Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century analytic philosopher John Wisdom's essay in the philosophy of religion, "Gods", found in his collection "Philosophy and Psychoanalysis". It focuses specifically on his discussion of what he calls the "logic(s)" of disputes about the existence or nature of gods. By this, Wisdom has in mind the type of appeals or argumentation that people can us...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century analytic philosopher John Wisdom's essay in the philosophy of religion, "Gods", found in his collection "Philosophy and Psychoanalysis". It focuses specifically on his discussion of the parable of the invisible gardener found in section 6 of the essay, the most often read and anthologized part of it. Wisdom develops this parable in order to br...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century analytic philosopher John Wisdom's essay in the philosophy of religion, "Gods", found in his collection "Philosophy and Psychoanalysis". It focuses specifically on his discussion of the different sources of questions that people could have or be motivated by in disputes about whether or not god(s) exist. One of these sources is experiential an...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century analytic philosopher John Wisdom's essay in the philosophy of religion, "Gods", found in his collection "Philosophy and Psychoanalysis". It focuses specifically on his discussion of how we ought to understand the differences in perspective of theists and atheists in modern times. These differences are not, in Wisdom's view, about matters that...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early 20th century weird and horror story writer, H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu", a classic work of cosmic horror and absolutely central to what will later come to be called the Cthulhu mythos. It focuses specifically on the encounter with the Great Old One Cthulhu narrated within the story. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early 20th century weird and horror story writer, H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu", a classic work of cosmic horror and absolutely central to what will later come to be called the Cthulhu mythos. It focuses specifically on one of the key settings referenced in the work, the vast city of R'Lyeh, where Cthulhu and other Great Old Ones lie d...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early 20th century weird and horror story writer, H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu", a classic work of cosmic horror and absolutely central to what will later come to be called the Cthulhu mythos. It focuses specifically on the entities called the Great Old Ones, of which Cthulhu is one, and even has a role as their "priest". Many of the g...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early 20th century weird and horror story writer, H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu", a classic work of cosmic horror and absolutely central to what will later come to be called the Cthulhu mythos. It focuses specifically on what we learn of the cult of Cthulhu (and to a lesser extent) the other Great Old Ones, which according to the inform...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early 20th century weird and horror story writer, H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu", a classic work of cosmic horror and absolutely central to what will later come to be called the Cthulhu mythos. It focuses specifically on the images of the Great Old One Cthulhu that appear in the story. Some of these are bas-reliefs produced by human bei...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early 20th century weird and horror story writer, H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu", a classic work of cosmic horror and absolutely central to what will later come to be called the Cthulhu mythos. It focuses specifically on the third part of the story, which includes an account originally written down by 2nd mate Johansen of the boat Emma,...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early 20th century weird and horror story writer, H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu", a classic work of cosmic horror and absolutely central to what will later come to be called the Cthulhu mythos. It focuses specifically on the account provided by Inspector Legrasse to the American Archeological Society which explains how he came by the id...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early 20th century weird and horror story writer, H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu", a classic work of cosmic horror and absolutely central to what will later come to be called the Cthulhu mythos. It focuses specifically on the dreams that the sculptor Henry Anthony Wilcox has, investigated by Professor Angell, which lead him to produce a...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early 20th century weird and horror story writer, H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu", a classic work of cosmic horror and absolutely central to what will later come to be called the Cthulhu mythos. It focuses specifically on the narrative structure of this story, which is largely pieced together from necessarily secondhand accounts of dream...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early 20th century weird and horror story writer, H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu", a classic work of cosmic horror and absolutely central to what will later come to be called the Cthulhu mythos. It focuses specifically on what he calls, in the first line of the story, "the most merciful thing", namely, "the inability of the human mind to...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's book, The Other Wind, the sixth and final of her Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the ending of the book and indeed of the Earthsea saga, with the mage-established stone wall between the living and the dead being dragged down by humans and dragons, the liberation of the dead, and the restoration of the drago...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's book, The Other Wind, the sixth and final of her Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the character of the Kargish princess, named Seserakh, and the alternation of appearances of passivity and timidity to actions involving courage on her part. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/s...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's book, The Other Wind, the sixth and final of her Earthsea books It focuses specifically on how the village sorcerer, Alder, gives up his power and craft of mending, which is at the core of his person, in order to end his dreams of the dead, and to safeguard Earthsea from whatever danger they pose. To support my ongoi...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's book, The Other Wind, the sixth and final of her Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the different narratives of the Verdunan or agreement between human beings and dragons early on in Earthsea, before they were entirely separate beings. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's book, The Other Wind, the sixth and final of her Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the insights into the dragons' anger with human beings, provided by a dragon who originally started in human form, Orm Irian. The information she provides adds to what Tehanu was able to get in her earlier conversations with dr...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's book, The Other Wind, the sixth and final of her Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the institution of the King's Council that Lebannen had created in order to administer the isles of the Earthsea archipelago, and the workings of the council in attempting to deal with the problem of the dragons. To support my...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's book, The Other Wind, the sixth and final of her Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the young woman Tehanu's (formerly Therru's) task, requested by king Lebannen, of communicating with the dragons to determine why they are acting aggressively towards the humans in Earthsea To support my ongoing work, go to my...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's book, The Other Wind, the sixth and final of her Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the two leading questions that the former archmage Ged sends to his adoptive daughter Tehanu via the mender Alder. These two questions are: Who are those who go to the dry lands? Will a dragon cross the wall of stone? Working o...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's book, The Other Wind, the sixth and final of her Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the relationship between Tenar, former priestess of the Nameless Ones and adoptive mother of Therru, and Lebannen, the now-established but still young high king of the Archipelago. Lebannen calls Tenar for advice about how to d...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's book, The Other Wind, the sixth and final of her Earthsea books It focuses specifically on how the leaders of the two main kingdoms in Earthsea - the Kargish high king, Thol and the king of the archipelago, Lebannen - begin to come to terms, and work out a peace between the two lands. This involves a third person, th...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's work, On The Happy Life It focuses specifically on his claim that "virtue is its own reward". The Stoics (among others) maintain that virtue is both necessary and sufficient for human happiness, and that nothing else is as valuable as virtue. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If yo...