and Ferdinand de Sassure semi-indepedently originated:

Primary Source: Peirce on Signs: Writings on Semiotic By Charles Sanders Peirce by Charles Sanders Peirce

Secondary Source: The Cambridge Companion to Peirce (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) by Cheryl Misak

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Edmund Husserl on Pure Consciousness, Objectivity, and Transcendence

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"Psychologically experienced consciousness is therefore no longer pure consciousness; construed Objectively in this way, consciousness itself becomes something transcendent, becomes an event in that spatial world which appears, by virtue of consciousness, to be transcendent."

-Edmund Husserl

Professor Robert C. Solomon lectures on Edmund Husserl and Phenomonology: 

Primary Source: The Essential Husserl: Basic Writings in Transcendental Phenomenology (Studies in Continental Thought) by Edmund Husserl and edited by Donn Welton

Secondary Source: Husserl (The Routledge Philosophers) by David Woodruff Smith

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Sextus Empiricus on Truth, Justification, and Skepticism

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"Those who claim for themselves to judge the truth are bound to possess a criterion of truth. This criterion, then, either is without a judge's approval or has been approved. But if it is without approval, whence comes it that it is truthworthy? For no matter of dispute is to be trusted without judging. And, if it has been approved, that which approves it, in turn, either has been approved or has not been approved, and so on ad infinitum."

-Sextus Empiricus

This is an informative video about Marcus Agrippa and Sextus Empiricus on the nature of their skeptical arguments. The video was made using Xtranormal, which can be a hilarious medium for communicating anything. You should check it out sometime if you haven't before. Anyway, here's the video:

Primary Source: Sextus Empiricus: Outlines of Scepticism (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) by Sextus Empiricus

Secondary Source: Sextus Empiricus and Greek Scepticism by Mary Mills Patrick

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Karl Marx on Bourgeois Society, Capital, and Individuality

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"In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality."

-Karl Marx

Professor Alan Macfarlane gives a lecture on Karl Marx at Cambridge University:

Primary Source: Capital: A Critique of Political Economy by Karl Marx

Seconary Source: Marx: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer

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The Socratic Problem - Who Was Socrates?

Socrates of Athens lived from 469 - 399 B.C.E., spending much of his life walking the streets, starting arguments, and perplexing all of his listeners. Many accredit Socrates as being the founder of Western Philosophy as we know it.

Alexander Nehamas, a Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, commented on Socrates' brilliance and popularity: "with the exception of the Epicureans, every philosophical school in antiquity, whatever its orientation, saw in him either its actual founder or the type of person to whom its adherents were to aspire."

Despite his fame, we know practically nothing about the historical Socrates, in large part because we trust too much the sources that Plato gave us. Plato's writings always tell a story about Socrates but never demonstrate the philosophical opinions of Plato himself.

As a matter of fact, many thinkers suggest that Plato actually perverted Socrates original teachings for the sake of his own philosophical leanings. Not only do we find inconsistencies in Plato's works, we find inconsistencies in other works as well.

Next to Plato, two sources on Socrates are extant today from the Greek thinker Xenophon (425 - 386 B.C.E.) and the Greek playwright Aristophanes (450 - 386 B.C.E.). Aristophanes wrote the play Clouds which currently is our earliest source on Socrates.

Very much like Plato, Xenophon studied under Socrates when Socrates was at least in his 50's, an age at which the two pupils might have been mature enough to study under him. Conversely, Socrates and Aristophanes would have likely interacted when Socrates was much younger.

We have numerous account of Socrates from Plato which include The Republic, Euthypro, Meno, Phaedo, and Symposium. These titles represent just a few of Plato's dialogues on Socrates. In contrast, Xenophon wrote just a few works on Socrates which areApology, Anabasis, Symposium, and Hellenica.

Because all of the accounts differ in some way and highlight several inconsistencies, we cannot determine the most appropriate interpretation of Socrates. To mimic the phrase "Socratic dialogue," scholars have named this interpretive confusion the "Socratic problem."

On the other hand, we do know some important things. First, he spent most of his time strangely traversing Athenian roads. Next, the typical Athenian would strive to fulfill his civic duty by holding a public office, particularly if he was a wealthy man. Socrates never took his civic post. And finally, the Sophists travelled all throughout Greece in search of teaching students for money, and Socrates preferred poverty and never took a dime from any of his students.

Indeed, our lack of historical documentation limits our knowledge of Socrates, but scholars have and will forever herald Socrates for his ingenuity, confidence, and legacy. Although we currently grasp in the dark for the real Socrates, future work in this area of study may reveal new and fascinating aspects of his brilliant life.

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G.W.F. Hegel on Universal Principles and their Accessibility

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"We do not need to be shoemakers to know if our shoes fit, and just as little have we any need to be professionals to acquire knowledge of matters of universal interest."

-Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

A video that simply explains Hegel's Dialectic:

Primary Source: The Hegel Reader (Blackwell Readers) by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and edited by Stephen Houlgate

Secondary Source: The Accessible Hegel by Michael Allen Fox

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Bertrand Russell on Capitalism, Liberty, and Tyranny

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"Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate."

-Bertrand Russell

A part of the BBC Radio "Reith Lectures," Bertrand Russell gives a lecture on Social Cohesion and Human Nature:

Primary Source: Bertrand Russell Bundle: Unpopular Essays (Routledge Classics) by Bertrand Russell

Secondary Source: Russell: The Great Philosophers (The Great Philosophers Series) by Ray Monk

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Thomas Hobbes on Mankind and its Insatiable Desire for Power

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"I put for the general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death."

-Thomas Hobbes

David Gordon gives a lecture on Thomas Hobbes. This video was published and distributed by the Ludwig von Mises Institute:

Primary Source: Leviathan (Oxford World's Classics) by Thomas Hobbes

Secondary Source: Hobbes and the Law of Nature by Perez Zagorin

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Baruch Spinoza on the Universe, Determinism, and Divine Nature

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"Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature."

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]-Baruch Spinoza

BBC Radio's "The Life and Philosophy of Baruch Spinoza":

Primary Source: The Ethics, Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect, and Selected Letters by Baruch Spinoza

Secondary Source: Baruch Spinoza: Knowledge Products (Giants of Philosophy) by Professor Thomas Cook

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Friedrich Nietzsche on Faith and the Asylum

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"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."

-Friedrich Nietzsche

A video on how we think we science, with an excerpt of Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on knowing the universe:

Primary Source: The Portable Nietzsche by Friedrich Nietzsche and translated by Walter Kaufmann

Secondary Source: Introducing Nietzsche: A Graphic Guide by Laurence Gane

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Socrates on Wisdom and Humility

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"True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us."

-Socrates

Karen Armstrong speaks about the need for Socratic dialogue in today's world:

Primary Source: The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues (Dover Thrift Editions) by Plato and translated by Benjamin Jowett

Secondary Source: The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life by Bettany Hughes

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Boethius on God and the Origin of Good and Evil

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"If there is a God, whence proceed so many evils? If there is no God, whence cometh any good?"

-Anicius Boethius

Dr. Illo Humphrey and Jim Downing discuss Anicius Boethius and the origins of the Medieval University:

Primary Source: The Consolation of Philosophy: Revised Edition (Penguin Classics) by Anicius Boethius

Secondary Source: Boethius (Great Medieval Thinkers) by John Marenbon

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Gorgias Of Leontini: Nothing Exists

The Sophist Philosopher Gorgias came from Leontini in Syracuse wrote and argued from 485 to 375 B.C.E. I double-checked and made no mistake about it; most scholars believe he lived over a 100 years. For his legendary work, Gorgias is even considered the "Father of Sophistry."

Gorgias came to Athens in the last quarter of the fifth century B.C.E. as a political ambassador from Syracuse. Like Protagoras, he too accepted students to teach the art of rhetoric for political and legal purposes. Most consider Protagoras and Gorgias to be the first of the Sophist Philosophers.

In ancient resources, we find evidence that Gorgias studied under Empedocles. Gorgias wrote four works of which we are aware:Encomium on Helen, Epitaphios, On Non-Existence, and the Defense of Palamedes. The former pair exist in their entirety, but however, the last work On Non-Existence only exists in a summary and particular fragments.

In his Greek world, he was rather unique because he staunchly exonerated skepticism in unlikely places, most notably of which are metaphysics and epistemology. In fact, some now even considered him to be one of the first nihilists.

Using his Sophist rhetoric, Gorgias wishes to demonstrate that it was just as easy to prove "nothing exists" as it is to prove Parmenides' argument "something exists." To review this argument, which is found in On Non-Existence, I will merely summarize his argument.

We can all assume that something exists. To accept this proposition's opposite, "nothing exists," is absurd, but for the sake of argument we may suppose for a second "non-existence exists." This statement issues a quite obvious contradiction, so we "should" be same to assume that something exists.

So, if something exists, or has existence, then existence must either be eternal or something else must cause existence. Existence though cannot be eternal because it would be "timeless" and, thus, "limitless." That which is "limitless" cannot exist in space or in this world, because it would exist nowhere.

Thus, existence is not eternal, but something could cause existence. If a thing causes existence, we run into the following problems: a circular argument as existence causes existence, a contradiction as something other than existence, or non-existence, causes existence, or an infinite regressions as existence causes existence, which causes existence, ad infinitum.

As it stands, existence fails to justify existence, and non-existence cannot either because it either doesn't exist or because something cannot come from nothing. Therefore, we conclude that something cannot exist and, by process of elimination, we must accept nothing exists.

Gorgias continues after this to suggest that even if something exists, we can certainly know nothing about it because the mind cannot "hold" existing things. A unicorn, for instance, may exist in the mind but not in the world. This presupposes a dualism but Gorgias merely uses this distinction to illustrate that "thought" things don't come into existence, and the mind, our knowledge, and our thoughts have no capacity for holding "existing" things.

However, even if existence we could comprehend existence, we would be unable to speak about it because we speak "words" not "existing things." For example, Gorgias explains, "How can anyone communicate the idea of color by means of words since the ear does not hear colors but only sounds?"

Gorgias goes to the extremes to "prove" that nothing exists. We cannot be certain whether he actually believed that or not; but, we may more safely assume that we was merely using his sophist rhetoric to demonstrate the problems with absolute truth. In other words, he may have been flaunting his rhetorical ability.

To further support this claim, his three other works employ similar methods. He always promotes an absurd position by disproving or discrediting a popular belief, and challenging popular beliefs was a common Sophist strategy.

Naturally, later philosophers disapproved on this Sophists' methods, particularly Plato, who deemed their words as "rhetoric" and not "argument," or logos. Postmodern Philosophers have revisited Sophistry for its implications for truth and language.

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Albert Camus on Knowledge, Intelligence, and Nihilism

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"The modern mind is in complete disarray. Knowledge has stretched itself to the point where neither the world nor our intelligence can find any foot-hold. It is a fact that we are suffering from nihilism."

-Albert Camus

Professor Robert Solomon (deceased) who taught at the University of Texas, at Austin, on continental philosophy, gives a lecture on Albert Camus and the 'Absurd':

Primary Source: The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays by Albert Camus

Secondary Source: Camus (Blackwell Great Minds) by David Sherman

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David Hume on Beauty and the Mind

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"Beauty is no quality in things themselves. It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them."

-David Hume

A BBC documentary on David Hume and his theory of knowledge:

Primary Source: Selected Essays (Oxford World's Classics) by David Hume

Secondary Source: The Cambridge Companion to Hume (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) by David Fate Norton and Jacqueline Taylor

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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz on the Material, Immaterial, and Activity

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"I maintain also that substances, whether material or immaterial, cannot be conceived in their bare essence without any activity, activity being of the essence of substance in general."

-Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Anthony Quinton and Bryan Magee talk about Spinoza and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz:

Primary Source: Discourse on Metaphysics and Other Essays by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Secondary Source: Leibniz: Body, Substance, Monad by Daniel Garber

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Karl Theodor Jaspers on History of Philosophy, the Intellect, and Man's Being

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"The history of philosophy is not, like the history of the sciences, to be studied with the intellect alone. That which is receptive in us and that which impinges upon us from history is the reality of man's being, unfolding itself in thought."

-Karl Theodor Jaspers

No good videos that I could find out there on the world wide web, at least not in English anyway. 

Primary Source: Philosophy of Existence (Works in Continental Philosophy) by Karl Theodor Jaspers and translated by Richard F. Grabau

Secondary Source: Karl Jasper's Philosophy: Expositions & Interpretations edited by Kurt Salamun and Gregory J. Walters

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The First Sophist And Grammarian: Protagoras Of Abdera

Protagoras of Abdera in Thrace was born in 490 BCE and died in the year 420 BCE. Being a sophist, he likely travelled throughout Greece, and spent many years in Athens.

Before we begin, let me offer some caution to his work. Because we have very few sources on Protagoras and his historical context highly influenced his thought, I find it appropriate to pause and consider these interpretive issues.

Lacking Sources

Similar to most other Pre-Socratics, very few sources on Protagoras remain today. Our greatest sources are Plato, Diogenes Laertius, and Sextus Empericus. The last two historians lived several thousands years after the death of Protagoras, in which case we may doubt the reliability of their own sources. On the other hand, we depend very heavily on Diogenes for Pre-Socratic accounts.

Historical Context and the Sophists' Tradition

We find that, around the fifth century B.C.E., many characterized the term "sophist" with those who were renowned for their great wisdom or those who professionally tutored pupils.

The Old Sophists, comprised of Protagoras, Prodicus, Gorgias, Euthydemus, Thrasymacus, and Hippias, pushed a philosophical agenda that we now characterize as religiously agnostic, morally and epistemologically relativistic, and rhetorically skilled. These older sophists all played an important role in Plato's Protagoras.

By the fourth century B.C.E., the sophists became synonymous with modern-day lawyers. Because they argued well in public, the Greek world found them very useful in its legal system.

As they mastered the art of rhetoric, they became increasingly instrumental in the court system. However, they would often promote justice in one trial, then turn around and argue on behalf of justice, which began to give them a bad reputation. These negative connotations survive today, as we define the term "sophistry" as deception or deception rhetoric.

The Three Major Themes of Protagoras

Orthoepeia, or the study of using words correctly. Many late sources credit Protagoras as the first formal grammarian, which equated to work in what we now consider syntax. We see in Plato's Protagoras a scene in which Protagoras interprets a poem by comparing the writer's intentions and the literal meaning of the words, a method popularly employed in the courtroom.

Man as the measure of all things. "Of all things, the measure is man, of the things that are, and how they are, and of things that are not, and how they are not" (Protagoras, DK80b1). Allow me to elaborate on this.

Imagine a homecoming, where relatives meet in a house at room temperature in the fantastic state of Tennessee. Jane and Wendy are two of those visiting.

Jane insists that it feels cold in the house, while Wendy insists otherwise. Wendy is visiting from Northern Canada, a very cold place indeed, and Jane has come up from an area in North Brazil that sits on the very hot, Equator. Who else can best describe his or her bodily state or perceptions that the individual who experiences them?

Protagoras insisted that we could prove neither girl wrong. While this example is a bit silly, the philosophical implications, namely that absolute Truth has succumbed to relativism, certainly made a grand impression on the Ancient Greeks. Protagoras, in short, ultimately pushed a philosophical agenda of moral and epistemological relativism.

Agnosticism. The Sophists, including Protagoras, all pointed to the absurd stories in the epics of the gods, most namely because of the gods' questionable and inconsistent moralities.

Protagoras was not an unrighteous man, as Plato himself painted Protagoras as a generous and upright individual. Protagoras merely suggested, "Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be. Many things prevent knowledge including the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life." (Protagoras, DK 80 B4).

Protagoras' Overshadowed Influence on Philosophy

Although Protagoras himself did not stir up any particular movement in intellectual history, the Sophists' work in general turned Greek philosophy from the natural sciences to human philosophy. They caused Plato to combat their relativism with his own ideas on absolute Truth, or the World of Forms. And their thoughts still speak meaningfully into recent movements in relativism and subjectivity.

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Carl Jung on Creativity and Imagination

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"All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination."

-Carl Jung

Face-to-face with Carl Jung, a documentary on the great psychologist and philosopher:

Primary Source: The Portable Jung (The Portable Library) by Carl Jung and edited by Joseph Campbell

Secondary Source: The Beginner's Guide to Jungian Psychology by Robin Robertson

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Majority Rule and its Unnatural Quality

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"It is unnatural for a majority to rule, for a majority can seldom be organized and united for specific action, and a minority can."

-Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Janez Potocnik's lecture on Jean-Jacques Rousseau at the 2010 Eco-Conference in Lisbon:

Primary Source: Rousseau: 'The Social Contract' and Other Later Political Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and edited by Victor Gourevitch

Secondary Source: Modernity and Authenticity: A Study of the Social and Ethical Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (SUNY Series in Social and Political Thought) by Alessandro Ferrara

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Sigmund Freud on Civilized Society, Humanity, and Hostility

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"Civilized society is perpetually menaced with disintegration through this primary hostility of men towards one another."

-Sigmund Freud

A documentary on the great psychologist Sigmund Freud:

Primary Source: Civilization and its Discontents by Sigmund Freud

Secondary Source: Sigmund Freud (Routledge Critical Thinkers) by Pamela Thurschwell

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Euclid of Alexandria on Mathematics and God

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"The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God."

-Euclid of Alexandria 

A video on Euclid's Elements, which is one of the most important mathematical works of all time:

Primary Source: Euclid's Elements by Euclid of Alexandria

Secondary Source: Here's Looking at Euclid: A Surprising Excursion Through the Astonishing World of Math by Alex Bellos

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Noam Chomsky on Popular Culture, Propaganda, and Consumption

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"All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume."

-Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky discusses the topic: "Is Capitalism Making Life Better?"

Primary Source: Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky by Noam Chomsky

Secondary Source: Chomsky For Beginners by David Cogswell and Paul Gordon

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Karl Barth on God and Man

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"Man can certainly flee from God... but he cannot escape him. He can certainly hate God and be hateful to God, but he cannot change into its opposite the eternal love of God which triumphs even in his hate."

-Karl Barth

Professor David Clough from the University of Chester speaks about the development of Karl Barth's theology:

Primary Source: Church Dogmatics by Karl Barth

Secondary Source: The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth (Cambridge Companions to Religion) edited by John Webster

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Max Weber on Irrationality and Religious Revolution

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“The experience of the irrationality of the world has been the driving force of all religious revolution.”

-Max Weber

A 2001 lecture given at Cambridge by Dr. Alan Macfarlane on Max Weber: 

Primary Source: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: and Other Writings (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Max Weber and contributions from/translation by Peter Baehr and Gordon C. Wells

Secondary Source: The Cambridge Companion to Weber (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) by Stephen Turner

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John Stuart Mill on Individuality and Despotism

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"Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men."

-John Stuart Mill

In a video made by the University of Richmond, biographer Richard Reeves discusses John Stuart Mill and his views on the individual, society, and the common good at the Jepson Leadership Forum:

Primary Source: John Stuart Mill: On Liberty (Longman Library of Primary Sources in Philosophy) by John Stuart Mill with contributions made by Michael B. Mathias and Daniel Kolak

Secondary Source: John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand by Richard Reeves

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Socrates on Marriage, Happiness, and Philosophy

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"By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher."

-Socrates

Allan Bloom, a renowned scholar for his translation of and work on Plato and Socrates, gives a lectures on the Apology of Socrates:

Plato's Account: The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues by Plato

Secondary Source: Philosophy 101 by Socrates: An Introduction to Philosophy Via Plato's Apology by Peter Kreeft

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Auguste Comte on the Sciences, Political Philosophy and Free Thinking

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"Men are not allowed to think freely about chemistry and biology: why should they be allowed to think freely about political philosophy?"

 

-Auguste Comte

Primary Source: An Introduction to Positive Philosophy by Auguste Comte

Secondary Source: Auguste Comte (Key Sociologists) by Mike Gane

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Saint Anselm of Canterbury on Belief and Understanding

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"For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For I believe this: unless I believe, I will not understand."

-Saint Anselm of Canterbury

A short biography on Saint Anselm of Canterbury:

Primary Source: Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) by Saint Anselm of Canterbury and edited by Brian Davies and G.R. Evans

Secondary Source: Anselm Of Canterbury: The Beauty Of Theology (Great Theologians Series) by David S. Hogg

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Jean-Paul Sartre on Human Nature and its Potential

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"Man is not the sum of what he has already, but rather the sum of what he does not yet have, of what he could have."

-Jean Paul Sartre

A BBC video special "Human, All Too Human" on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Primary Source: Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings by Jean-Paul Sartre and edited by Stephen Priest

Secondary Source: Jean-Paul Sartre (Routledge Critical Thinkers) by Christine Daigle

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Poet, Theologian, Scientist, And Philosopher: Empedocles Of Agrigentum

Empedocles of Agrigentum was a Greek philosopher who lived from approximately 490 to 430 B.C.E. As with many of the pre-socratic thinkers, his work only survives in fragments, the bulk of which derive from Aristotle and Plutarch. The three texts we know Empedocles wrote are entitled On Nature and Purifications. As for interpretive issues, some scholars maintain that Empedocles studied under the famous Parmenides. However, some debate exist as to the validity of this claim, but he was certainly familiar with Parmenides' work and attempted to correct and build on his "teacher's" work. Empedocles disagreed with Parmenides on the nature of change, as Parmenides saw change as a mere illusion, and nature as a unified unchanging substance. To support his argument, Parmenides' thought rests very heavily on a simple premise: something cannot come from nothing. He develops this premise to later conclude that the world was one single, unified substance. Empedocles did not wholly disagree with this, but he suggested that conversely, we must also accept with this premise that something cannot turn into nothing either. If we buy into this as well, then we deny the possibility of seemingly true concepts such as change, demise, decay, destruction, and absence. Empedocles stated that we should rather say that the ever-changing phenomenal world must be supported by a unified, monistic metaphysics. He elaborated on this by positing that the world was made up of four elements, or "roots," which are earth, air, fire, and water. These four basic elements undergo a cosmic tension between two forces: Love and Strife. When Love completely dominates the world, the elements are fused into indistinguishable forms without being reduced to a single element. Without any difference or distinguishable forms, then life and matter cannot exist in the world. As Strife begins to act on this world, the elements are separated but can be so manipulated by Strife as to create a whirlwind of change that cannot support any stability or unified being. When this happens, love returns to rebalance the Cosmos, life and the phenomenal world are again brought back to life, and then Love seeks to dominate the cosmos again. Once it has, the process starts all over at the beginning. We do not know whether Empedocles saw these forces as merely mechanical or if they were acts of the gods, because Empedocles was a theologian and very ethical man as well. Despite this fact, many scholars contend that Empedocles was positing the existences of two separate worlds, or Spheres, one wrought with Strife and the other with Love. Empedocles suggested that the human race lives in the world increasingly dominated by Strife. In the Strife-ridden world, the violent force acts against Love, and constantly differentiates all things, and the elements exist in differing proportions in our world to give rise to ever-increasing difference and creativity. In fact, he described botany in terms of a painter, who starts with a set of a few colors and mixes them to create an infinite number of colors for his art. Our world, like botany and the painter's art, acts similarly as the four elements combine and separate to provide an existence of change and difference. Empedocles believed, for example, that fire was a dominant element in the nature of human beings. He applied this entire Cosmology to the rest of his thought as well, including biology and ethics. The journey of the soul is modeled, in fact, on the movement of the Cosmos. The soul undergoes these same changes and tensions between Love and Strife, and we can likely assume that he applied his Cosmology to physics and theology as well. As a poet, scientist, theologian, ethicist, prophet, and metaphysician, Empedocles is certainly an important thinker in the history of Western thought. At the very least, he played an important role in the heated debate that followed Parmenides. All the Philosophy Books you could want! If you get a chance, visit the Best Philosophy Books site.

Sir Edmund Burke on Religion as the Remaking of Man

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"Religion is essentially the art and the theory of the remaking of man. Man is not a finished creation."

-Sir Edmund Burke

Mark Levin compares and contrasts Thomas Paine and Sir Edmund Burke:

Primary Source: The Portable Edmund Burke by Sir Edmund Burke and edited by Isaac Kramnick

Secondary Source: Edmund Burke: A Genius Reconsidered by Russell Kirk

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Nicolaus Copernicus on Hypotheses, Certainty, and Astronomy

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"So far as hypotheses are concerned, let no one expect anything certain from astronomy, which cannot furnish it, lest he accept as the truth ideas conceived for another purpose, and depart from this study a greater fool than when he entered it."

-Nicolaus Copernicus

World History honors Nicolaus Copernicus:

Primary Source: On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus

Secondary Source: Nicolaus Copernicus: And the Founding of Modern Astronomy by Todd Goble

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Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche on Will, Truth, and Its Value

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“What in us really wills truth? In fact, we paused for a long time before the question of the cause of this will – until we finally came to a complete standstill in front of an even more fundamental question. We asked about the value of this will, Granted, we will truth: Why not untruth instead? And uncertainty? Even ignorance? The problem of the value of truth came before us, - or was it we who came before the problem?”

-Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Bryan Magee, yet again, with J.P. Stern on Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche:

Primary Source: Basic Writings of Nietzsche by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann, with introduction by Peter Gay

Secondary Source: Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist by Walter A. Kaufmann

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Parmenides of Elea on a Single, Continuous Metaphysics

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"We can speak and think only of what exists. And what exists is uncreated and imperishable for it is whole and unchanging and complete. It was not or nor shall be different since it is now, all at once, one and continuous..."

-Parmenides of Elea

Three Minute Philosophy compares Parmenides and Heraclitus:

Primary Source: The Fragments of Parmenides: A Critical Text With Introduction and Translation, the Ancient Testimonia and a Commentary by Parmenides of Elea and A.H. Coxon

Secondary Source: Parmenides by Martin Heidegger, and translated by Andre Schuwer and Richard Rojcewicz

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Immanuel Kant on Concepts, Intuition, and Knowledge

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"Intuition and concepts constitute... the elements of all our knowledge, so that neither concepts without an intuition in some way corresponding to them, nor intuition without concepts, can yield knowledge."

-Immanuel Kant

Geoffrey Warnock discusses Immanuel Kant with Bryan Magee:

Primary Source: Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant

Secondary Source: The Cambridge Companion to Kant (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) by Paul Guyer

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Jacques Lacan on Existence, Language, and Birth

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"In other words, the man who is born into existence deals first with language; this is a given. He is even caught in it before his birth."

-Jacques Lacan

From his desk, Jacques Lacan gives a short presentation on the unconscious:

Primary Source: Ecrits: The First Complete Edition in English by Jacques Lacan and translated by Bruce Fink

Secondary Source: Jacques Lacan (Routledge Critical Thinkers) by Sean Homer

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