Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus' Lecture 4, in which, addressing the question whether daughters should be given the same education as sons are, he makes several important points. The first is the answer to the question, namely Yes of course male and female ought to receive the same education, since they are both human beings, and as with other ani...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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 on...

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 a...

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 other...

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...

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 wi...

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 Hipp...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 our...

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...

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 positio...