Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it examines the criticisms made in book 1 by the academic skeptic Cotta against the Epicurean argument from common consent made earlier by Velleius....

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it examines the academic skeptic Cotta's criticisms of the Epicurean position on the gods as being incoherent, holding to a metaphysical atomism and...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it examines the academic skeptic Cotta's criticisms of the Epicurean perspective on the divine, which claim and argue that the gods must have a form...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it examines the Epicurean Velleius' contention that Epicureanism provides the correct view on the gods and religion without superstition, and the ac...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it examines the presentation of the Epicurean position on the divine by Velleius, who develops this in part by examining the preconceptions (proleip...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it examines the argument that the Epicurean Velleius puts forward for the existence of the gods, often called the "argument from common consent". Th...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it examines the Epicurean Velleius' criticisms of the Stoic school's viewpoints on the divine, specifically mentioning Zeno (the founder of the scho...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it the Epicurean Velleius' criticisms of various ancient philosophers viewpoints on the divine. These include a number of pre-Socratics, such as: Th...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it examines the very first parts of the work in book 1, where Cicero discusses his own motivations for writing this work, and the larger project he...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it examines the overall structure of the dialogue, and the characters involved, who are representatives of three important schools of ancient philos...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the Medieval philosopher, theologian, and Benedictine monk Anselm of Canterbury's dialogue, On Freedom of Choice (the second work in a trilogy including On Truth and On The Fall of the Devil) It focuses specifically on his discussion in chapter 5 of the work, explaining how a person can choose something both willingly and unwillingly. To support my ongoing wor...

This lecture discusses the medieval Christian thinker, monk, and bishop, Anselm of Canterbury's work, the Proslogion, and focuses on his exploration in the final three chapters the work (the first of which he calls a "speculation" or "conjectatio"), of what the ultimate good would be for human beings, and the components of that ultimate good. These include beauty, swiftness or strength of the body...

This lecture discusses the medieval Christian thinker, monk, and bishop, Anselm of Canterbury's work, the Proslogion, and focuses on his discussion in chapters 19, 20, and 21 in which he continues his examination of God's eternity, which he contrasts against that of other eternal things. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contr...

This lecture discusses the medieval Christian thinker, monk, and bishop, Anselm of Canterbury's work, the Proslogion, and focuses on his discussion in chapters 13, 19, and 20 of the lack of limits on God (incircumsrcriptus) in terms of space and time. Anselm argues that God is eternity and that all time and space is actually in some sense in God To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site -...

This lecture discusses the medieval Christian thinker, monk, and bishop, Anselm of Canterbury's work, the Proslogion, and focuses on his discussion in chapters 14, 18, and 23 of divine simplicity, further developing the "one argument" and the logic of "that than which nothing greater can be thought". God's simplicity is beyond what we understand as simplicity of created things, and means that ever...

This lecture discusses the medieval Christian thinker, monk, and bishop, Anselm of Canterbury's work, the Proslogion, and focuses on his discussion in chapters 5, 11, 12, and 23 focusing on further developing the "one argument" unpacking implications of God as "that that which nothing greater can be thought" (quo maius cogitari non potest). The divine attributes include whatever it is better to be...

This lecture discusses the medieval Christian thinker, monk, and bishop, Anselm of Canterbury's work, the Proslogion, and focuses on his discussion in chapters 3 and 4 of the being of God, which Anselm has argued in chapter 2 can be demonstrated , beginning from the formula "that that which nothing greater can be thought" (quo maius cogitari non potest). In chapter 3, Anselm further argues that Go...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's novel, Tehanu, the fourth of six Earthsea books It focuses specifically on Aspen the malevolent wizard of Re Albi and his hostility and hatred towards Tenar, Therru, and Ged To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's novel, Tehanu, the fourth of six Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the character Spark, Tenar's son, who was away on a boat crew, but who comes home and displays himself as an underdeveloped, entitled man, to the great disappointment of his mother. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patre...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's novel, Tehanu, the fourth of six Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the return of the former archmage, Ged, to Tenar and Therru, after he has lost his power and struggled to make sense of his identity without it. He saves Tenar and Theru by defending them from the three men attacking the farmhouse. To support...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's novel, Tehanu, the fourth of six Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the relations between men and women, the understandings of gender, and the dimensions of power as key themes in Leguin's text, expressed, argued, and mulled over by characters in the novel. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - w...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's novel, Tehanu, the fourth of six Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the new information about the interconnections between dragons and human beings in Earthsea, revealed by a story in a story in a story. Tenar tells Theru about the experience Ogion had with the woman of Kemay, who turns out to be a dragon, and...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's novel, Tehanu, the fourth of six Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the early years of the king Lebannen's reign, which involves reintroducing order to Earthsea, and both enacting justice and enabling local communities to administer justice. Lebannen's reign aims to change the dynamic of the strong preying upo...

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's novel, Tehanu, the fourth of six Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the character, "Aunty" Moss, the local witch, who Tenar becomes friends with after Ogion's death. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www....

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's novel, Tehanu, the fourth of six Earthsea books It focuses specifically on the culmination of the novel, in which Therru is revealed as actually a dragon, and calls Kalessin, the eldest of the dragons, who also turns out to be Segoy, the maker of Earthsea itself To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www...