Ancient Philosophers and the Meaning of Life
Philosopher Martha Nussbaum talks about Socrates' belief that the unexamined life is not worth living. Professor Nussbaum adds that Plato and Aristotle urged those who were running society and making the rules to see things more clearly and do a bet...
Is Mind Distinct from Body?: Testing Computers against the Human Mind
With he advent of new computer technologies, enthusiasts predict that soon computers will do everything minds that can. In 1951, computer pioneer Alan Turing proposed a simple test for judging when a computer has reached the level of a human mind. W...
How Do We Encounter the World: Phenomenology
The philosophical tradition that attempts to describe the world and the way we experience it without relying on abstract theories is called phenomenology. The term took on new significance with German philosopher Edmund Husserl whose work focused o...
Transcript: meaningful sense of their experience and their world. [ follesdal ] many of his followers. Found it a little hard to accept.. Everything he had to say about
Meaning of Life, The
Philosopher Ian Hacking confesses that he doesn't know what the meaning of life is, but adds that one way to live a full life is to live a life full of thought. Another way, he suggests, is to live a rich, emotional life.
Language, Meaning and Truth
Philosopher W.V. Quine explores what he calls "the meaning of meaning." Using the formula for momentum as an example, he talks about the temporal nature of supposed statements of truth, arguing that what appears to be "true" today may not be conside...
Meaning in Life: From Heidegger to Dostoyevsky
Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus talks about different ways of explaining meaning in life, as reflected in the writings of philosophers Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, as well as author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
The Mind's Storehouse: Encoding: Getting Information In
that we give attention and attach meaning to that are likely to be remembered later. Organizing information into meaningful categories and associating it
Transcript: information into meaningful categories And associating the information that you want to remember With a vivid image is very helpful. One thing that doesn't seem
Being and Nothingness: Jean Paul Sartre
Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus talks about Jean-Paul Sartre, who views all human activity as a way of trying to cover up our nothingness and delude ourselves into thinking that we have an identity, content and meaning in our lives.
Transcript: itself which is the sort of heir To the viscous chestnut tree root and the world is meaningful For us because we give meaning, The for itself gives meaning
What Is Philosophy?
Philosopher Stephen Toulmin talks about the challenge of defining philosophy. During the course of his remarks, Professor Toulmin mentions Ludwig Wittgenstein, with whom he studied in Cambridge. Wittgenstein used to say that the best way to understa...
Getting in Contact with Reality
Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus contrasts differing views of reality and how we encounter it, as expressed by Martin Heidegger and Jean Paul-Sartre. He points out that where Heidegger sees meaning--as in objects in the environment--Sartre sees meaningles...