Sir Francis Bacon And The Case For Curiosity
Philosopher Ian Hacking talks about the contributions of Sir Francis Bacon to scientific inquiry. Professor Hacking notes that while Bacon's approach later came to be viewed as a model for how science should be done, dur..
Skepticism
Philosopher Stephen Toulmin talks about the difference between the modern use of the term "skepticism" and the way the word was used by the Greeks, as well as by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Nowadays, Professor Toulmin explains,..
Social Reality
Philosopher John Searle explains the difference between institutional facts, like money, property, marriage, and nation states, and what he calls "brute facts," like the number of electrons in a hydrogen atom, or the sno..
Socrates and Plato on Knowledge
According to Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus, Socrates thought that for anybody to be an expert in any domain, they had to understand the principles and rules of that domain. The result of this thinking was that Socrates conc..
Socrates, Darwin and the Essence of Things
Philosopher Daniel Dennett discusses the question posed by Socrates about what constitutes the essence of things. He notes that after Darwin and in the wake of modern science in general, the notion that anything has an i..
The Brain
Philosopher John Searle discusses the chain of events that takes place in the brain that results in thoughts and feelings.
The Chinese Room Argument
Philosopher John Searle goes through the "Chinese room argument" to prove that no matter how powerful computers are, they aren't minds. Professor Searle explains that while the computer can very rapidly manipulate formal..
The Correspondence Theory of Truth
Philosopher John Searle talks about the correspondence theory of truth, which he says is, "...just a fancy way of saying statements are true when they correspond to how things really are." Professor Searle adds that we'v..
The Darwinian Revolution
Philosopher John Searle talks about what he considers to be the three primary contributions of Charles Darwin. At the time Darwin lived, Professor Searle explains, his most influential idea was that natural selection, ra..
The Discovery of Time
Philosopher Stephen Toulmin explains that people in different parts of the world who have lived at different times have often had very different conceptions of time. He mentions several, including the notion that process..