A Romp Through the History of Philosophy
Instructors
A Romp Through the History of Philosophy
Marianne Talbot’s wonderful introduction to Philosophy, from the Presocratics to present times (Wittgenstein), produced by Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education.
This is a very clever introduction to philosophy! Marianne Talbot takes you through each historical period, focusing on one area of philosophy in each historical era. She introduces the Presocratic philosophers by highlighting the Atomists and ontology, the study of beings.
The section on Greek philosophy introduce Plato and Aristotle’s contrasting approaches to an example question, “What is red?.” The question helps us to see the metaphysical difference between a formal answer and a descriptive answer given from experience.
The early modern period covers the debates between the Rationalists (Descartes, Leibniz, and Spinoza) and the Empiricists (Locke, Berkeley, and Hume), focusing on Hume and the epistemological debate over causation.
In the late modern period, Talbot takes us through debates in ethics and politics between Utilitarianism and Deontology (e.g., Kant). She offers several concrete examples that clearly show the strengths and weaknesses of each position.
In contemporary philosophy, Talbot explains Wittgenstein’s early and late philosophy of language, highlighting the linguistic turn in philosophy and returning to the question of What is red?” from the beginning of the seminar.
Along the way, Talbot asks us to consider questions like what is happiness, whether it is okay to sacrifice 5 healthy adults to save 150 others, our use of language, and whether we can see causation. She is a witty story-teller armed with many concrete examples that really bring philosophy to life. Highly recommended as an introduction to Philosophy!
Video lectures used under the Creative Commons License with attribution; the original lectures can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16TegBGFTn8&t=10s.
Video Content
Course Curriculum
| Marianne Talbot’s Introduction | 00:03:00 | ||
| Ancient Philosophy: Ontology and Metaphysics | |||
| The Presocratics: Atoms In A Void | 00:06:00 | ||
| Introducing Plato and Aristotle | 00:02:00 | ||
| Plato On Ideas: What Is Red? | 00:05:00 | ||
| Plato’s Theory Of Recollection | 00:08:00 | ||
| Aristotle’s Universals and Particulars | 00:05:00 | ||
| Early Modern Philosophy: Epistemology | |||
| Introducing the Rationalism, Empiricism, and the Problem of Causation | 00:03:00 | ||
| What Is Causation, Really? | 00:07:00 | ||
| Hume’s Denial Of Causation | 00:02:00 | ||
| The Rationalists and Our Concept Of Reason | 00:05:00 | ||
| Late Modern Philosophy: Ethics aand Politics | |||
| What Is Happiness? Principle Based Ethics (Deontology) and Utilitarianism | 00:06:00 | ||
| Principle Based Ethics: Kant and the Deontologists | 00:08:00 | ||
| Right Action, Moral Law, and Kant’s Categorical Imperative | 00:05:00 | ||
| Intentions Or Consequences | 00:05:00 | ||
| What Is Moral Truth, An Aside | 00:04:00 | ||
| Early 20th Century Philosophy | |||
| Early Wittgenstein | 00:04:00 | ||
| Later Wittgenstein | 00:04:00 | ||
| Additional Materials | |||
| Addendum: Your Belief About Me, Would It Exist If I Didn’t? | 00:08:00 | ||
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