Humans As Rational Animals
Philosopher Daniel Dennet talks about the argument that humans are unique because we are rational. Professor Dennett points out examples of other animals which are also capable of taking actions based on rationality. The difference, he notes, is tha...
Subject: reason
Transcript: in their head. Of course, that's not the way we reason most of the time either.
Reason, Reflection and Language
, as well as to reflect and reason in ways other organisms cannot.
Subject: reason
Transcript: The simplest organisms, bacteria let's say, one-celled organisms, They have reasons but they don't really appreciate them. They don't represent them
How Does Science Add to Knowledge?: How Science Really Worked in the 17th-19th Centuries
philosopher Immanuel Kant: through pure reason.
Subject: reason
Transcript: , how do they come up with them? one alternative was proposed by 18th-century philosopher immanuel kant... through pure reason. [ immanuel kant
What is Human Nature?: Traditional Greek View of Human Nature, The
specific purpose of man involves the part of his soul that belongs to reason.
Subject: reason
Transcript: to reason. Suppose you were aristotle, Living 400 years before christ, any, many, many centuries... Before the emergence of modern science. You looked
In the Driver's Seat: Appetite vs. Reasons
Two processes in the brain compete for control, the limbic system representing appetite and the cortex representing reason. When people are near
Subject: reason
Transcript: behavior. Plato called them reason and appetite. Appetites many people would say are In what's called the limbic system, Or the older part of the brain
Meaning of Life, The
Philosopher Martha Nussbaum is critical of those who contend that life only has meaning if there's some external source of value. Professor Nussbaum favors an approach that focuses on what she calls "everyday questions, like how should one live, wha...
Subject: reason
Is Reason the Source of Knowledge?: Necessary Truths
Descartes argues that the senses can perceive only the changing surfaces of things, but the mind can go deeper to find necessary truths. Empiricist who argue that all knowledge must come from the senses disagree.
Subject: reason
Transcript: [ narrator ] it was descartes' ambition to develop a method of reasoning... that could make knowledge in the physical sciences... as indisputable
Is Reason the Source of Knowledge?: Reason, the Source of Knowledge
Seventeenth century rationalists like Descartes and Leibniz believe that knowledge comes from reason alone. It is not necessary to see examples in
Subject: reason
Transcript: knowledge comes from pure reason. we don't need to see examples in the physical world. we can grasp these truths entirely in our minds. to understand the
Self in Historical Context (Part One), The
Philosopher Charles Taylor talks about the ways in which the concept of "the self" has changed over time. He begins by talking about Plato and then moves through other major philosophers, including Augustine and Descartes, pointing out that there ha...
Subject: reason
Hegel and the Goals of Life
rational, which he linked very closely to freedom. In fact, Professor Taylor says, Hegel defined reason very much as Kant did--namely, that one is free when
Subject: reason