Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand's book The Virtue of Selfishness, in particular the chapter "The Objectivist Ethics" This focuses specifically on her discussion of what she terms "non-rational" ethics, by way of contrast to her own rational egoist or "objectivist ethics". She examines what she calls the "mystic", "social", and "subjectivist" ethics, and criticizes what she views as the "false dichotomy of altruism". 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Rand's The Virtue Of Selfishness - https://amzn.to/43pJmjU

my invited talk at the first Stoicon-X Brasil online conference. Due to technical issues, I provided a live presentation (translation provided by participants) to the conference. In this presentation, I briefly present the Stoic doctrine of the indifferents (adiaphoria), namely that Stoics view many things as neither good nor bad, but are indifferent. Some indifferents may be "preferred" or "rejected", which means that they have some positive or negative value, but not the sort of that makes us virtuous or vicious, happy or miserable. The Stoics teach that we should not be entirely indifferent to the indifferents, for several important reasons. The use (khresis or usus) of indifferents is not something indifferent, and as Epictetus tells us, is something we ought to be careful about. The virtues, as Seneca and Cicero clarify, bear upon indifferents. Texts mentioned in this talk: Marcus Aurelius' Meditations - https://amzn.to/3osPFNF Epictetus' Discourses and Enchiridion - https://amzn.to/37G6bE0 Seneca's Letters - https://amzn.to/3dZQrNk Cicero's On The Ends - https://amzn.to/3mmgJMB

This is my relatively short talk given during the 2025 Plato's Academy multidisciplinary conference: The Philosophy and Psychology of Anger, during which I discuss some of the useful insights and practices early Christian thinkers (2nd-5th Century CE) can provide us. These don't require one to be committed to Christianity and can be applied by a wide range of people. I begin with a passage from Pierre Hadot's book Philosophy As A Way Of Life: "[Christians] believed they recognized spiritual exercises, which they had learned through philosophy, in specific scriptural passages . . . The reason why Christian authors paid attention to these particular biblical passages, was that they were already familiar, from other sources, with the spiritual exercises of prosokhē, meditation on death, and examination of the conscience.” What Hadot calls “spiritual exercises” gets called by a variety of other terms by other thinkers. Foucault's "technologies of the self", Nussbaum's "therapeutic arguments", as well as the more general "philosophical practices" many of us reference in our work and study. What we can say about these early Christian thinkers is that many had a philosophical education, had opportunities to engage with pagan philosophical schools, some of which had pretty strong religious stances, with precursor and contemporary Jewish thought, and with a variety of other disciplines like rhetoric, medicine, literature, political theory, law, history, music, etc. There was already a strong interest in issues about anger already raised and debated in ancient philosophy including: vicious anger, can anger have useful role, dangers of indulging or excusing anger, anger and courage or justice, types or levels of anger, divine anger. Early Christian thinkers rely upon or incorporating broadly Platonic psychology, and ethical conceptions drawn from Platonist, Stoic, and Aristotelian schools, but within a framework Christianity provides. The thinkers I reference and discuss in this presentation include: 2nd-4th Century CE: Clement of Alexandria 150 – c. 215 AD, Tertullian 155 – c. 220, Origen 185 – c. 253, Lactantius 250 – c. 325 4th 5th century CE: Basil of Caesarea 330 – 379, Gregory of Nyssa 335, Evagrius Ponticus 345–399 AD, John Chrysostom 347-407, Ambrose 339-397, Jerome 342–347-420, Prudentius 348-413?, John Cassian 360 – 435, Augustine of Hippo 354-430 Some of the key scriptural passages they tend to engage most heavily with include: A number of discussions of anger in Pre-Christian Jewish scriptures, particularly in the Psalms, Proverbs, and Sirach The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Paul's Letter To Ephesians, and the Letter of James There is a stress on identifying and dealing with vices that involve anger, but also on developing virtues of Patience, Humility, Mercy, and Forgiveness. They also adopt, develop, and discuss a number of useful practices for lessening, understanding, or dealing with anger.

This is a talk I was invited to provide to the inaugural 2021 Stoicon-X Military conference, held online. I chose as my topic the scope of genuine courage, a topic of considerable importance but also frequent misunderstandings within professions like that of the military. In this talk I discuss what courage is and what it is for, the scope of courage, including its constituent virtues, and finally the relationship between courage and the other virtues.

This is the recording of my short presentation and the Q&A at the second Conversations With Modern Stoicism event, hosted in July 2023 by Phil Yanov. Asked to give a short and provocative presentation about an issue that arises in the everyday applications of Stoicism, I chose to focus on a common mistake and distortion of Stoic philosophy and practice. Quite a few people think that Stoicism means that a person shouldn't exhibit or feel care, concern, or compassion for others who experience something that they view and react to as "bad". There are indeed some passages from Stoic authors that one can take out of context to justify such a stance. But when Stoicism is rightly understood, and when we look at other, equally authoritative passages, we see that the authentic Stoic position is to be compassionate and concerned with others.

This is a podcast of a guest sermon, given by invitation to the Unitarian Universalist Community of the Catskills. A guest sermon invited by the Unitarian Universalist Community of the Catskills, Aug 9, 2015. In it, I discuss Rainer Maria Rilke's conception of "solitude" (Einsamkeit), and its relevance to our contemporary lives. Explaining how the two dimensions of slowing down temporally and making space spatially figure into the development of solitude as Rilke describes it, I suggest that in our own era, time has become the more scarce resource. You can read a transcript of the sermon here: https://www.academia.edu/14942470/Solitude_Slowing_Down_and_Clearing_Space

This lecture discusses key ideas from the medieval Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, 1st part, question 27, "The Causes Of Love", and examines his discussions in article 2, which centers on whether and how knowledge can be a cause of love. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

This is a podcast of a guest sermon, given by invitation to the Unitarian Universalist Community of Rock Tavern. In it, I discuss anger as a common problem not only of our own times, but of all times. Christian teachings on anger present us with some "hard sayings," and several 4th century thinkers -- John Cassian, Augustine of Hippo, and John Chrysostom -- are very helpful for understanding how to live with and live out these difficult requirements. A transcript of the sermon is available here: https://www.academia.edu/14942379/_And_Whoever_is_Angry_With_His_Brother_Early_Christian_Insights_A

This lecture discusses key ideas from the medieval Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, 1st part, question 27, "The Causes Of Love", and examines his discussions in article 3, which centers on whether and how likeness (similitudo) is a cause of love, particularly between similar people. He addresses the issue raised by the classical proverb "potter against potter" and discusses several different modes of likeness 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

This lecture discusses key ideas from the medieval Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, 1st part, question 27, "The Causes Of Love", and examines his discussions in articles 1 and 4, which center on the issues whether goodness in some sense is a cause of love and whether any other passion is the case of love. Aquinas' answers are that in every case, some good is the cause of love, even seemingly in the case of hatred, which presumes love as well. He also clarifies that love is at the root of all the other passions, although is specific cases, love can be also caused by a specific passion. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

This lecture discusses key ideas from the medieval Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, 1st part of the second part, question 26 "Of Love", and examines his discussions in articles 3-4, which center on different senses or modalities of love (amor). He makes a distinction between four terms: love, dilection (dilectio), friendship (amicitia) and charity (caritas), and discusses the differences in their application, and then examines the distinction between love of friendship and love of concupiscence (which also applies to friendships based on pleasure or utility) 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

This lecture discusses key ideas from the medieval Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, 1st part of the second part, question 26 "Of Love", and examines his discussions in articles 1-2, which center on determining where love is within the things and specifically within human being. Thomas will frame this in terms of nature and natural love, the sensitive concupiscible appetite and love as a passion, and the intellectual appetite or will and love as an act 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

This lecture discusses key ideas from the medieval Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, 1st part, question 20, "God's Love", and examines his discussions in articles 3-4, which center on the issues of whether God loves some things more than others or not, and whether God loves better things more than others. For Thomas, this centers upon a distinction about ways in which one can love more or less. One way has to do with the act of will itself, i.e. willing good to another. The other has to do with the good that is willed to the other. God can and does will more or better goods for certain things than others, so God can love some things more than others in that respect. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

This lecture discusses key ideas from the medieval Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, 1st part, question 20, "God's Love", and examines his discussion in article 2, which examines the question whether God loves things other than God. Thomas considers four main lines of reasoning that would say that God either doesn't love other things or only loves some other things but not others. He then clarifies that God wills good to all things that exist, giving them the very being and goodness that they possess, so God loves all things insofar as they are. This doesn't mean that he loves all things to the same extent or in the same ways. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

This lecture discusses key ideas from the medieval Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, 1st part, question 20 "God's Love", and examines on his discussion in article 1, which addresses the issue whether love is in God. Aquinas considers several arguments against love being in God and addresses each of them. He also explains how it is that love is in God by looking at how the will tends towards the universal or common good through love. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

This lecture discusses key ideas from the sequence of letters between two great Medieval intellectuals, lovers, and religious Heloise D'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard It focuses specifically on the fifth and sixth letters, which are by Heloise and Abelard respectfully. In these letters both of the married lovers have opted for leaving their previous amorous and conjugal love behind and shifting their attention to God. They also both admit their ongoing struggles to see this commitment through consistently. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Read Heloise and Abelard's Letters - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35977/35977-h/35977-h.htm

This lecture discusses key ideas from the sequence of letters between two great Medieval intellectuals, lovers, and religious Heloise D'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard It focuses specifically on the fourth letter, which is by Heloise. In this letter Heloise reaffirms her love for her husband Abelard, and asserts that life will have little value or attraction for her after he dies. She explains what emotions she experiences, and the despair she feels about their situation, and then discusses the conflicts within her heart and mind that stand in the way of genuine and consistent repentance on her part 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Read Heloise and Abelard's Letters - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35977/35977-h/35977-h.htm

This lecture discusses key ideas from the sequence of letters between two great Medieval intellectuals, lovers, and religious Heloise D'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard It focuses specifically on the third letter, which is by Abelard. It discusses Heloise's proposal that although they have taken monastic vows, they can rightly enjoy some married life together through writing letters to each other, and Abelard's rejection of that suggestion. He tell her that they both must turn to God and make Christian perfection their goal, even if that means leaving their amorous relationship behind, and he tells her that by his own confessions, he intends to change her love into contempt or hatred for him. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Read Heloise and Abelard's Letters - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35977/35977-h/35977-h.htm

This lecture discusses key ideas from the sequence of letters between two great Medieval intellectuals, lovers, and religious Heloise D'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard It focuses specifically on the second letter, which is by Heloise. It discusses the arguments that she advances in the letter, which center on her view that they can continue to enjoy their married relationship through writing letters to each other, even though after Abelard's castration both of them took religious vows and began monastic life. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Read Heloise and Abelard's Letters - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35977/35977-h/35977-h.htm

This lecture discusses key ideas from the sequence of letters between two great Medieval intellectuals, lovers, and religious Heloise D'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard It focuses specifically on the first letter, which is by Abelard. It discusses the consolation Abelard attempts to provide his fried by recounting the story of his life, which includes his romantic, intellectual, and sexual involvement with Heloise, their marriage, his castration, and their taking religious vows and entering monastic life. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Read Heloise and Abelard's Letters - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35977/35977-h/35977-h.htm

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 109 It focuses specifically on whether or not a wise person, according to the Stoics, would want or need to be involved with other people, particularly other wise people, to which his answer (perhaps surprisingly to some) is yes. He provides some reasonings for the position he articulates on this, including how the wise person, despite in a strict sense not needing anything or anyone else, will nevertheless desire to share their life with others, and will also benefit from the advice and fellowship of other wise people. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Seneca's Letters - amzn.to/2Myx6os

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 99 In this letter, after a brief introductory paragraph, Seneca reproduces a letter sent to a different correspondent Marullus when he had lost a young child. Although Seneca says that his goal is not to console but rather to offer criticism, he in effect does both of these, offering a number of considerations that can prove helpful to a person who is grieving the loss of a loved one. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Seneca's Letters - amzn.to/2Myx6os

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 6 It focuses specifically on how we make moral progress, and that we ought to want to share that progress with our friends. He also clarifies that when we learn something we ought to want to share that as well with our friends. A better way to do this than simply learning precepts is to spend time with those who we think have made progress and developed understanding, so we can see how they actually live their lives 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Seneca's Letters - https://amzn.to/2Myx6os

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 3 It focuses specifically on Seneca discussing a paradox of calling someone a friend but not trusting them with information. This leads Seneca to say that his correspondent, Lucilius doesn't seem to know what genuine friendship really is or involves, and to make a distinction between the common but mistaken use of the term "friend" and the proper sense of the term. He also suggests that many make mistakes by first loving someone and trusting them as a friend and only later on forming a correct judgement of them as a person, when the order of this ought to be reversed. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Seneca's Letters - https://amzn.to/2Myx6os

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 19th century philosopher, essayist, and theologian, Søren Kierkegaard's review essay "The Present Age" contained in his review of Two Ages: The Age of Revolution and the Present Age It focuses specifically on what Kierkegaard calls the "nullification of the passionate disjunction between being silent and speaking', which is "chattering". 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler You can get a copy of the Two Ages here - amzn.to/3eShxHv

This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work Leviathan It focuses specifically on first part of chapter 8 where he discusses what he calls "intellectual virtues", meaning the abilities of the mind that people praise, which he frames in terms of "wit", and distinguishes into natural and artificial. Natural wit in turn is divided into fancy which focuses upon similarities and judgement which focuses on differences. Judgement is more important that fancy for wit. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan - amzn.to/3uhKmDE

This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work Leviathan It focuses specifically on chapter 7, where he identifies and discusses what he calls the ends of mental and verbal discourse, and clarifies when the discourse people engage in results in mere opinion or produces something more reliable that that, i.e. knowledge or science. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan - amzn.to/3uhKmDE

This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work Leviathan It focuses specifically on on the second part of chapter 6, where Hobbes tells us that the basic passions are diversified into a number of other passions in four main manners. 1. called from the opinion men have of the likelihood of attaining what they desire 2. from the object loved or hated 3. from the consideration of many of them together 4. from the alteration or succession itself He also discusses how passions figure into what he calls "deliberation" and makes the claim that a person's "will" is simply the last passion in the succession that determines their action. H finishes by discusses different modes of language by which people signify what their passions are. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan - amzn.to/3uhKmDE

This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work Leviathan It focuses specifically on chapter 6, in which Hobbes develops his basic philosophy of human and animal action, which stems from the senses and movements of the body, and then flows into endeavor of appetite and aversion. These then give rise to other affects such as love, contempt, and hatred, joy and grief, and to differing judgements about various forms of good and evil. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan - amzn.to/3uhKmDE

This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work Leviathan It focuses specifically on chapter 5, where he examines in detail what reason or reasoning is, and what science is. Hobbes views reasoning as something analogous to "reckoning" by adding and subtracting sums, not just of numbers, but of many other things as well, in particular names, conjunctions of them into "consequences", and ultimately entire arguments or syllogisms. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan - amzn.to/3uhKmDE

This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work Leviathan It focuses specifically on chapter 4, where a number of different sorts of "names" (or terms) are distinguished, as well as how those names can be combined into "consequences", and have their significations clarified through definitions. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan - amzn.to/3uhKmDE

This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work Leviathan It focuses specifically on chapters 3 and 4, where Hobbes discusses mental and verbal discourse, that is the train of thoughts in our minds and the verbal expressions of those thoughts. Hobbes also notes that when our train of thoughts is not motivated by some desire or passion, it tends to be looser and less regulated, but when there is some goal in mind, it is oriented towards and regulated by that goal. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan - amzn.to/3uhKmDE

This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work Leviathan It focuses specifically on chapters 1 and 2 of the work, where he develops a clearly committed empiricist and materialist epistemology, which begins with sense perception which then gives rise to imagination and memory, which can also then lead to dreams, experience, and other more complex phenomena. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan - amzn.to/3uhKmDE

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century American science fiction and fantasy author Poul Anderson's essay "Of Thud And Blunder", which begins by parodying a passage of swords and sorcery fantasy. While making exceptions for L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, and J.R.R. Tolkein, Anderson criticizes many of the heroic, historical, or swords & sorcery fantasy fiction for engaging in bad storytelling. He charges them with oversimplifying, not engaging in needed research, and not devoting thought or common sense to their story writing. He discusses a number of different matters that a fantasy author should attend to, including: social classes and the lives of producers, the nature of pre-modern cities, diseases and sanitation, politics and religion, travel by land and water, and arms, armor, combat, and poisons. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Read Of Thud And Blunder - https://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/04/on-thud-and-blunder/

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of how the things at the various hierarchically arranged degrees of being exist "for the sake of" (causa in Latin) other things. Plants, which are at the lowest level, are there for both human beings (as cultivated) and for animals, and the otehr non-rational animals exist for the sake of rational beings, which are human beings and the gods. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon he presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of the question whether the providential ordering of matters by the gods extends to the human race just in general, or whether it extends to care for individuals. Another question that gets passed over but which is important to explore is whether providential care for individuals would be for all human individuals as individuals, or just some human individuals but not others. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of how divine providence can be seen in the nature and capacities of human beings, including how the parts of our bodies are arranged, the scope of our senses and their perception, our capacities for reasoning and understanding, and the use of our hands to engage in using tools and altering nature to suit us better. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of how the many ways in which species of plants ad animals seem well-designed for their determinate activities and functions seem to suggest that there is a providential designer and arranger who ordered them in those ways. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of the stability and coherence of the world itself and of the larger cosmos. These features are used by Balbus to argue for the existence of some intelligent, providentially ordering divine being. He also discusses a controversial Stoic doctrine, that of the universal conflagration, in which the matter of the world is gradually converted into aether or fire, and then the world is recreated by the divine being. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of the distinction between two different attitudes of human beings towards the divine beings, one of which is the superstition, the other of which is religion. Having false and anthropomorphic beliefs about the gods, and acting on those beliefs is superstition, something vicious and blameworthy. Having correct beliefs about the gods and comporting oneself towards them in accordance with those beliefs is genuine religion and is something praiseworthy. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of the Stoics' allegorical interpretation of earlier Greek myth, legend, and religion, which anthropomorphized the gods in ways that the Stoics thought irrational and unbefitting of divinity 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of how beneficial things, forces or people come to be deified by human beings. He discusses three dynamics by which this takes place. Something useful to us derives from and is named after the god from which it comes. Some useful or beneficial force gets turned into a divine being. Or a human being who is particularly beneficial to other human beings comes to be regarded as divine, and in some cases arguably does become divine 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of the various meanings that people in ancient times gave to the term "nature", rejecting certain of them and endorsing others of them. He also discusses why the world itself is something subject to nature as the Stoics understand it, and providentially ordered and arranged 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of the perfection and beauty of the super-lunary realm, which includes the planets, the sun and moon, and the fixed stars. The ancients thought that these heavenly bodies exhibited perfect order and regularity in their motions, which are either the rotation of the sphere of the heavens, or the circular orbits of the planets, sun, and moon. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of a number of dimensions to the world and universe which we can contemplate the beauty of, and thereby come to an appreciation of providential and intelligent ordering of the universe. These include the earth itself, the ocean, the air, and the aether or the heavens. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on the set of arguments that he presents for the stars (including the sun, moon, and planets) being gods, and playing their orderly and constant roles within the cosmos, and doing so voluntarily. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on the sequence of arguments that he provides, drawing from the works of earlier Stoic authors, intended to make the case for the world itself being God. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, in particular one of the arguments for the existence of the gods presented by Balbus, which we can call the argument from degrees of being. This type of argument doesn't fit neatly into the modern conventional classification of ontological, cosmological, and teleological arguments for the existence of the divine. It works by noting that there are different degrees (gradus) of being, going from bare being through plants, animals, humans, and other higher rational beings (gods), arguing that the top grade of being cannot be empty or non-existent. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, in particular one of the arguments for the existence of the gods presented by Balbus, which we can call the argument from intelligence. It might be viewed as a variant on a cosmological argument, working from an effect to the necessary existence of a cause. In this case, the existence of human intelligence, and claimed impossibility of that resulting from a cause that is not itself intelligent, leads to the conclusion of the existence of a divine intelligence. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, in particular one of the arguments for the existence of the gods presented by Balbus, which we can call the argument from cosmic arrangement, which might be classed as a design or teleological argument. The general idea is that we observe order and arrangement to the universe, which presumably would need to come from very powerful and intelligent being, i.e. the gods. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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 focuses upon on the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, in particular one of the arguments for the existence of the gods presented by Balbus, which we can call the argument from divination. The argument essentially consists in claiming that divination, that is consulting the knowledge or will of divine beings, could not work if there were no divine beings. Since divination does work, there must be divine beings. 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.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc