Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 59, in which Seneca distinguishes between the senses that ordinary people and Stoics give to the terms pleasure (voluptas) and joy (gaudium), and discusses why it is that most people go wrong in the views they have about what will produce genuine joy for them, by contrast to the Stoic s...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 47, in which Seneca discusses how masters in the ancient would should regard and treat their slaves, namely in a familiar manner, as fellow human beings, housemates, lowborn friends, and even fellow slaves. He suggests that masters ought to remember that which people happen to be in the...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 30, in which Seneca uses the example of an aged friend Bassus who is approaching his own death in a good manner, as an opportunity to set out some ideas about how we can regard and prepare for our own inevitable death in a Stoic manner. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 23, in which Seneca tells Lucilius that he wants him to learn how to attain and feel genuine lasting joy, which Stoicism teaches that we can do by focusing on what is actually within the scope of our control and agency, rather than on externals. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patr...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Plain Persons and Moral Theory" It focuses upon a generalized narrative that MacIntyre calls "the story of the decline and fall of the plain person", with four main "episodes". 1. The protagonist strives to answer the question "what is my good", but doesn't develop a temperat...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Plain Persons and Moral Theory" It focuses upon the relationships outlined between Goods, Rules, and Virtues -- as well as practices, inclinations, and the natural law -- in that text. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 9, in which Seneca discusses why a Stoic would deliberately seek out friends, if it is really the case that virtue is sufficient for happiness. Seneca argues that even the legendary sage or perfectly wise person, while not needing friends for happiness, will still seek out friends when...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 19th century novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky's work,The Brothers Karamazov, focusing on the theme articulated by the Grand Inquisitor, namely that he is part of a movement of the "intelligent people" in league with the "intelligent spirit" who aim to "correct the deed" or "work" of God. They choose to take on the hardship and trouble of managing matters in orde...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 7, in which Seneca advises his interlocutor, using his own example, that we ought to avid and minimize our exposure to crowds, large groups, and the general public, because unless our characters are entirely secure, we not only put our moral development at risk but often enough backslid...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man In The High Castle It focuses specifically on the discussion of and engagement with the Oracle (aka the Book of Changes or the I Jing) on the part of Juliana Frink and the Abendsens. Juliana is able to determine that Hawthorne Abendsen used the Oracle to w...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Plain Persons and Moral Theory" It focuses upon the interplay between several general questions asked and addressed by moral theory and corresponding particular questions asked and answered by ordinary people, within the scope and course of their lives. To support my ongoing...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man In The High Castle It focuses specifically on the experience that Nobusuke Tagomi has when he concentrates on a piece of jewelry produced by the Edfrank company in the park, and finds himself transported to an alternate America in a world in which the Alli...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Plain Persons and Moral Theory" It focuses upon two important moral distinctions that MacIntyre argues are involved in developing "a capacity to become reflective about norms and goals". To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Plain Persons and Moral Theory" It focuses upon his contention that plain persons are often what he calls "proto-Aristotelians" in their broad commitments embodying moral theory, rather than simply neutral blank slates. MacIntyre writes: "[T]he plain person is funda­mentally...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man In The High Castle It focuses specifically on he new and original American jewelry produced by the Edfrank Custom Jewelry company and placed on consignment with Robert Childan's American Artistic Handcrafts, Inc. store. Childan gives Paul Kasoura one of th...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man In The High Castle It focuses specifically on one of the key sub-plots in the novel, the Sicherheitsdienst or SD commando attack on the Nippon Times Building, aimed at capturing the Abwehr operative Rudolph Wegner. This takes place while Wegner is meeting...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man In The High Castle It focuses specifically on a plot-point only revealed in the last third of the book, but which has been set up as Tagomi organizes a meeting between the Swedish Baynes (actually the Abwehr agent Wegner) and retired Japanese general Tedek...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man In The High Castle It focuses specifically on the interconnection between Nazism, various modes of insanity, and the evil they engage in and impose upon the world. We look at this through the eyes of non-Nazi characters (for the most part), including Rober...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man In The High Castle It focuses specifically on the alternate history novel "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy" which is read and referenced by a number of the characters in the work. The novel by Abendsen sets out a world in which the Axis lost the second world wa...

This lecture discusses the 20th century philosopher and historian of ideas, Pierre Hadot, and focuses on chapter 11 of his book, Philosophy As a Way of Life. He discusses the short history Hadot provides us with, in which ancient philosophy was oriented around what he calls "philosophy as a way of life", including Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. Christian philosophy develops in west in two d...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man In The High Castle It focuses specifically on two of the characters in the novel, Betty and Paul Kasoura, who are a younger Japanese married couple newly stationed in the Pacific States of America. We get to see them largely through their interactions with...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man In The High Castle It focuses specifically on one of the characters central to the story, the Swiss Nazi assassin, on a mission to kill the "man in the high castle", Hawthorne Abendsen, the author of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. He poses very convincingly a...

This lecture discusses the 20th century philosopher and historian of ideas, Pierre Hadot, and focuses on chapter 7 of his book, Philosophy As a Way of Life. He discusses the criticisms Hadot levies against Michel Foucault's views, which center upon his making the self too central a focus in his discussions of philosophical practices as "technologies of the self", and in overlooking important philo...

This lecture discusses the 20th century philosopher and historian of ideas, Pierre Hadot, and focuses on chapter 11 of his book, Philosophy As a Way of Life. He discusses the distinction he draws between discourse about philosophy and philosophy itself. He argues, using the example of the Stoics, that the parts of philosophy they distinguish (ethics, logic, and physics) are discourses about philos...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man In The High Castle It focuses specifically on one of the main characters of the work, Juliana Frink, who is a judo instructor living in the Pacific States of America, who has a particularly deep connection to the Oracle, the Book of Changes. She was marrie...